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HUNGER PROGRAM
GOALS:
-To teach the participants about the hunger crisis in the world.
-To teach the participants about the Jewish perspective on hunger.
Objectives:
-The participants will learn how to teach others about hunger.
-The participants will take a quiz on hunger.
-The participants will have a discussion about the hunger quiz.
Time Table:
0:00-0:05 Group Leader Reads Story
0:05-0:20 Discussion Questions on Hunger
0:20-0:40 Discussion on Ways to Combat Hunger
0:40-0:55 Myth/Fact Discussion
0:55-1:00 Torah Text and Introduction to MAZON
Materials:
box to place caned food in
pencils
myth/fact sheet
Butcher Paper
Markers
Procedure:
0:00-0:05 Group Leader Reads Story
A teacher in Minnesota asked his class: "How many of you ate breakfast this
morning?" As he expected only a few children raised their hands. So he
continued, "How many of you skipped breakfast this morning because you don't like
breakfast?" Lots of hands went up. "And how many of you skipped
breakfast because you didn't have time for it?" Many other hands went up.
He was pretty sure by then why the remaining children hadn't eaten, but he didn't
want to ask them about being poor, so he asked. "How many of you skipped
breakfast because your family doesn't usually eat breakfast?" A few more hands
were raised. Finally he noticed a small boy in the middle of the classroom, whose
hand had not gone up. Thinking the boy hadn't understood, he asked, "And why
didn't you eat breakfast this morning?" The boy replied, his face serious:
"It wasn't by turn."
0:05-0:20 Discussion Questions on Hunger
-the group leader can read these questions or they can have the PP's write down the
answers and then discuss them.
HUNGER QUIZ
1. To your best estimation, about how many people are living in poverty in your
community? Do you have any contact with them?
2. Why does your community do to fight poverty within itself?
3. What does your synagogue do to fight hunger?
4. What does your youth group do to fight hunger?
5. What do you think is the best way your synagogue can do to combat hunger?
0:20-0:40 Discussion Questions on Ways to Combat Hunger
-The group leader holds up a piece of butcher paper and tells the group that they are
going to think of some ways to combat hunger in their community.
-Have one person take down ideas using markers
-After the group is done thinking of ideas then have one person read them all.
-At the end of the discussion the group leader reads the ideas on HOW YOU CAN COMBAT
HUNGER and HELP THE ENVIRONMENT + facts about hunger in the US.
HOW YOU CAN COMBAT HUNGER and HELP THE ENVIRONMENT
-Arm yourself with knowledge and share it with others.
-Consume less, waste less
-Vote with your wallet. Buy your products from farmers markets or food cooperatives
supporting small farmers. Choose products made by socially responsible companies
using environmentally sound methods.
-Fundraise for organizations like MAZON and Oxfarm America, an awesome non profit
organization that fights global poverty and hunger and has a tremendous amount of
resources and program ideas available. Just call 1-800-597-FAST.
-Be politically active. Let you legislators know that you support small farmers and
community-based sustainable development programs.
-Start by writing your legislatures
-Work at food bank,soup kitchen, or homeless shelter
In the US:
-Our children are growing poorer. All groups of children are poorer today than at
the beginning of the decade.
-In the year 2000, one in four of all American children, 16 million children, will be
poor, 3 million more than in 1987. (Children's Defense Budget 1989)
-About 20,000,000 American citizens may be hungry at least some period of time each month.
-71% of soup kitchens and food pantries said that they could not meet the need for food
assistance in their local communities.
0:40-0:55 Myth/Fact Discussion
-Read each statement or questions one at a time out loud to the PP's. After every
question have the PP's say either True of False. After everyone has said True or
False read the answer and the explanation.
Myth and Fact Game Sheet for Participants
1) Overpopulation is the main cause of hunger?
TRUE. Although rapid population growth is a serious concern, nowhere does population
density explain hunger. In India, over 300 million people are chronically hungry.
Yet neighboring China, with only half the cropland per person as India, has
eradicated widespread and severe hunger. In Japan, a tiny country comparatively with
half as many people as India, hunger is almost non-existent.
2) There's simply not enough food.
FALSE. Worldwide, enough food is produced to feed every man, woman, and child.
The main cause of hunger is the unequal distribution of food and resources in the
world. Virtually every "hunger" country produces enough food for all its
people. Many "hungry" countries export more food and other farm products
than they import. Richer countries, comprising one quarter of the world's
population, use three quarters of the resources produced globally. Even
famine-ridden regions of Africa, that were hit hard in the early 1980's by a drought,
exported more than they imported. Human institutions determine who starves and who
eats.
3) Most hunger related deaths are caused by famines.
FALSE. Only ten percent of hunger related deaths are caused by famine; the vast
majority are caused by chronic malnutrition. Each year the same number of children
under five as the total combined populations of NYC, LA, Detroit, and Boston die from
hunger. The number one killer in the world is diarrhea.
4) If we distributed land, credit and other food producing resources more fairly
it would not decrease worldwide food production. Big producers like the "Dole
or Chiquita fruit companies" do not use land in the most efficient manner.
TRUE. Unjust farming systems leave farmland in the hands of the most
inefficient producers because landowners who control most of the best land often leave
much of it idle. Their main concern is profit. Because peasant farmers who
rent their land have no guarantee they will have it in the future, they have no incentive
to use farming methods that sustain the land.
5) Hunger is an ongoing conflict between rich and poor countries. FALSE.
Hunger will never be eliminated until we recognize the countries of Bangladesh,
Colombia, and Senegal as our neighbors, and not third world countries. We are all
part of the same global food system which is gradually coming under control of a few big
corporations. These corporations have kicked many third world farmers off of their
land, forcing these natives to work for meager wages on corporation farms. Then,
instead of growing their own food, poor people in the Third World market pay food prices
that are determined by what rich people in Europe and America are willing to pay.
This is the main source of hunger in poor countries.
0:55-1:00 Torah Text and Introduction to Mazon
-Read text and have a short discussion and talk about MAZON.
Excerpt from the Torah
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely harvest the corner
(peah) of your field; and the gleanings (lekef) of your harvest you shall not gather.
And you shall not take the undeveloped (unripe) grape clusters of your vineyard (or
You shall not pick your vineyard bare), nor shall you gather the dropped harvest of your
vineyard. For the poor person and the stranger you shall leave them, I Adonai am
your God.
Leviticus 19.9-10
Through MAZON, you can help make a difference. Contributions to MAZON are granted
to a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations confronting hunger in the US and around the
world. MAZON (the Hebrew word for "food") asks American Jews to support
our efforts by contributing 3% of the cost of life-cycle celebrations such as weddings,
b-'nei mitzvah, birthdays and anniversaries-every joyous occasion. NFTY helps MAZON
by asking it's members to contribute a 3% donation for every event. Even though this
does not seem like a lot, it adds up quickly.
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