Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Riddle and Mystery: A Program on the Big Questions for Grade 6

Faith In Action: Feeding the Hungry

Materials for Activity

  • Newsprint, markers and tape
  • Paper and pencils
  • Optional: A computer with Internet access

Preparation for Activity

  • Decide which activity you will do.
  • Optional: If a computer or the Internet is not available, print out information about the organizations to share with the group.
  • Optional: If the group decides to work on a UU Sabbath for the ONE campaign, you will need additional support.

Description of Activity

If the group is engaged in an ongoing Faith in Action project, continue work on it.

Or, consider this short-term Faith in Action activity:

Feeding the Hungry

Present an introduction to world hunger and global and local efforts to address it. Invite the group to learn more about one or more projects and find a way to participate.

For many, hunger is a reality. Around the world, 1.4 billion people live below the poverty line of 1.25 dollars a day. Lack of food can lead to malnutrition, serious illness and death. In 2006, 9.7 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday. Most of these deaths, though not directly due to starvation, were the result of illness suffered by children already weakened by hunger.

The time needed to secure food for one's family is time people cannot spend doing other things, like working or getting an education. Until we feed the hungry, it will be impossible to lift families out of poverty. Many people feel ending world hunger should be our number one priority. Ask if participants are familiar with any organizations addressing this issue. Their families might belong to one or more. They might have raised money for Heifer Project International to purchase farm animals or trees for struggling communities. There are many organizations and many ways to help.

An online game. The United Nations World Food Program has a website FreeRice.com. On the website, you can play educational games to increase your vocabulary, learn about famous works of art, practice foreign languages and learn geography. As you play a game, you earn rice to help feed the hungry.

Letters to Congress. Bread for the World is a Christian organization that asks Congress and lawmakers to try to alleviate hunger around the world. They accept donations and members receive legislative alerts to lobby their Congress representatives to support worthwhile legislation.

A Sabbath Offering. The ONE Campaign is dedicated to ending extreme poverty and preventable disease. ONE members believe it is wrong for some of us to have so much while others have so little. They want to share the wealth. One of their programs is ONE Sabbath. On their website, you will see material for holding a ONE Sabbath event for several different faiths, but currently, there is not one for UUs. Perhaps your group would like to create resources for a UU Sabbath. What sources would UUs look to for inspiration in the work of eliminating poverty? Sacred texts? Words from prophetic women and men?

Creating a guide for a UU Sabbath is a big project. Yet it would be a great contribution to our faith. If your group decides to work on this, solicit help from the Social Justice Committee, minister, religious educator and others in your congregation. Consider inviting neighboring congregations to work with you. If the group develops a UU Sabbath for ONE, you might contact the ONE Campaign and inquire about working with them to post it on their website.