Three leading Presbyterians participated in a one-day fast led by Canadian Foodgrains Bank, along with leaders from other denominations and agencies to help draw attention to ending world hunger.
“This fast serves as a witness to Canada and to the world,” said Rev. Rick Fee, General Secretary of the PCC's Life and Mission Agency, in a press release. “Hunger must end. It is not acceptable that there are still over 800 million people in the world without sufficient food to eat.”
Fee, who is also the chair of CFGB's board of directors, fasted on Nov. 28 along with fellow Presbyterians Rev. Stephen Kendall, Principal Clerk, and Kenneth Kim, Executive Director of Presbyterian World Service and Development.
Fee told the Record the CFGB Board met about a week after the event to discuss “how the world food supply system is particularly strained right now, how the meteoric rise of China and India is affecting food production and distribution,and the shifting of corn into ethanol production rather than for human consumption and what this is doing to food supply around the world.”
In addition to spending the day in fasting and prayer, the church leaders added their names to a letter which was sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter encourages the federal government to strengthen its efforts to reduce and end hunger.
The day also launched a new CFGB program called End Hunger Fast. It is hoped that this program will provide a meaningful way for Canadians to get involved in the work of ending hunger in whatever way they can. To learn more, visit www.endhungerfast.com –AM with files from CFGB
