If passed, the bipartisan bill would authorize $50 million for grants to coalitions addressing hunger at local levels and would make a national commitment to ending hunger in the United States. Some reports estimate that 38.2 million people – including nearly 13.9 million children – live in households that experience or are at risk of hunger.
Joining Durbin will be a group of community members, including Adam Phillips, an Evangelical Covenant Church pastor who will be presenting Bread for the World. Others will represent America’s Second Harvest, the Illinois Hunger Coalition, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
“Senator Durbin’s successful shepherding of this bill to the Senate floor has paved the way for Congress to revive its commitment to ending the scourge of hunger in this country,” says David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Churches and food banks have defeated attacks on food stamps and other nutrition programs, and now are convincing the Senate to take steps to reduce hunger in America.”
“The Senate will do the country a great service if it passes the Hunger-Free Communities Act,” says President Glenn Palmberg, president of the Evangelical Covenant Church. “Sen. Durbin’s leadership has been especially important. He has long been a consistent supporter of measures like this that are vital to the well-being of disadvantaged members of our communities, and I am proud to be one of his constituents.”
The Hunger-Free Communities Act has 43 co-sponsors in the Senate, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Bread for the World, a 56,000-member Christian anti-hunger organization, mobilized a grassroots letter-writing campaign that has generated an estimated 250,000 letters to members of Congress in support of the act. America’s Second Harvest, the Chicago-based national food bank network, and various charities and religious bodies also have supported the bill.
The press conference will begin at 10 a.m. at Faith Tabernacle Church, 3750 North Halsted in Chicago.
