Spirit in Action

Ending Hunger Now - Laura Ida and DeeAnn Rambo

Laura and DeeAnn caught a passion for the work because of Ending Hunger Now, a book by George McGovern, Bob Dole, and Donald Messer (Democrat, Republican, and minister - but all Methodists) as part of a Lenton study group at River Falls United Methodist Church. The work of Ending Hunger Now is endless, but Laura, DeeAnn & others bring nearly boundless energy & creativity to the work.

Broadcast on:: 09 Sep 2007
Audio Format:: other

(upbeat music) ♪ Let us sing this song for the healing of the world ♪ ♪ That we may hear as one ♪ ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ ♪ And our lives will feel the echo of our healing ♪ - Welcome to Spirit in Action. My name is Mark helps me. Each week, I'll be bringing you stories of people living lives of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, creative action, and progressive efforts. I'll be tracing the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service, hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred fruit in your own life. ♪ Let us sing this song for the dreaming of the world ♪ ♪ That we may dream as one ♪ ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ - Today for Spirit in Action, I again take you to the fellowship room of the River Falls United Methodist Church in which I visited with a number of Northern spirit radio guests in July of this year. The topic today is hunger and ending it. I'm joined today by two members of the congregation, Laura Ida and Deann Rambo, both active with a group called Ending Hunger Now. It's a big issue with worldwide and local importance and they are taking it on head on, seriously engaging with a deeply spiritual and religious call to listen to the needs of the poor. Welcome Laura and Deann to Spirit in Action. - Thank you, thank you. - We're here at the River Falls United Methodist Church and that is in part happenstance because it's three blocks from the campus of the University of Wisconsin River Falls, which is where the Friends General Conference Gathering is being held this week. And there's another coincidence. Some might almost say it's a conjunction of the stars as I didn't plan this, but you, Laura and Deann, are here to talk about your work with Ending Hunger Now. And this also turns out to be the day that we do what's called simple foods over at the Friends Gathering. For lunch today, instead of our usual sumptuous meal, we had a simple meal of rice and beans and the money that saved from this one meal is contributed to a group called Right Sharing of World Resources. The mission of Right Sharing of World Resources is at its core very similar to that of Ending Hunger Now, the balancing of material and spiritual riches of the world, which will go a long way towards reducing completely unnecessary suffering, including hunger. I was tickled when I was eating my rice and beans to realize I'd be heading over to talk to you, knowing I was sitting in the midst of a number of diners who were making a step in the direction of addressing this concern, which is so dear to you, Laura and Deann. Laura, I believe that you're the chair of the group. What do you actually call the group? - Our group is called Ending Hunger Now, and that is from the title of a book that we studied during a Lenten study. It was by Bob Dole and George McGovern and Donald Messer. - So is this a national group, a regional group, or maybe just a local committee? - Well, our team at our church just chose that title to become our title, the title of the book. So that would be a very local. The book itself was recommended by the National Council of Churches, so it was available nationwide as a study. - And Deann, you're part of the group. Do you have an official title or are you just hard worker? - I didn't have no official title, but I do participate very regularly. - So Laura, could you say some more about the book? Again, the title is Ending Hunger Now, and the authors include George McGovern, Bob Dole, and... - And Donald Messer, who is a theologian, and of course Bob Dole with Republican ties, George McGovern with Democratic ties, and have been working politically for years with hunger issues, decided to get together with Donald Messer, join in writing this book. - We chose it as a Lenten study because it looked as something interesting and something very appropriate and crucial, but didn't realize what seed we were gonna plant by studying that book. We originally thought it was going to be a five-week study. We would do it for Lent, and hopefully it would be enriching for that time, but we didn't expect that it would be a continuing cause among us. - Although I'm quicker now, I was raised as a Catholic, and for Lent, we would always give up something, maybe not eat something for the duration. You decided, instead, to take in a good book during Lent. Is that, in addition to some self-denial you were doing, or is this simply part of the way you do your Lenten devotion? - During Lent, we normally meet for a service midweek, but we like to offer some specific studies for the thought of doing something in a way extra in a meditative or contemplative or learning atmosphere. - So, what was your reaction when you read the book as part of your study group? - Well, I think just even previewing the book was just a shock to our awareness of the hunger situation. It's easy to become contemplative and to know that there are starving people, and you've heard of it since you were a child, and you wanted to package your peas and send them to Africa when your parents spoke of that. But it really, the statistics, just within the first few pages, that one person is dying every three seconds around this world with hunger, or within the hour that we might be chatting here, that over 1200 people will die of starvation, was just very startling to us. And I remember a woman who was sitting in the congregation the day we were starting the study, and we had put some of those statistics in a short paragraph, and she was reading it before the service, and she just got up and came to us, and she said, "I feel like I need to be sitting here." So just that awareness was quite impacting on us. - Well, for me, other than actual experience in front of me, nothing impacts me as strongly as a song that tells a story. And I want to share with you a song from one of the great storytellers, Harry Chapin, his song, "The Shortest Story." (gentle music) ♪ I am born today ♪ ♪ The sun burns a promise in my eye ♪ ♪ Mama strikes me ♪ ♪ And I draw a breath and cry ♪ ♪ Above me a cloud softly tumbles through the sky ♪ ♪ I am glad to be alive ♪ ♪ It is my seventh