{"id":429173,"date":"2010-03-15T10:17:24","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T14:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2561"},"modified":"2010-03-15T10:28:28","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T14:28:28","slug":"the-jewish-community-mobilizes-for-child-nutrition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/429173","title":{"rendered":"The Jewish Community Mobilizes for Child Nutrition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CNS<\/span>Becky Eisen is the Poverty Campaign Coordinator for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

Using one of the most evocative lines from the traditional
\nPassover Seder – “Let all who are hungry come and eat” – the Jewish Council for Public Affairs<\/a>
\nand MAZON:
\nA Jewish Response to Hunger<\/a> have re-contextualized the historical message
\nof redemption from slavery with the modern struggle faced by hungry children
\nacross our country by creating the Child Nutrition Seder<\/a>
\nmobilization. We will have a National Child Nutrition Seder in the Capital on
\nThursday, March 18th<\/sup> to highlight our national efforts.<\/p>\n

Last week, David wrote about the growing numbers of children
\nin America who experience hunger, and the Federal Child Nutrition Programs that
\nwere created to “safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children.”
\nProviding food for hungry children seems to be a no-brainer, yet our elected
\nofficials consistently underfund crucial food programs and millions of children
\nacross the United States go hungry. The reason is not because we don’t have
\nenough food or because we don’t have enough money, it is because we have not
\ncreated a loud enough voice to push elected officials to fund these programs. We
\nneed to let our representatives hear our righteous indignation: “How could you
\npossibly allow children to go hungry in this nation of plenty?!”<\/p>\n

The Child Nutrition Seder mobilization was created to make
\nthis question heard loud and clear. It was also created to be used as an
\norganizing tool. As Jews, we are aware of our obligation to help those who are
\nless fortunate, and we have a strong tradition of setting up service
\norganizations, giving tzedakah, volunteering at local nonprofit organizations,
\netc. We have also historically been great advocates, pressing for civil
\nliberties, protection of minorities, and recognition of and security for the
\nstate of Israel. But for some reason we seem to silo our anti-hunger work and
\nour advocacy work. We volunteer in a soup kitchen, but don’t think to write a
\nletter to congress about the conditions that cause individuals to need a soup
\nkitchen in the first place. The Child Nutrition Seder is a way to blend
\neffective advocacy with education and service. The Hagaddah<\/a><\/i>
\nfor these mock Seders uses the traditional pieces of the Seder to help
\nparticipants learn about the causes and solutions of child hunger in America,
\nand then walks them through the steps of effective activism needed to eradicate
\nhunger. This year, we focus on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act,
\na bill that funds the School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, Summer Feeding
\nprogram and a myriad of other programs that form a safety net for hungry
\nchildren in America.<\/p>\n

For instance, we use the karpos<\/i>, the green vegetable, as a symbol of the grocery gap
\n(disparity to access in healthy foods) in America. Instead of the wise child,
\nwicked child, simple child and the one who does not know how to ask, our four
\nchildren represent four faces of childhood hunger, each of whom has had a different experience with hunger and with
\na government nutrition program. Towards the end of the Seder, we ask
\nparticipants to write a letter to their Representative, requesting that he\/she
\nallocate at least $1 billion in new funding each year for the next five years
\nto the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Because
\nthese Seders don’t have to happen during Passover, there is still time to
\norganize a Child Nutrition Seder in your community. They can happen anytime in
\nthe month of March or April and can still have a strong impact on your
\nlegislator. If you have any questions, or if you are planning on holding a
\nChild Nutrition Seder in your community, please reach out to me at <\/span>beisen@thejcpa.org<\/span><\/a> 
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becky Eisen is the Poverty Campaign Coordinator for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). Using one of the most evocative lines from the traditional Passover Seder – “Let all who are hungry come and eat” – the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger have re-contextualized the historical message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}