wfn.org | NCC and Poverty - Web Resource, Cover the Uninsured Week, Florida

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

Farm Workers

National Council of Churches
NCC Media Contact: 212-870-2227
March 7, 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCCs Poverty March 2003 Launches Data-Packed Web Resource

Confidence that it is possible to significantly reduce poverty in America
undergirds the NCC's decade-long Poverty Mobilization. Each March, the
<http://www.ncccusa.org/poverty/povmarch-2003-intro.html>mobilization
features an extensive Web resource on poverty. This year's second annual Web
feature offers four weeks of facts, worship support and case studies of
productive ventures in the areas of Jobs (week 1), Health Care (week 2),
Hunger (week 3) and Housing and Homelessness (week 4). The Poverty
Mobilization is a collaborative venture involving the NCC's 36 member
denominations plus a host of national and regional partner ministries across
the nation.  See www.ncccusa.org/poverty/povmarch-2003-intro.html

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NCC, Other Faith Groups Observe Cover the Uninsured Week March 10-16

The NCC is among national sponsors of Cover the Uninsured Week
<http://covertheuninsuredweek.org> March 10-16. This unprecedented weeklong
series of national and local  <http://covertheuninsuredweek.org>activities
is an effort to sensitize the public and opinion leaders to the plight of
the more than 41 million Americans who lack health insurance.  See
www.covertheuninsuredweek.org

* * *

Council Takes Up Concerns of Florida Farm Workers, Including Hunger Strikers

As the Christian season of Lenten prayer and fasting begins, the NCC is
requesting special prayers for farm workers "who have been made poor and
vulnerable by fast-food and agricultural industries." The Council further
asks churches everywhere to study farm worker issues, especially by focusing
on the current struggle for just wages and working conditions of Florida
farm workers who pick tomatoes that go into Taco Bell products. The Lenten
call grew out of the Councils support for some 50 Florida farm workers and
scores of their supporters who conducted a hunger strike Feb. 24 - March 5
outside Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, Calif. In response to pleas from
religious leaders worried about the fasters health, the workers ended their
fast in its tenth day at an Ash Wednesday service at the hunger strike site.
See www.ncccusa.org/news/03news19.html

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