[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13694-13695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF BREAD FOR THE WORLD

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, for 25 years, Bread for the World 
has been putting principles of faith to work in pursuit of justice for 
the world's hungry people. Bread for the World members are now in 
Washington for their National Gathering, Silver Anniversary 
Celebration, and Annual Lobby Day. I want to take this opportunity to 
welcome them and to congratulate Bread for the World and its tens of 
thousands of members for 25 years of accomplishment in the service of 
humankind. It is a great honor for me to be a member of Bread for the 
World's board.
  Bread for the World remains true to its origins as a grassroots 
organization working from local churches on through to the national and 
international levels to address the fundamental causes of hunger and 
poverty. The organization was founded in 1974 by a small group of 
Catholics and Protestants who sought to mobilize persons of faith to 
influence United States policies relating to hunger and

[[Page 13695]]

poverty. Bread for the World grew rapidly under the outstanding 
leadership of the Reverend Arthur Simon, and now includes more than 
44,000 members and churches. The Reverend David Beckmann serves very 
capably as the group's current President.
  As a nonpartisan citizen's movement based in the Christian community, 
Bread for the World members work hard to promote policies that will 
improve the lives of hungry and poor people in the United States and 
around the world. Through their dedicated advocacy, Bread for the World 
members have been instrumental in winning key victories in the fight to 
alleviate hunger and poverty. They have, for example, worked 
successfully to improve and devote more resources to WIC and other 
child nutrition programs, to enhance food security in Africa by 
increasing investment at the farm and village level where it really 
counts, and to restore food stamp benefits to vulnerable legal 
immigrants. This year Bread for the World members are participating in 
the laudable worldwide effort, known as Jubilee 2000, to reduce poverty 
in developing nations through critically needed international debt 
relief.
  I am proud to be able to give thanks for the moral commitment and 
grassroots mobilizing of Bread for the World members as they celebrate 
their 25th anniversary year. I sincerely wish them continued blessings 
as they carry on their efforts toward seeking justice and ending 
hunger.

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