wfn.org | Hunger relief advocate jump-starts partnership to feed poor

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Dec. 6, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green·(615) 742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
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NOTE: A head and shoulder photograph will be available.

By United Methodist News Service

A partnership between United Methodist Men and the Society of St. Andrew,
aimed at energizing the church to feed the poor, is getting under way with
the hiring of the first hunger relief advocate at the annual conference
level.

Krista Michael of Las Cruces, N.M., was hired by the Society of St. Andrew
to help the United Methodist Church engage in ministry with the poor and
hungry under the leadership of the Commission on United Methodist Men. She
assumed her new duties Dec. 1 as hunger relief advocate to the
denomination's New Mexico Annual Conference. Plans call for advocates to be
hired for the other annual conferences eventually.

Working part-time from her home, Michael will contact all United Methodist
Men district presidents in her conference to introduce herself and the
hunger relief advocate program. The program is a partnership between the
Commission on United Methodist Men, the Society of St. Andrew and the United
Methodist Committee on Relief.

Her job was created in 1998, when the governing members of the men's
ministry voted to expand the commission's partnership with the Society of
St. Andrew, a Big Island, Va.,-based organization, to become advocates for
the poor and for children, with a special emphasis on hunger. The
partnership also is intended to show the United Methodist Bishops'
Initiative on Children and Poverty at work.

"I'm grateful that we have been able to identify someone who will launch us
into a new era of United Methodist Men, focusing on helping to feed the poor
in the next millennium," said the Rev. Joseph Harris, top executive of the
United Methodist Men's commission in Nashville, Tenn. 

"This is the first of several positions that will be hired in the next few
months, along with a person in the national office to coordinate the
activities that eventually will involve every United Methodist man across
the church," he said. "United Methodist Men have begun a new era of
participation with and advocacy for the poor. I'm excited about the ministry
possibilities this has for United Methodist Men across the church."

The program is focused on enabling United Methodist Men to bring the church
into solidarity with the poor and hungry. Through the partnership, the
commission aims to create opportunities for people throughout the
denomination to become involved in hands-on ministry to the hungry.  

The Society of St. Andrew is a grass-roots hunger relief organization
salvaging fresh food. It has regional offices in North Carolina, Texas and
Florida, and 15 satellite gleaning network offices in those states,
Mississippi and New Mexico.

Ultimately, the ministry will have a full-time hunger relief advocate
working out of the Nashville headquarters of United Methodist Men and a
part-time hunger relief advocate in each of the denomination's 66 annual
conferences. It also will have hunger volunteers in each district men's unit
and local men's group, said Ken Bradford, director of church development at
the Society of St. Andrew. The advocate will work in conjunction with
current hunger-related coordinators and committees in annual conferences to
increase the United Methodist Church's efforts to alleviate hunger and
poverty.

"This hunger relief advocate program is a mission in which every United
Methodist man needs to be involved in direct response to God's command, 'You
give them something to eat!'" Bradford said.

Michael became interested in the position after hearing a presentation on
the advocate program and beginning a Society of St. Andrew gleaning network
in her region of New Mexico. She gleaned onions and helped organize other
Society of St. Andrew area projects.
 
"New Mexico is one of the poorest states and has one of the highest
per-capita poverty rates in the entire country," Michael said. "There is
definitely a demand for food to feed hungry people ... [H]aving worked in
the preschool field for five years, including running one from my home, I've
seen children who suffer from poverty and hunger. 

"We're all in this together," she said. "It's not just 'another' person who
is hungry. It could be our neighbor, our co-worker, someone who sits beside
us at church. Everyone has to work together to come up with a solution."

One of Michael's projects for the Society of St. Andrew involved
establishing the delivery of potatoes and juice. "Most of the community
agencies I talked to did not know about the Society of St. Andrew," she
said. "They were thrilled to learn that there was an organization that did
this."

As the hunger relief advocate, she said, "it would be nice to think we can
end hunger, but that's a lofty goal. I hope to be able to inspire a lot of
people to reach out and help the hungry."
# # #
This story was adapted from a Society of St. Andrew press release.

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United Methodist News Service
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