day ♪ ♪ I taste the hunger and I cry ♪ ♪ My brother and sister ♪ ♪ Think to Mama's side ♪ ♪ She squeezes her breasts ♪ ♪ But it has nothing to provide ♪ ♪ Someone weaves ♪ ♪ I'd call the sweet ♪ ♪ It's what your days today ♪ ♪ Mama does not hold me anymore ♪ ♪ I open my mouth ♪ ♪ But I am too weak to cry ♪ ♪ Up on me a bed ♪ ♪ Slowly crawls across the sky ♪ ♪ Why is there nothing ♪ ♪ Now to do but ♪ (gentle music) (eerie music) - That was "The Shortest Story" by Harry Chapin. I'm almost sorry to have shared that with you because if it hits you like it hits me, there's a deep sadness. But then that's what our efforts to heal the world are often motivated by. And so I'm talking today to two people trying to motivate people to help the world. Laura Ida and Dan Rambo are part of a group at United Methodist Church in River Falls called Ending Hunger Now. Dan, were you part of that study group also? - I wasn't planning to be, but I ended up being part of it. I had someone from the group, in fact, it was Laura who said, "You know, I have an extra book here. "Would you like to be part of this study?" So I was personally invited and I thought, "Yeah, I can do that. "I can commit for five Sundays for an hour at a time." And I thought, "Well, then we'll be done with it. "That'd be the end." But it wasn't, it was the beginning. - Did this change, you know, this fire for the issue, did that happen to everyone who sat in on the study group? - I'm trying to figure out what it was that clicked for you, you know, the book, the idea, the particular group that you were doing this with. - It was the book, it was the discussions we had, it was also some of the people we brought in to the group to speak with us. We got the opportunity to invite Jana Carl who runs the food shelf right here in River Falls. And we learned more about what is going on in our community and what kinds of needs that are just right here in this town. We also had the opportunity to listen to Felicia Sathard who is coordinating the Hunger Prevention Council of Pierce County. And we talked about what's going on globally, nationally and right here, close to home. And it changed people. It just changed people. We thought more about how we use our own resources. We thought more about where are the gaps and what are the things we need to do to try to fill the needs that are there. - You mentioned Laura as a child wanting to send your P's off to Africa or China or wherever. I think we're pretty used in the USA to thinking about hunger as being their problem, you know, not ours. Did the knowledge that there's hunger in the US hit you like it did, DM? - I think personally I was aware that it is definitely a national problem too. Sometimes even as a local school teacher, it is easy to miss how much it is happening right in our own backyard. And sometimes that's where mission needs to start, is in our own backyard. The Wisconsin Council of Churches has also published a study on hunger for the past year for some emphasis and one out of 10 households in Wisconsin are food insecure where there is struggle to meet the monthly budgets and sometimes food is compromised or parents go without food in order to be sure that their children are fed. - Jesus is portrayed in the Bible as saying you'll have the poor with you always. Some people take that as permission that you're not gonna be able to do anything about it, why bother, why keep pushing the rock up the hill like Sisyphus, only to have it roll back down. Why do you think that you can actually make a difference? You know, change this eternal pattern. Was it something in the Ending Hunger Now book or the study that you did? - I think there's many different ways to answer that question and there's many different ways to look at that scripture. But when I look at the book, yes, they do believe that hunger is a political problem and it can be solved. I remember George McGovern saying in the book that he feels by 2015 hunger could be solved in the United States and by the year 2030, hunger could be solved worldwide. And he knows that he would no longer be on earth at that time, but he said he'll hear the Hallelujah chorus coming from him in heaven when that problem gets taken care of. But these people who have put so much into studying these issues really do feel that there are answers out there on how we share resources. - I think that most of us realize that the solution is more than simply feeding people. That if all you do is simply feed the hungry people of the world, they survive to make more children who in turn make more children. And the problem can simply be multiplied many times over. I think that in the book, they must suggest some kind of solution to that. Can you tell us about that Laura? - Certainly, they talk a lot about education, especially educating young women and that we would solve over half of the birth rate problems and the hunger that sometimes comes from those problems by education of women in particular. - And what do you mean by education of women? - Well, educating them about health habits, about childbirth and childbearing and reproduction, but also educating them so that they become self-sufficient so that they have some way of getting food for their families, whether it be local crafts, whether it be through Pepper International with providing the family a goat and teaching them how to take care of that goat and sell the milk besides feed their own family with that milk and eventually send their child to school and the gift just continuing. - Is there anything either explicitly or implicitly in this education which will lead to a reduction in a balancing of the reproduction rates which are such a big part of the problem? - I believe that in many of the countries that have the worst problems with hunger and starvation, you produce lots of extra children knowing that because of illness and starvation, you're gonna lose some of them and your children are your only social security for your old age. Is that kind of issue addressed in the education that they're talking about in the book, "Ending Hunger Now?" I think DM should take that question because it's a hard one. - Well, I think it is a hard one and I can see your point in saying that if the survival rate increases, but the mindset is still there that yeah, they're surviving, but we could still lose them. When you're faced with starvation, it's a serious issue. And if you think that you're gonna lose, say, if you have six children, you think that you could potentially lose at least four of them, maybe five of them, then you would try to have many. Someone needs to care for you also when you're older, but if