St. John’s-in-the-Mountain Sermon -- January 13, 2008
Robert Dostis, Executive Director, Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger
It is an honor to be here this morning to share reflections on today’s reading.
We heard this morning in Isaiah 42:
1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
In the next 15 minutes I will talk about justice—particularly as it pertains to hunger—because, arguably, the most basic requirement for human survival is food. When there is no food, people suffer acutely with devastating consequences. When there is little food, people suffer chronically with maladies of undernutrition that adversely affect the body, mind, and soul. When we ignore the sufferings of others who are hungry, we abandon God’s command, forsake Jesus’ ministry, and commit an injustice against human kind.
Worldwide, millions starve. In the United States alone, there are 35 million people suffering hunger and being robbed of their potential for health and happiness. In Vermont, there are over 65,000 people, including 19,000 children, who regularly eat substandard food and who, in the worst cases, go without, because they lack enough money to purchase food.
We must ask ourselves: Where is the justice in so many hungry Vermont children—enough children to fill 380 yellow school buses? Where is the justice in the fact that this phenomenon is not getting better? The number of households where there simply is not enough food—where children are forced to skip meals—has doubled in Vermont in the past few years.
There are many, many reasons for hunger—but there are four overarching reasons I want to address this morning:
The 1st: Costs are increasing at a much faster rate than people’s incomes.
The 2nd: Americans have invested in a solution to hunger that cannot deliver.
The 3rd: The federal government for too long now has reduced its commitment to addressing hunger.
And lastly: Far too many people clearly don’t see hunger as a problem in America.
(1) We all know that costs are increasing. Simply put: more and more people just can’t keep up with rising expenses, and when there’s not enough money to go around, it’s the food budget that takes the hit first. Costs are increasing—for food, fuel, housing, health care, clothing, child care and other essentials. We are all feeling the pinch, some more than others. But as just one example: look at what has happened to the price of gas and heating fuel. Vermonters are spending $900 million more in fuel today than they were just 4 years ago. To help put this figure in perspective, $900 million is equal to all the money collected by the statewide education tax. That’s a lot of money that could have paid for food. Instead, more money is used to heat homes and purchase gas to get to work – leaving empty cupboards at home.
When I was 9, I started doing the weekly grocery shopping with my mother. We were poor, and I learned some very valuable lessons in economizing. I learned how to read labels, how to bargain shop, and how to keep the groceries within our limited budget. It was then, while waiting in line at the check out, that I became really good at sizing up the shopping cart and estimating what the groceries would cost—probably because I dreaded the embarrassment of discovering that we didn’t have enough money to pay the cashier and would have to choose what to put back. I’ve continued this practice in to adulthood, as a game, to see how close I can get to the total. Up until about 5 years ago, I was usually within a few dollars – and once, I even guessed right down to the penny.
A couple of weeks ago I stopped at the supermarket for a few things – toothpaste, cereal, chicken wings for a New Year’s pot luck, bread, some carrots for my rabbit and goats, pretzels, and other incidentals: no staples, just extras. And I played my guessing game. Since I’ve been underestimating lately, I tacked an extra $11 to my initial guess—and settled on $63. The total bill actually came to $84.
Every single time, I am taken-aback when I’m hit with the final grocery bill. And, I ask myself: How can people afford this? The answer, quite plainly, is that they can’t. Instead, people water down their milk and juice to make it go further. They reduce the amount of protein and healthy foods they buy—the meats, fruits, and vegetables—and instead they purchase cheap packaged Ramen Noodles and Kool Aid. And, parents skip meals so their children can eat. The bottom line is: more and more people are not keeping up with rising costs. The injustice of hunger is escalating in our communities and across the nation.
(2) To my 2nd point, in the face of this injustice, Americans have invested in a solution to hunger that cannot deliver. Over 20 years ago, as hunger in the United States was more widely acknowledged, a new system of emergency food delivery programs took root. The food banking system was created and grew into the multi-billion dollar industry that it is today. As a society, we put our faith into this as the solution to hunger. But despite all the good will expended and all the hard work applied in the charitable food network—at food banks and food shelves across the country—hunger has grown, is growing, and it is expected to get worse. The charitable food system cannot keep up with demand.
This solution to hunger is failing. Although most Americans think the problem of hunger is being solved by the donations of food from food corporations, and by all the people, congregations, schools, and communities that are doing food drives, can drives, and turkey drives, the fact is: donations to food banks are shrinking. I’m not talking about donations from individuals: individuals are still giving generously. But the amount of food contributed from corporations, which has historically been the backbone of the charitable food network, is shrinking while the demand for food is increasing. The food supply donated by corporations: food that was over produced, lacked proper labels, was not properly packaged, or was in someway damaged is declining. As manufacturers have learned from their mistakes, improved their processes, and increased their efficiencies, they have had less and less “waste” food to donate. Nationwide, inventories at food banks are down. In Vermont, the Foodbank has reported 50% less food this year compared to last year—leading them to put out a special call for individuals to donate to their local food shelves this past Christmas season because of the Foodbank’s low inventory and inability to deliver.
