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Food & Faith PracticesWestern Lake Superior Compact Learn, Live and Lead Series

A Call to Action: Moving Beyond CharityFaith communities can play a pivotal role in building local food and farm webs that help end hunger and

bring justice to the food system. Congregations often have resourcesland, kitchens, buildings andvolunteersthat can be harnessed for sustainable community development. Gardens, buying clubs andother projects that promote health and food security are ways faith communities are advancing food

justice. These initiatives empower families and neighborhoods to grow and process their own food,

collaborate with local farmers and regain control over their diet and health. Churches may even providean incubation sites for microbusinesses. Many communities are turning to these kinds of creative

solutions to foster economic resiliance and social justice.

LearnStudy hunger, food access issues, and newer concepts like foodsovereignty, a call from farming communities around the world

for greater justice and control over what people grow and eat.Where does our food come from? Who touches it along the wayand how are they treated? How does my faith connect to food

issues? What issues and changes are most important? When am

I going to do something about it? The Bible is full of food justice

stories, including that first food violation by Adam and Eve!Your place of worship is a great place to learn the connections

between the food system and our faith.

Some places to start are:

Presbyterian Hunger Programs Food & Faith website for resources www.pcusa.org/food. Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table is a great ecumenical Christian curriculum with

adult, middle school versions available atgamc.pcusa.org/ministries/hunger/practice-just-eating GreenFaith'sRepairing Eden Guide: Sustainable Food Practices for Faith-Based Institutions.

greenfaith.org/resource-center/stewardship/food-and-faith

More good ideas and resources: US Food Sovereignty Alliance: www.usfoodsovereigntyalliance.orgCoalition of Immokalee Workers: www.ciw-online.organd for students, seerealfoodchallenge.org/resources

LiveCongregations can build communityrelationships and be vitalized by taking what

we learn about food justice and faith andputting it into a practice. Below are someexamples of faithful action taken by various

worshiping communities;

Host a farmers market on the churchs

parking lot

Start a community or church garden,

involving youth and elders

Consider organizing a "Local Foods Potluck!"Make dishes prepared with locally grownfoods. Elderly participants could tell about thefood system when they were young and dohands-on instruction on how to put up food.Local farmers and/or farm workers can beinvited to talk about their lives and answerquestions. Play music and have fun! Thecentral theme could be "Celebration of GodsBountiful and Fruitful Creation."

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Host a Congregation Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share drop-off point

Offer subsidized CSA shares to low-income families

Buy locally for home and congregational use to support the regional food system

Use/lend the churchs kitchen for preservation parties, to prepare marketable food products,and to provide storage for locally grown foods

Provide nutrition education for members and the wider community

LeadLeading from a place of learned and lived practices, with

humility, passion and vision is inspiring. Faithful actioncan be liberating and essential for needed change.

Support efforts to bring farmers markets and

produce to low-income communities

Sponsor a farmer to enroll in the Farm

Beginnings SFA program

Support local, state and national policies that allow

the development of local food economies, includingsprawl control and farmland preservation

Spread urban gardening developing church,

school and community gardens

Train young people to garden and develop value-

added products for sale

Facilitate direct marketing of local foods (e.g. farmto cafeteria, Fresh Stops) with special emphasis on

lower-income communities

Support local processing and

de-centralized distributionsystems

Raise the moral and

environmental concerns aboutgenetic engineering in

agriculture

Advocate for fair wages, safeconditions and dignity for farm

workers

Promote water and soil healthwith decreased chemical use

and sustainable livestockproduction

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of

the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" ~ Isaiah 58:6

Learn Live Lead!

Limited acces to land is an issuefor low-income and young futurefarmer. This injustice is harmful toboth the future producers and tothe ability to get increased fresh,healthy local food. One hope isthat churches and otherorganizations will work topreserve Freedom Fields. Theidea is to gather parcels of land,

through land donations orfundraising. Then lease or rentthese lands to young and low-income farmers. Note - CountyTax forfeit lands might be anadditional option for land access.