you know that you're gonna have a way to survive, if the resources you need are gonna be there, if you have a way to sustain your own life, as well as that of your family, it makes a difference in feeling like you're gonna make it. If you don't think that those resources are gonna be there, what do you do? What else can you do except make the best decisions you can based on the information you have? - I ran into an interesting statistic, perhaps about 15 years ago that bears on this issue, and it's done me to think how quickly these things really can change. This one was about Mexico and their birth rate. Back in the 1960s, they said that the rate was about 6.0. That is that on the average, each family was producing six children, which is three times the two children needed to replace the parents and produce no population growth. Instead of two, they were producing six children, so the population was just soaring into the stratosphere. The government in Mexico then put its efforts to education about family size and birth control, et cetera. And remember, this is happening in a Catholic nation that at least theoretically had doubts about birth control. And then by the mid 1990s, when I read this story, the birth rate had dropped at 2.6, down from 6.0 down to 2.6, which is just a phenomenal drop in a single generation. And I take that as a promise of what concerted educational effort by a government can do with the help of changing economic situations. Is this an issue that they deal with in the book? Because this education can be very effective, I think, but I also believe that the US places some restrictions on its foreign aid if the country receiving the aid is doing birth control, that we can't fund that. Is that addressed in the book? - I don't remember that it has gone into and in a specific way except to emphasize how important that area of education is. - I don't believe they spoke specifically about birth control. I think they spoke more about survival rates. And they spoke a lot about making sure that the little girls were educated as well, 'cause it makes a huge difference in their knowledge and just being able to read. Literacy is a huge, huge issue. If you can read, there are lots of things that are more open to you. That's part of what they were saying, is that that was a beginning. It was a way to open a door. - I guess that one could say that with literacy, your survivability is not only dependent on your children, that it resides in a whole bunch of knowledge is that it gets passed down generation to generation. So what do they advocate in the book that you do to address the hunger problem? And what are you doing with your local ending hunger now group to try and make a difference on this issue? - It seemed they were advocating multi-faceted approaches as well. We know that many of the organizations who donate to food shelves and food banks are religious organizations. They're churches, synagogues, temples. Many, many people who do those things, but it's not just that. They were also asking us to talk to our government officials and let them know what we think is important, that we think it's important to address issues like this, like making sure that people have enough food and have clean water to drink. And not just here, but all over the world. To look at our distribution of resources and realize how much we do have. And that there are lots of people who have next to nothing or who don't know where the next meal is gonna come from. And we need to pay attention. Part of the problems that we have in the world, the conflict we have is over resources. What would it be like if everyone had enough to eat every day, if everyone had a source of clean water to drink? What would change? Would we be fighting over the same things? I don't know, but I would like to see if it would change, if it would be better. - Is that what you got out of it too, Laura? Because part of what I'm hearing is that what we need to do is get government involved in the solution. I think you said, Laura, that the hunger problem is not one of resources, but that it's a political issue. - That was emphasized greatly in the book by both sides, the Republican and the Democrats. That it is a political problem. One of the quotes was you can't build peace on an empty stomach by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. As Deann was mentioning, there was conversation that it is very linked to some of our world turmoil, some of the terrorism that we are dealing with might be dealt better by feeding hungry people and finding homes and jobs. And we need to find better ways to share and spread the knowledge of technology in order to have people be able to live peaceably in this world together. - Well, again, that is part of it. It seems like it's about finding balance, and we don't have it right now. We have a lot of wealth in the US, and we consume it an awful lot, but where does that leave the rest of the world? And it's not in a good place. - I guess on a related note, I'd mentioned that in the USA, even though we theoretically have plenty of food within our borders, that it's not distributed in a way that's healthy, and that in fact, there are a lot of people who may have plenty of calories in their diet, but can be very malnourished. Do they address that kind of issue in the book too? - Well, there's some talk about that too, and I know that income distribution makes a difference. When people don't have enough money, when they feel like they can't make ends meet, what is the first thing they buy? They buy what they can afford, and if what you can afford is the thing that is high sodium and high fat and high sugar, because that's what you have money for, and it feels your stomach. It's not necessarily good for you, but you don't feel so hungry. It's the first thing, because it's expensive to eat well. I mean, it's expensive to buy good and fresh fruits and vegetables. I think it's sad sometimes when I realize that I can buy a gallon of soda from less money that I can buy a gallon of milk or a gallon of juice. So it's harder, it's more expensive to eat well. - I'm intrigued that this book that you read, ending hunger now, is by a Democrat, a Republican, and a minister. I would imagine that many people have a somewhat false image of the Democrat, George McGovern, as some kind of rabid liberal or radical, probably a remainder of the smear tactics of Nixon when McGovern lost to Nixon for the presidency back in 1972. Can a Democrat like McGovern, who after all is the son of a minister, and he was briefly a minister himself, can he agree about governmental involvement with a Republican like Bob