The food banks and food shelves that make up the charitable food network have been bringing critical relief to the immediate hunger needs of many of our brethren. But charity is not justice, and as individuals, congregations, and communities, we have invested in a system that cannot, and will not, rectify the injustice of hunger.
(3) And so, I come to my third point: What has our federal government done over these past 20 years, to address the injustice of hunger? It has ignored justice by reducing its commitment to addressing the problem of hunger. We have, quite frankly, let the government off the hook – and by extension ourselves – because the government is us.
During the past 20 years, while Americans were focused on collecting cans and starting food shelves and food banks, the federal government under funded every federal nutrition program that existed. Some nutrition programs were completely gutted; most were given just enough to limp along. None of the programs were funded adequately; none were given sufficient resources to meet the growing need.
Yet Americans were not focused on this. We were not focused on addressing the underlying structures, the causes of hunger. We were not holding our government accountable for bringing forth justice. Instead, we continued to work harder and harder to get food to people—to respond to the immediate needs of the hungry—to invest in charity by building up the emergency food system.
Responding to the problem of hunger—is not just about charity. It must, as we read in Isaiah 42, also be about bringing forth justice. We must expand our view of addressing hunger from canned goods—from charity—to justice. We know what the solutions to hunger are, and we know that no one program can do it alone. We must build an infrastructure—a network of programs that provides the tools, resources, and food people need in order to feed themselves and their families. We must double America’s investment in hunger relief and nutrition programs.
(4) This brings me to my 4th and final point: If we know what the solution to hunger is, why have we not solved the problem? The answer is: because far too many people don’t see hunger as a problem in America. As long as most Americans think that justice is being served in the current environment—that charity will solve the problem of hunger—then, change will be low in coming and more will go hungry.
Let us look to Isaiah 42:7, where the Lord God calls us:
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
These are the obstacles that need to be overcome for our nation to end hunger and bring justice to the hungry. When it comes to hunger, too many people are blind; too many are captive to their false impressions, misinformation, and stereotypes and choose not to respond. And there are far, far too many who see hunger, who understand the problem of hunger, but who still sit in darkness. They sit in darkness because they believe that what is being done is sufficient to heed the Lord’s command to feed the hungry. But it is not sufficient, and it will not end hunger. It is not about charity, it is about justice; and there is a lot of work ahead for us to do.
Let us take pause, however, to recognize that at St. John’s – both as a congregation and as individual members – much has been done already. Collectively, you are a beacon of light in the midst of the hunger epidemic. You help those in immediate need by generously supporting local food shelves and the Foodbank. And, you have been part of the movement that is the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. You have been actively working with The Campaign on a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger in our state; to bringing forth justice.
I joined St. John’s in 1994 with my partner Chuck. I became the executive director of The Campaign in 1995. And since that time, we have been partners in growing our mission to feed the hungry.
When we—the St. John’s community and the Campaign—first joined forces, The Campaign was a staff of three, focused mostly on community organizing to start breakfast programs. Shortly after I arrived, the Episcopal Diocese joined us is this work and we doubled our efforts to feed the hungry and began work to expand the Summer Food Program. In subsequent years, with a growing staff, we expanded our work to increase access to the Food Stamp and the Child and Adult Food Care Programs, we launched our statewide nutrition education program, and we initiated our political advocacy efforts in both Montpelier and Washington. In fact, this advocacy work was the catalyst for my running for political office.
With your help, we've added 160 schools to the breakfast program— reaching 12,000 more Vermont kids; we've more than doubled the number of children fed each day at Summer Meal programs now reaching upwards of 6,000 kids; we've helped more than 10,000 Vermonters gain access to the Food Stamp program; and nearly 4,000 low-income parents and teens have learned to cook healthy meals on a tight budget through our Cooking for Life nutrition education series.
These are some of the programs that, when combined with the emergency—or charitable—food network, will bring justice to the hungry. No one program alone can solve hunger. We need a comprehensive infrastructure supported not just by the private sector, but by the government.
Justice will come when all eyes are open to the issue of hunger, when all eyes are released from the dungeon of darkness. Justice will come—and we will have better served our communities, our state, our nation, and our God, when we—as individuals, congregations, communities, and a government—make ending hunger our priority.
St. John’s-in-the-Mountains has demonstrated this understanding with actions that speak not just of charity—but of justice; justice that is helping to bring food to all those in need in every corner of Vermont and beyond. The support you give The Campaign is an act of justice because our work is about responding to long-term needs—to addressing underlying structures and policies. We cannot do this work alone. We cannot heed God’s word to feed the hungry and to bring forth justice without your voices, without your support, and without your actions.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your faithfulness in heeding the words of Isaiah Chapter 42.
I invite you to join me—and my colleague Joanne Heidkamp—for a viewing downstairs, immediately following the Service, of our film Every Child, Every Day. This is a film about our work to engage all Vermont communities to ensure access to enough nutritious food for every child, every day. It is a film about hope. It is a film about justice.
Thank you.