Approximately
1.2
billion people suffer from hunger.
Over 9 million people die worldwide each year
because of hunger and malnutrition.
Over 6 million
children under the age of five
die every year as a result of hunger.
BIRMINGHAM
CROP WALK
INFORMATION
INFORMATION
5th
Annual
Birmingham
C R O P
Hunger Walk
SUNDAY
APRIL 18
2010
Registration
1:45 PM
Walk Begins
2:30 PM
Caldwell Park
on Highland Avenue
in Southside Area
New Starting
Point
Same Walk Route
L I N K S
Frequently Asked
Questions
Church World
Service Mission
Raising Funds
On-Line
CROP Walk
Stories
Church World
Service
Newsroom
Children's
Curriculum
Resources for
Education and
Advocacy
Church World
Service
Programs
Interactive
World Map
M O R E
MORE WEB LINKS
MORE RESOURCES
MORE STORIES
GOAL
300 Walkers
$30,000
CROP WALK
RESOURCES
C O N T A
C T
Church World
Service
Joe Moran
Managing
Southeast Regional
Director
Toll Free Telephone
1-888-297-2767
Send E-Mail
Birmingham
CROP Walk
2010
Teams Are
Now Forming
CROP Walk
Sights & Sounds
CLICK HERE
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery
Music
Gallery
CLICK HERE FOR
Children of
the World
MUSIC VIDEO
Church World
Service
On YouTube
Church World
Service
On FaceBook
BIRMINGHAM
MY COMMUNITY
HUMAN RIGHTS
NOTEBOOK
SERVICE AND
LEADERSHIP
HOME INFORMATION EVENT ORGANIZATION TEAMS SPONSORS LINKS
COMMUNITIES RESPONDING TO OVERCOME POVERTY
Birmingham CROP
Hunger Walk
Sunday, April 18, 2010
"An individual
has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of
individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
-MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Click Here for Children of the World
Video
HAITI UPDATE
The CROP Hunger Walks and Church
World Service are responding to the critical needs of the
victims affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti.
Click Here to Learn More
About Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts
WORLD HUNGER
Millions of people worldwide
live on the edge of subsistence, at the will of fragile
economies, struggling to escape the crushing grip of poverty
and powerlessness. Most are hungry--and they need more than
a handout. They need a way out. Hunger means different
things in different places...
In Southern Africa it may mean crop failures, food
shortages, and famine resulting from prolonged drought.
Families and communities may need emergency food, as well as
seeds for replanting.
In the highlands of Bolivia, it may mean malnutrition
resulting from inadequate protein in the family diet. There
training in fish farming can mean improved health for
parents and children. Our bodies also need an adequate
supply of clean water to survive and thrive. So, in many
communities, clean water wells--along with improved
irrigation for gardens--can mean life and health.
Church World Service helps
create pockets of education and innovation, enterprise and
collaboration, powered by local ingenuity and nurtured by
the self-respect that inevitably flows from it. Creative
initiatives by impoverished people are making a difference.
If we work together, we can build a world that works for
all.
Click here for World
Hunger Notes
Click here for Global
Poverty Facts and Statistics
Click here for More
Worldwide Hunger
and Poverty Statistics
Click here for Stories of Positive Results
Click here for Video Clips
Click here for CWS Pod
Casts
Every day, more
than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child
every five seconds.
Worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the
international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day.
854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852
million a year ago.
POVERTY DEFINED
George Bernard Shaw defines
poverty as the "greatest of evils and the worst of crimes."
Mahatma Gandhi calls poverty the "worst form of violence."
Poverty can be defined as the
state of being poor. Lacking the means of providing material
needs or comforts. Having income or wealth so low as to be
unable to maintain what is considered a minimum
standard
of living. Having income or wealth too low to
maintain life and health at a
subsistence
level. Being at a certain level of material deprivation below
which an individual suffers physically, emotionally and
socially.
Poverty can be defined as an individual's inability to satisfy
basic needs in food, clothing, shelter, and health. Poverty is a
condition in which a person or
community is
deprived of, or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of
well-being and
life. Since
poverty is understood in many senses, these essentials may be
material resources such as food, safe drinking water, and
shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to
information,
education, health
care,
social status,
political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful
connections with other people in
society.
Poverty is a condition of scarce, inadequate or insufficient
resources, food, clothing, and shelter. Destitute and indigent.
Living in a state of extreme need, lack, and deprivation. It is
manifest in homelessness, hunger, and starvation.
Click here for New World
Encyclopedia Definition of
Poverty
Click here for Wikipedia
Definition of Poverty
POVERTY
IN AMERICA
According to recent surveys,
39.8 million people (13.2
percent) live in poverty. 49.1
million Americans live in food
insecure households, which
includes 32.4 million adults and
16.7 million children.
About one in ten Americans live
in poverty, that's a 32-year
high, with nearly half of those
citizens considered "severely
poor" by national standards.
Unlike poor citizens in some
other countries, most poor
Americans usually have access to
clean water, food, and shelter
to some degree, some of the
time. Even so, barely getting by
does not make for a healthy
lifestyle or a healthy nation.
Poverty conditions can adversely
affect family relationships,
mental health, medical care,
schools, and the general
stability and security of one's
neighborhood—whether urban,
suburban, or rural. Many of the
adults living in poverty are
employed, so simply holding a
job is not always the issue. Too
often, people are not able to
live on the wages earned from
these jobs. When a parent, for
example, must work two or three
jobs to additionally support one
or two children, then the family
loses even more stability
because the parent is
essentially absent from the
home.