Dole? - They seem to agree that it's possible to make changes, to make changes in policy, and make changes in policy and funding that would have good results. They seem to think it's possible. They can talk to each other. They were willing to cross the aisle to realize that they had a common goal, and their common goal was to make sure that people have enough food. It was simple as that, and if you can be clear about those things, what is it that you're trying to accomplish? It doesn't have to be partisan. It doesn't need to be. If the idea is you want to feed people, then you talk about it, and you work together, and you find a way. Given that the three authors of the book are all Methodists, I think that they must have something to say about religion and this issue. What is their theological perspective as presented in the book? Is it a theological argument, or even just a common sense argument? I believe that there are some folks who would argue that what we need to do is let survival of the fittest weed out who is to survive. That that is how God hands down his rulings through the weak perishing and the fittest surviving. How can you be fit if you don't have enough to eat? You can't even be well. I remember a personal story. I have enough you who is just gonna turn three in a couple of weeks, and every night I know that my sister who is his mom, and his dad, and little Evan say a prayer at night, and they include family and friends, and then they get to the end of it, and they say, "And please help us, "stay happy, healthy, safe, and together." And they sound like very simple words, but we can't even get to happy and healthy if your stomach is empty. And if the water you drink could kill you, how can you be happy and healthy in those circumstances? You may find an inner source of joy, but that is not gonna fill your tummy, and it's not gonna give you the nutrition you need just to sustain life. It seems to me we need to start there. That is a basic level. It's a very basic way of saying that we care about each other, that we love each other enough to make sure that those basic needs are met. - I wanna make sure that you understand that the point of view that I was just advancing is really not my own, but it is one that I'm sure that the authors of this book heard in criticism to the ideas they were advancing. What I'm wondering about is what's the theological, what's the belief that you have behind it that says we really should care about these individuals and save them if they don't have enough food to eat. If they can't take care of themselves, some people think that means that God means that they should die. What's the belief that you're drawing on that says we should reach out and help them? - What do we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or in prison? When we have so much, I don't see that there's an excuse to not see when people need something so simple as enough food to eat. And it's here. People sometimes want to say, oh, well, we don't have hungry people in our community. Well, yes, we do. Go talk to Jan and Carl and ask her how many people come to the food shelf every week and every month. Yes, we have hungry people here every day. - Thank you, Deann. Laura, do you have the same point of view on what the motivating reason is for this? - Well, first of all, the book did spend some time theologically looking at scriptures, both in the Jewish and the Christian tradition, but also mentioned worldwide in other traditions, that there has always been an emphasis on sharing with others and sharing our resources with others in different religious traditions. And we did look at those scriptures as a background. And each time we always started our sessions and ended our sessions with some type of devotion and scripture and basing it in our faith. And if we think of some of the verses, I mean, just even creation, food was there. Moses, manna was provided. We look at Isaiah and it says what is true worship and isn't it to feed the hungry and to bring the homeless into your home, much less the scriptures with Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000. Many people have looked at that as an interpretation of really sharing, wasn't the miracle that everyone shared their food that day with others so that everyone was fed. Jesus said, you feed the people with this food. So we looked at James and Faith Without Works' Dad and we put all of those things together just as building it within a faith response also. - That was Laura Ida. You're listening to a Northern spirit radio production which is called Spirit in Action. And I'm talking today with Laura Ida and Deann Rambo who are part of the Methodist Church in River Falls, Wisconsin active in a project called Ending Hunger Now. Deann, I have a suspicion that there is a clash right in the middle of American culture, that the idea that we should take care of the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden goes completely counter to another American ideal, that we are all supposed to be self-made men, lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps, take care of number one, I don't take charity, you could succeed rags to riches if only you try, that we shouldn't have a bleeding heart government, meddling in private affairs. Do you run into that attitude? And do you see it clashing with the work that you're trying to do as part of Ending Hunger Now? - I hear it in different places. I see it in different places and it concerns me when I hear those things. I wanna say, so no one in your family ever struggles. And I even look at my own family and I know that there are parts of my family, some of them are quite wealthy. They're doing just fine. They really don't seem to need much help with anything. And I've known others in the family who could probably use a little bit more help than what they're getting. I can't look at them and deny them and say you don't exist and you don't matter. You're not good enough for me to make sure, try to make sure you have enough to eat. I look at my nephew and he's three. I would do just about anything I could think of to make sure that he would be okay. I can't look at someone else's child differently and say, what's not my kid? Why should I worry about that child? I have a hard time doing that and maybe someone would say it's because I can't exercise appropriate boundaries or something, but I would say the child doesn't have a choice. This child is just as worthy as my nephew. I don't draw the distinction. They're all important to me. - And Laura, when you look inside, does your motivation look the same or different? - Well, I look at different facets of