wfn.org | Hunger relief advocates pursue passion for feeding needy

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 5, 2002 News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-71BP{344}

NOTE: Photographs and a sidebar, UMNS story #345, are available with this
report.

A UMNS Feature
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

If Del Ketcham had his way, the lush green "meadow" outside his office would
be a community garden full of vegetables to feed the hungry in the
neighborhood.

Ketcham is the national hunger relief advocate working in the Nashville,
Tenn., office of the Commission on United Methodist Men. His building is
also home to the United Methodist Church's Board of Higher Education and
Ministry and the Board of Discipleship.

"Within a mile radius of this building, 20 percent of the people are
marginally hungry," he says. "And that area includes Vanderbilt University,
the United Methodist Church offices, Scarritt-Bennett Center, University
School of Nashville and Music Row."

It is not unusual for Ketcham to look at unused grassy fields and imagine
rows of tomatoes and other vegetables. He has a passion for feeding the
hungry. He plans to meet with staff executives of the discipleship and
higher education agencies this fall to propose his idea for a community
garden.

Ketcham and 13 people whom he describes as "highly motivated Christians"
across the United States are serving as hunger relief advocates in
partnership with United Methodist Men and the Society of St. Andrew, a
hunger relief ministry based in Big Island, Va.

Hunger relief advocates work for $500 a month and have a budget of about
$600 a month. "That's why I say it takes a dedicated volunteer to take the
job," Ketcham says, laughing. 

Advocates act as educators and activists for hunger relief, develop gleaning
networks in their communities, and raise money for Meals for Millions, the
fund that supports the hunger relief advocate program and provides food for
hunger relief.

Krista Michael is one of those "highly motivated Christians." In 1999, she
became the first hunger relief advocate hired at the annual conference
level, assigned to the denomination's New Mexico Annual Conference.

"I feel very blessed to be in a conference that recognizes the need for this
work," she says. In the southern region of New Mexico where she works,
onions are available for gleaning from May to July. She was able to salvage
more than 32,000 pounds of onions this year. 

"I have some people who come from churches that have to drive two hours each
way to participate in a gleaning on a Saturday," she says. "I think that
shows dedication." She stresses that gleaning is not the only way churches
can become involved in the hunger relief program. Anything churches can do,
such as collecting baskets of food at Christmas or donating to projects to
feed the hungry, is welcome, she says.

In 2001, United Methodist Men organizations raised a total of $252,000 for
Meals for Millions. So far this year, $111,712 has been raised nationwide,
including $54,107 in the conferences where advocates are working.

The goal is to have a hungry relief advocate in every annual conference.
Ketcham hopes to add another 10 advocates in 2003. 

"January through June 2002, hunger relief advocates coordinated 135 gleaning
events, with 3,066 volunteers, salvaging 1.3 million pounds of food to feed
the hungry of their conferences," says Ken Bradford, the church development
director for the Society of St. Andrew. "Every bit of this food would have
gone to waste but for the efforts of our advocates."

This summer, more than 1,200 volunteers at annual conferences across the
United Methodist connection helped distribute more than 260,000 pounds of
white and sweet potatoes to feed the hungry. All of the "potato drops" were
sponsored by the Society of St. Andrew, and five of the six events were
co-sponsored by local United Methodist Men organizations. Those potatoes
provided 780,000 servings of food to hungry people.

Anywhere that a farmer grows produce is a potential gleaning site. In
Tennessee, Ketcham also works with local farmers' markets to obtain any
leftover produce for local hunger ministries.

United Methodist Men and the Society of St. Andrew began their partnership
in 1999. The United Methodist Committee on Relief granted $300,000 over a
three-year period to help launch the hunger relief advocate initiative.
United Methodist Men and the Society of St. Andrew were to match that amount
by the end of 2002. The matching amount has been met a full year early,
Bradford says.

Besides having hunger relief advocates in every conference, the organization
also wants to involve every United Methodist man in the fight against
hunger. 

"Men have to be shown," Ketcham says. "They really have to get out into the
trenches before they are convinced to become involved. If you can get a man
out in the field gleaning the food and then get them to deliver that food to
someone who is hungry, then they are hooked."

At last year's 8th International UMMen Congress, held at Purdue University,
men heard the challenge to make a difference in the fight against hunger. As
a result of that challenge, they pledged $50,000.

"Half of that money has actually come in, and we are following up with those
who have not yet remitted," Bradford says.

Annual conferences that have hunger relief advocates are:
7	Alabama West Florida: Chuck Christian;

7	Detroit: Bud Curtis; 
7	Missouri East and West: Joe Bartelmeyer;

7	New England: Jim Webster;
7	New Mexico: Krista Michael;                                  
7	North Alabama: Rachel Gonia;
7	North Arkansas: Terry L. Sager;                                 
7	North Georgia: Tony Largin;
7	Northern Illinois: Joe Royston;                                   
7	North Indiana: David McCleary;
7	Northwest Texas: Robert and Frances Duke;                
7	Tennessee: Del Ketcham; and                      
7	West Ohio: George Jensen. 

More information on hunger relief advocates is available by contacting
Ketcham at dketcham@gcumm.org. For more information on the Society of St.
Andrew, visit www.endhunger.org online.

# # #

*Gilbert is a news writer in the Nashville, Tenn., office of United
Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org