Alabamians experience poverty,
hunger, homelessness, and
joblessness at alarming rates. Alabama is the 6th
poorest state. Nearly 1 in 5
Alabamians (1 in 4 children)
live below the federal poverty
line. Alabama's poverty rate is
14.5%. Alabama's child poverty
rate is 22.5%. Alabama's
unemployment rate is 10.7%.
Alabama's food insecurity rate
is 11.9%. Alabama's child food
insecurity rate is 13.5% (15.6&
for children under five).
Click here for Primer on Poverty
in America
Click here for Info About
America's Working Poor
Click here for Statistics About
Poverty in America
Click here for Alabama
Poverty Statistics from Ala Cooperative Extensive System
Click here for Poverty Rate Data
for Birmingham
Click here for Poverty Facts
from Alabama Poverty Project
Click here for Ways to Fight
Poverty in America
Click here for Info About
Alabama's Poverty Task Force
(Patricia Todd, Chair)
POPULATION
FACTS & FIGURES
854 million people across
the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago.
Every day,
more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one
child every five seconds. In essence, hunger is the most
extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families
cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food. Hunger
manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine.
Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic
undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which
result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility
to illness. Countries
in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily
are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy,
such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs.
When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough
food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn
for help.
"Poverty is the worst form of violence."
-MAHATMA
GANDHI
"What we're really trying to do is provide these communities with the tools and resources they need to help themselves."
-REV. JOHN McCULLOUGH, EXEC DIR & CEO OF CHURCH WORLD SERVICE
"Grief shared is half grief; joy shared is double joy."
-HONDURAN
PROVERB
"I believe it is wrong, in a country of such wealth and
prosperity, to have 36 million Americans living in
poverty."
-JOHN EDWARDS
Today our world
houses 6.55 billion people. The United States is a part of
the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about
57 countries with a combined population of about 1 billion, less
than one sixth of the world’s population. In contrast,
approximately 5.1 billion people live in the developing world.
This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income
countries in which people generally have a lower standard of
living with access to fewer goods and services than people in
high-income countries. The remaining 0.4 billion live in
countries in transition, which include the Baltic states,
eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below
the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per
day. Among this group of poor people, many have problems
obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their
families. As a result, 820 million people in the developing
world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum
amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.
Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health,
productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of
food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal
development and contribute to mental retardation. Economically,
the constant securing of food consumes valuable time and energy
of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning income.
Socially, the lack of food erodes relationships and feeds shame
so that those most in need of support are often least able to
call on it.
Click here for UNFPA
Population Notes
Click here to Take the
Thomson Reuters AlertNet Quiz
Click here to Visit the Thomson Reuters
AlertNet
Disaster News Website
HUNGER &
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Hunger affects more than 840 million people worldwide. More than 300 million of these people are in Africa. Hunger is an obstacle to progress: It increases susceptibility to disease, hinders learning, and leaves a person weak and unable to work or meet family needs. This break in self-reliance inhibits developing economies and creates poverty.
Consistent with the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals, Church World Service works to end hunger and poverty
by:
Advocating for trade policies and practices that work for
people: Church World Service
works to educate and raise awareness of the need for just
trade rules and policies that promote economic justice. Even
a 1% increase in world exports from Africa would improve
incomes and help lift 40 million Africans out of poverty.
Achieving food security:
Church World Service emphasizes programs that provide
inputs, protect land rights, support nutrition education and
food diversification, and value indigenous knowledge.
Supporting rural livelihoods:
Over 70% of Africa’s rural people earn their living from the
land. Church World Service supports programs which increase
opportunities for livelihood growth through improvements in
production, the establishment of rural cooperatives, and the
creation of employment through skill-building programs.
"It's time for
greatness,
not greed.
It's a time for
idealism,
not ideology.
It is a time
not just for
compassionate
words, but for
compassionate
action."
-MARIAN WRIGHT
EDELMAN
"Overcoming
poverty
is
not a gesture
of charity.
It is an act of
justice.
It is the
protection
of
a fundamental
human right,
the right to
dignity and a
decent life."
-NELSON MANDELA
"There
are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to
them except in the form of bread."
-MAHATMA
GANDHI
Improving natural resource management:
CWS supports programs that target declining soil fertility,
groundwater contamination, and persistent drought. CWS
encourages an approach that supports ecosystems and educates
farmers about protecting and managing their natural
resources.
Promoting women’s empowerment and education for girls:
In general, African women shoulder overwhelming
responsibilities within their families and communities.
Greater efforts toward gender equality are thus a
prerequisite for the eradication of poverty and hunger.
Church World Service supports programs that provide women
with the education, information, and resources they need to
make the best decisions regarding the care and well-being of
their family, community, and nation.
Training in disaster management and mitigation:
CWS emphasizes community-level emergency management training
to build local capacity for emergency response and proactive
disaster mitigation, strengthening the local ability to
provide a broad spectrum of humanitarian assistance.
TODAY
Today we can help.
Today we can join with others.
Today will make all the
difference.
Click here for Stories of Positive Results
Click here for Global
Issues That Affect Everyone
Click here for US Census
Bureau Poverty Data
Click here for World
Hunger Notes
Click Here to Build a Village
Click here for Helpful
Tools & Resources
Click Here for
Informational & Inspirational Video Clips
Click here for CWS Pod
Casts
HOME INFORMATION EVENT ORGANIZATION TEAMS SPONSORS LINKS
"Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute....
defend the rights of the poor and needy."
-PROVERBS 31:8-9
"For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever."
-PSALM
9:18
"I was a stranger, and you welcomed me."
-MATTHEW 25:35
ENOUGH FOR ALL
BIRMINGHAM CROP HUNGER WALK