my spiritual journey along with this particular study and the emphasis that that has had on it or the influence. I just look at the interconnectedness of us all and that none of us are here just by ourselves and we are so interconnected with each other and so interconnected with creation. I think I just recently read that some of the Aramaic language and interpretation of Jesus' language, which would have been Aramaic, that when he referred to God, he referred to God in a way that it meant unity and that we just being complete opposite to pull yourself up by your own bootstrap. We're just all united in this, in life. - What do you see, Dan, that balances out this more selfish point of view? - Give me your tired, your hungry, your poor. We have a tradition of that too, of having the least of these among us, opening our arms and opening our land to many, many, many people from many places. I don't think anyone did it alone. I remember reading just a couple years ago, going through some of the genealogy of my family and reading about some of the first of my family to go from Norway into the United States and they came in through Ellis Island, but then they realized that the one family had enough for an ox and the other family had enough for a wagon, but neither one of them would have had enough for both. They had to make it together. They had to work together to get to Wisconsin where they finally did settle, and then the one year before the winter, they built a house that would become the one family's house and then before the next winter, they built a second house. But neither one of them did it. Neither of the families did it separately. They had to do it together because that's how they survived. And I think that that might be how we survive on this planet that we have to do it together. We can't think that we're going to be separate entities. We're not. I don't grow my own food. I mean, not all of it. I can grow some, but I don't raise gals and chickens and french fries. You know, I don't raise all of the day. - What's your plan? What's your plan? It grows up as french fries. (laughing) - I haven't found one yet, but you know, I'll let you know. And then when I find a twinkie seat, I'll get you one of those too. (laughing) - Your story of the two needy families sharing efforts to succeed really doesn't surprise me much. I lived for two years in Togo, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer. And I've traveled extensively around the world since then, both in rich countries and poor. And my observation is that the poorest people I've met have always been the most generous, that their hospitality has really been overwhelming. And although I've met generous and hospitable people among the more fluent countries, I've also noted that there's pretty much a commonplace attitude. Once someone has enough for themselves, they tend to isolate, think that they can take care of themselves so others should fend for themselves as well. It's certainly nothing across the board, but it sometimes seems that the more affluent someone is, the less willing they are to share and the less compassionate they often are. There can be either a self-satisfied tinge to it, or maybe just a disbelieving attitude of, I don't believe that someone else is really struggling and hungry because I'm well off. How do you penetrate that? And I'm asking here for some of the specifics of the work that you're doing. - Well, in some ways, I'm reminded that we just keep building the bigger barn and the bigger barn to store what we all have. But here with our ending hunger now group, and of course many churches through this community and throughout the nation and world, there's so many good things that people are doing and helping other people become aware of it. First step is probably education of our own congregation. The ending hunger now group after five weeks, even before the five weeks was over, by about the third week they were saying to the pastor, "Can we set up a display somewhere? "Can we share all this information?" And she said, "Well, sure. "Eck, you can have the whole worship service "some Sunday, if you'd like." So they just took that and went with it. So we had a display one Sunday with some facts and a big map and a big bowl for people to contribute to. Maybe a month or so later, the first week of May, we had an entire worship service that was dedicated to hunger. We read many different statements during the offering about hunger and facts both locally, throughout our state, nationally, and internationally, facts about hunger. We had responsive reading, stealing with hunger, scripture reading, stealing with some of the scriptures we had looked at. And that was a culmination of our study, but a beginning of what our work would be after that. And so part of it has continued to be education, whether it be blurps in the bulletin, newsletter articles about what our food pantries need and why videos about Heifera International. We haven't talked yet about equal exchange, which was a huge change in this particular church. And maybe Deann would like to talk more about that because she's involved in that. But one of our members is a farmer's wife and she was looking at what another church was doing with equal exchange in another community. We brought that to our group as a possibility of what we can do and equal exchange. Maybe I can just refer it over to Deann 'cause she could probably explain it even better. - So Deann, what is equal exchange? - Equal exchange is a cooperative. It is a company in Massachusetts, but it's a cooperative. So it's owned by the workers and that cooperative works with farmer, grower cooperatives in several nations. The company buys heavily traded commodities such as coffee and tea and cocoa and sugar. And now they've also started with some cranberries and a couple of different kinds of nuts. They buy at the fairly traded price. So those growers are going to get a fair price for their crop, for their work. They're getting paid for their work, for their labor. And if those cooperatives are also certified organic, then there is more money, a premium paid on top of that for the organic growth. So it's putting money where your mouth is if you want sustainable agriculture. If you want people to be able to earn enough from their crops to be able to feed their own families and have a roof over their own heads and put their children in school, then it's a good way to go. Coffee is used a lot in churches, or at least in this part of the country, I know it is. And we made a change. People realized that they could make a vote with their dollars, make a choice with their dollars. And