Text Box: Close your eyes for a moment. What do you picture when I say the words, "the heartland of America"? Do you see abundant fields of corn and wheat ready to be harvested? Do you imagine rolling hills, small-town Main Streets, faithful people, and strong values?  Do you picture poverty and hunger?   Open your eyes now. It's a struggle to live in rural America today, whether that's in Kansas, California, Alabama or Vermont. Poverty and hunger rates are higher there than in cities. It's tough if you're a farmer of modest means, working hard to keep your farm going. It's also difficult for the majority of people who live in rural communities who are not farmers. Even many farmers must work at jobs off the farm to make ends meet. But the opportunities for good employment in rural places are scarce.  We can work to change this picture. Every five years, the U.S. farm bill is renewed in Congress. This year, Bread for the World is working to see that the farm bill better serves who it should serve: U.S. farmers and struggling rural communities, and hungry people in the United States and worldwide. How does the farm bill affect hungry people? The Food Stamp Program—our nation's first line of defense against hunger—is included in the farm bill's nutrition programs. For 35 million people who struggle to feed their families, the farm bill can mean the difference between eating and going to bed hungry. Text Box: It means a great deal to farmers in poor countries as well, who are also affected by our country's farm policy and its impact on the world. For people living on $1 to $2 a day, this is literally a matter of survival. Please take part in Bread for the World's Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change. Write to your members of Congress asking that the farm bill provide better support for U.S. farmers, strengthen rural communities, help hungry people in this country, and support the efforts of farmers in developing countries to feed their families. Proverbs tells us, "A poor person's field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away" (Proverbs 13:23). Don't let that happen. Let's sow the seeds now. Then, when it's time to harvest, all can share in the bounty. This fall we will have an opportunity to participate in the 3rd Annual St. Mary Church Bread for the World Offering of Letters.  After all masses on the weekend of October 20-21, the upper hall will be filled with parishioners of all ages writing letters to our members of Congress.  Last’s year’s Offering of Letters was a rousing success with over 600 letters, but we can do better.  Our goal is to exceed 1,000 letters this year, and with your help we can do it!   Text Box:           Seeds of Change                       Text Box: Seeds of Change Text Box:

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Food sustains life itself.  Providing food for all is a Gospel imperative, and how we produce food raises profoundly moral issues.  We must act with justice toward farm workers and farmers, here and abroad.  We must fight hunger and poverty throughout the world.  We must be better stewards of God’s creation.  With Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters, we can work to achieve that vision and strengthen the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty.

· John L. Carr—Secretary, Department of Social Development and World Peace—United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

photo by Brian Duss