they could choose a fairly traded product over something that wasn't, that had negative trading practices that impacted farmers in a negative way and maybe made it so that they would only get a percentage of what their crop was worth. And then they couldn't even feed their own families from that. We decided we wanted to do it differently. As we tried out the product, there are lots of good things. It's very good coffee if you like that sort of thing. It's very good. As we tried that out, lots of people purchased it, tried the chocolate and tried the teas. And then the congregation, the church decided to go with all fairly traded coffee for all of its events. That's what we use now. It's been a positive change. Didn't you have some people object worried about unnecessarily adding to the budget crunch that I believe most churches faced? Did you have that kind of, we can't afford to waste our tight funds reaction when they looked at the higher prices your church would be paying for its coffee and other supplies? It turns out that it's worked out fairly well. We decided we didn't want to sell at a higher, a much higher price. We have a little bit of a markup, but not much. And what we wanted to be able to do is say, if we sell this 12 ounce bag of coffee to you, then we'll add a few cents onto it, maybe even it to the next dollar, then that extra money will pay for the coffee we serve for everything. So we're pretty close right now. I just saw the money that we've spent purchasing coffee from Equal Exchange and the money that's come in from individual people buying their own purchases of coffee and chocolate and tea. And we're pretty even up and we've been able to pay for the fellowship time coffee for the last year and a half out of those funds. So we've done okay. We've been able to balance it. - Have you had any dissidents, people who say, I'm not gonna buy this expensive coffee? - Actually, no. We've had people ask, do you have this one yet? Can I get this in whole bean? - Well, let's chalk one up for the Methodist, at least those here in River Falls. So beyond the congregational education and the Equal Exchange goods, what are the other programs and activities you're doing? Are you getting out doing hands-on type, hunger-ending work? Are you actually meeting the hungry folks in your area? Are you connecting with other groups, doing similar work in your region? - Well, we've been doing a number of things when you mentioned meeting the hungry people. Nancy, our lay ministry coordinator, had an idea at Thanksgiving time. This church has a tradition of having a Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving. And this year we made sure that invitations were available at the local food pantry and also at the community banquet that takes place twice a month in this community, inviting those people to our Thanksgiving dinner and a number of them did come. I wanna say 20 or 30 guests did come to our church and we included them in our Thanksgiving dinner. Within the community, we have a load of trucks Sunday where there's a pickup truck in our parking lot that makes our attempt at collecting food visible to the community and then our confirmation students and our junior high students took those items over to the food pantry and they had the experience of helping stock the shelves. In October, there will be a community wide effort that wasn't spearheaded by this church but was spearheaded by the Catholic church to organize a weekend to sponsor feed my starving children and actually bring all of the ingredients here to River Falls and have a community event with the college students and all the churches and community members to help put together those packages of food that go to the starving. People actually, it's the very, very basic rule that their stomachs can handle and help to put that together. Partly as an educational awareness and of course, part of it is to help with the volunteer work. The second harvest, Heartland, our group has gone twice to the Twin Cities area and help pegage. - Elbow Macaroni and Dan Stroke would probably be, what do you sing when you pegage Elbow Macaroni? - Yankie doodle. - Can I hear a few notes on it, hear if you can sing? - Stuck a feather in a set and called it Macaroni. - All right. - And that's what you sing when you're packaging 600 pounds of Elbow Macaroni. - Elbow to Elbow too. - Elbow to Elbow. - And that was a fun morning and this summer people went and worked on, I believe, pegaging some frozen pizzas. I was unable to be there. But that has drawn from the church community and also people bringing a grand child along that is a teenager or someone from the bank heard about it and would like to come along. So gradually involving some other community members. - And the group last year was different from the group this year. So we've reached a different segment of our community by having those volunteer opportunities as well. And people understand that volunteering at second harvest, whether it's second harvest, Heartland, which is the one we have in the Twin Cities or one of the other second harvests makes a difference because then every dollar that is used to purchase food from that food bank will buy $9 of food for a local food shelf. And part of it is because there is volunteer labor because we choose to go up and help to sort or repackage food for redistribution. It makes a difference. Your hour or two makes a difference. - We're also able to share through our circuit in Wisconsin United Methodism. We have circuits which the entire state is divided into we're circuit six and there's probably about nine or 10 churches in that circuit. And occasionally they gather together to share ideas and we were able to share some of the ideas with the equal exchange and show the products and also just highlight the book and some of the inspiration that we have found through that with our circuit. - It was a great way to share ideas and spread some knowledge around. - So you're still talking about working primarily with Methodists there. Is there any movement to work in the wider community ecumenically or just with open community groups? - I think Feed My Starving Children is gonna help that 'cause that's an ecumenical effort and there is a committee with people from the majority of the churches in town to work together on that project. So I think that's gonna be a wonderful beginning. - So two years from now, how do you see the community as having changed because of the efforts of ending hunger now? Will it have changed? - I hope it has. I think it has within this congregation or within the space community. I believe it has. There's more awareness. People make the effort to make food chef donations or to choose a fairly traded product over one that isn't. It makes a difference that way and it's a start. Maybe a few hundred people cannot do everything but we can certainly do something. That I think is part of it. Realizing that we do have some power, there are things we can do. It is a big problem but it's not impossible. Start somewhere and at least try. - I think some of our alternative gift giving that we've been emphasizing to helps to spread that message because when people receive a gift of equal exchange coffee or chocolate bars, the whole story about the program is right on the label of the chocolate bar. We've had a woman in our congregation named Barb who's been very creative at providing little Valentine's bags or a little gift for Father's Day or Christmas bags to help people say, "Yeah, equal exchange items would be a good gift." And I think that spreads the word to other people who live in many different communities. - And then they try the product and they say, "Where did you get this?" And we say, "Well, we got it from equal exchange in Massachusetts and there's all this information and maybe you'd like to try it in your town." And sometimes they do. - Because it's actually better. Is that what I'm hearing here? - It's very, very good quality. It's some of the best chocolate I've had. The copy is excellent as well. - And have you had a lot of chocolate to be able to be a real connoisseur? - Oh, yes. Oh, yes. To me, balance is one in each hand. At least sometimes that's balance. - Are you saying it's better than Cadbury chocolate? - Oh, yes. Oh, yes, better than Cadbury. - And you know, them's fighting words. And when you say that to Quaker, you know, Cadbury is a Quaker or a genated kind of thing. - I'll tell you what, I'll run upstairs and get you a sample. You can try it for yourself. - I'm willing to be persuaded that way. - Okay. (laughter) Okay, it's worth a try. Actually, I haven't had anyone yet say, oh, this is terrible. Oh, you should stop selling it. It's not very good. They say, well, I like this. What else do you have? - So are you gonna expand what you're carrying? Are there other equal exchange products that you could be carrying there that you're not carrying yet? - There are others and they have expanded. The company started in 19, I wanna say it's 1980 except that that might not be correct, but it's more than 20 years now. They started by importing coffee beans from El Salvador when it wasn't common practice to do that. And when I think the government probably didn't like that so well. But they started with beans from El Salvador and they've expanded since then. And they're getting coffees from Tanzania and they're getting coffees from many other countries. They're getting fairly traded cocoa and sugar and teas. And then the milk that's used in the milk chocolate comes from cooperatives in the States. They found a very good chocolate tier. I think a Swiss chocolate tier to make their chocolates. They've also now started carrying roasted pecans, roasted salted pecans and cranberries and almonds and those come from the States. And I think that company will continue to expand. They started with one product and now they have many flavors of coffee and then teas and chocolates and lots of good stuff. And I like to see that movement continue. I'd like to see that continue here as well. - We've also thought about expanding just different like the serve products, which are products that are made in third world countries. And then by crafts people sold here in the United States and the profit goes back to the artisans themselves in these countries. And we have talked with some hope of being able to do that also. You know, we're sitting here with an audience in front of us. I maybe I should open up and offer them an opportunity to share a few questions. Any questions anyone in the audience cares to pass to Laura and Deann about ending hunger now? Maybe not. Maybe so. I think you all just want a piece of that chocolates. You can't wait for the interview to end so we can get up there. (laughing) - We did give chocolate samples one Sunday. - Instead of bread for chameleon bread. - Well, this is a teaser for you. You can buy a case of these minis, sort of like the Hershey's minis, but probably 10 times better than that. Little ones, you get 888 of them. And it's over $100, but you know, it's a nice little taste of some 55% cocoa, really good chocolate. And so we took a few of those and they were samples. Here, try this. Hey, that's really good. I like that. Do you have more? - I'm thinking of being an elementary school teacher, thinking of our children too, that we've tried to encourage ways to involve our children. And one Sunday, we gave them all a dollar during the children's sermon, and their assignment was to help us, to help others. And then they went shopping with that dollar and brought things that were needed for the food shelf. And then UNICEF has been a tradition in churches for years, but our church hadn't worked with UNICEF recently. And so we got the children, again, involved in the UNICEF efforts. And then in Heifer International, too, we read the story about faith, the cow, and how Heifer International started. And the children collected money through the Sunday School for chickens and things too, and animals to send. So I think the seed of having children involved is very important also. - And the group also decided that as a way of alternative gift-giving in honor of the pastors, we would purchase shares of an animal in their honor. We were trying to decide between a sheep or a goat, but then we collected too much money, so we got a llama. - I assume this was with Heifer International. - It was with Heifer International. We purchased shares in the llama, and we're trusting the organization to make sure that it goes where it needs to go. Again, it was a gift that would keep giving. We gave it in honor of people we love and care about, and then that gift is given to a family. And it keeps giving. - Speaking of passing on, there's a song about Dan West, the founder of what has come to be known as Heifer International, and it's on an album called Keep On Passing On. Andy Murray is a songwriter, and he is a member of the Church of the Brethren, as was Dan West, Heifer's founder. In case you don't catch it in the song, Dan West was a farmer from the USA who was doing relief work in Spain during the Spanish Civil War when he came up with an idea to gain a victory over hunger. The song is called Cowboy Dan, and it's by Andy Murray. ♪ You've seen in the pictures, I'm sure ♪ ♪ The cowboys of Ireland ♪ ♪ Walkin' tall and carryin' ♪ ♪ A gun close by their hand ♪ ♪ Mean and tough ♪ ♪ 'Cause that's what it means in this tough world to be a man ♪ ♪ I tell you about another kind of cowboy ♪ ♪ I like to call him Cowboy Dan ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living ♪ ♪ Cowboy Dan ♪ ♪ I never carried a gun ♪ ♪ He didn't need one to be a man ♪ ♪ Bring old out a lot hunger in ♪ ♪ That it was his plan ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living ♪ ♪ A workin' given cowboy ♪ ♪ Simple living cowboy ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living cowboy ♪ ♪ Cowboy Dan ♪ ♪ Old hunger is so big and the most men ♪ ♪ Simple step aside ♪ ♪ Figure they can't take him home ♪ ♪ So they never even tried ♪ ♪ Complexity never bothered then ♪ ♪ He was a simple man so ♪ ♪ He took out his pencil and he said, "All right, Dan." ♪ ♪ I figured out a simple plan ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living ♪ ♪ Cowboy Dan ♪ ♪ Never carried a gun ♪ ♪ He didn't need one to be a man ♪ ♪ Bring old out a lot hunger in ♪ ♪ If that was his plan ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living ♪ ♪ A workin' given cowboy ♪ ♪ Simple living cowboy ♪ ♪ Workin' given simple living cowboy ♪ ♪ Down ♪ ♪ They knew there were so many people ♪ ♪ They hadn't enough to be ♪ ♪ Figured a cow or two might help ♪ ♪ So to put them on their feet ♪ ♪ He went all over this great big country ♪ ♪ To the farmers that he knew said ♪ ♪ Hey, brothers, I've got a plan ♪ ♪ Could you spare me a cow or two? ♪ ♪ He took goats and pigs and cows and sheep ♪ ♪ And he loaded them on a boat ♪ ♪ And he put them on the Atlantic Ocean ♪ ♪ And he sent them out the float ♪ ♪ He sent them to the people and Spain ♪ ♪ Didn't have enough to be ♪ ♪ He said to maybe my friends ♪ ♪ You could use some goats or pigs or cows or sheep ♪ ♪ Well, take this cow, milk it, friend ♪ ♪ You know you don't have to pay ♪ ♪ But all the winners mourn when you were first cast born ♪ ♪ Which kindly give it away ♪ ♪ And take these chicks and gather eggs ♪ ♪ You know you don't have to pay ♪ ♪ But take a few eggs, hatch 'em, raise 'em ♪ ♪ Baby chicks and catch 'em and kindly give 'em away ♪ ♪ Hold out, law hunger is big of me ♪ ♪ We may not bring 'em in ♪ ♪ We'll surely deal him a mighty blow ♪ ♪ We'll have to take it on the chin ♪ ♪ And it might help a lot of hungry people ♪ ♪ So to get back on their feet ♪ ♪ If we keep on keep on passing on ♪ ♪ Those goats and pigs and cows and sheep ♪ ♪ Goats and pigs and cows and sheep ♪ ♪ All workin' gettin' simple livin' ♪ ♪ Cowboy dang ♪ ♪ Never carried a gun ♪ ♪ He didn't need one to be a man ♪ ♪ To bring all that law hunger in ♪ ♪ That was his plan ♪ ♪ Workin' givein' simple livin' ♪ ♪ I'm workin' givein' cowboy ♪ ♪ Simple livin' cowboy ♪ ♪ Workin' givein' simple livin' cowboy dang ♪ ♪ You've seen in the picturesos ♪ ♪ I'm sure the cowboys of our land ♪ ♪ Walkin' tall in the canyon ♪ ♪ I got you close by that hand ♪ ♪ Mean and tough ♪ ♪ 'Cause that's what it means ♪ ♪ And it's tough for 'em to be a man ♪ ♪ Now you know about another kind of cowboy ♪ ♪ I like to call him cowboy ♪ ♪ Root to cowboy, not a hot-to-loop cowboy ♪ ♪ He was just a thunker cowboy ♪ ♪ Workin' givein' simple livin' cowboy dang ♪ ♪ Do, do, do, do, do, do, do ♪ (music) That was Cowboy Dan by Andy Murray. You know, I don't think we have enough songs about how to get the victory over hunger, but that's what our guests are about today. Laura Ida and Dan Rambo are members of River Falls United Methodist Church and they're part of a group called Ending Hunger Now. I'm Mark Helpsmeet and you're listening to a northern spirit radio production called Spirit in Action, and we have some more visiting to do with Laura and Dan. You mentioned UNICEF, Laura, what did you do with them and why don't you spell out what UNICEF stands for? On the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, they do numerous things. Sometimes it's involving education where children don't even have the supplies, the basic pencil or a few books or something to write on. Many times they're involved in children's health, providing that vitamin that might prevent blindness in a certain village where they don't have that or immunizations. So the education and the health and food also. A more recent thing that we were aware of was just some mosquito netting and how important that is for families and for young children so that they don't catch disease through the insect population and UNICEF works with that also. Well you know there's folks listening to this program who undoubtedly want to follow up on what you've been talking about. So how can they get connected with the work that you're doing locally for Ending Hunger Now and where can they find this book? How did they get a hold of it and the study that you did about that? First of all we meet the first Sunday of every month at River Falls United Methodist Church on 2nd Street at 9am. Do you allow Lutherans? Definitely. The fact that Deanna is a Lutheran actually. That was my background. It was ALC prior to the merger for those who wouldn't understand that. And we've had nine Methodists involved in our group and the book is available in a number of places but Deanna is going to read the website. Well there is a website that says www. EndingHungerNow.org. The book itself was published by Fortress Press but I am sure that the local library would be happy to bring the book in if they don't already have it. Again if they don't already have a copy. Thanks for that pointer Deanna. It's great work you're doing. It sounds exciting and all of the facets of it that you're exploring keep up the work both of you, Laura and Deanna. And thanks for joining me for Spirit in Action. Thank you. Thank you. You've been listening to a Spirit in Action interview with Laura Ida and Deanna Rambo, both members of River Falls United Methodist Church and active with a group called Ending Hunger Now. The theme music for this program is Turning of the World performed by Sarah Thompson. This Spirit in Action program is an effort of Northern Spirit Radio. You can listen to our programs and find links and information about us and our guests on our website northernspiritradio.org. Thank you for listening. I am your host Mark Helpsmeet and I welcome your comments and stories of those leading lives of spiritual fruit. May you find deep roots to support you and grow steadily toward the light. This is Spirit in Action. ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ ♪ With every voice, with every song ♪ ♪ We will move this world along ♪ ♪ And our lives will feel the echo of our healing ♪ (upbeat music)