Hunger Relief Honor

ADRA

Requirements

1. Watch a news report on the theme of hunger in the world and discuss with your Pathfinder Club unit the steps that are being taken to reduce it.

   Answer: Watch news reports from reliable sources: Globo Repórter, Fantástico, Profissão Repórter, Jornal Nacional specials, UN/FAO documentaries, Netflix (e.g.: 'Cooked' by Michael Pollan). Focus on statistics (~828 million people in hunger worldwide in 2022 — SOFI/FAO report) and initiatives (the UN World Food Programme). — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts against hunger — it distributes approximately 15 billion meals per year in conflict and disaster zones such as Ukraine, Yemen, and Sudan.

2. Interview a person who runs food distribution in your area. It can be the ASA leader of your church, of another church, or of a community center / restaurant. Ask them about what kind of people are served, what leads them to need food, and how these needs are being met. Take notes during the interview and share the results with your instructor.

   Answer: Identify an ASA leader (Adventist Solidarity Action) in the local church, a food bank (e.g.: Mesa Brasil SESC), a soup kitchen, or a community kitchen. Questions: (1) What kind of people are served? (the elderly, the unemployed, the homeless, families in vulnerable situations). — ASA (Adventist Solidarity Action) operates in more than 5,000 units in Brazil, distributing about 8 million meals per year according to data from the Adventist Church — the largest reference in voluntary assistance work among today's Brazilian religious denominations.

3. Describe the causes of hunger in your country. You can do this through an essay (of at least 500 words), an audiovisual presentation (of at least 10 minutes), a skit, or by producing a video of about 1 minute.

   Answer: Causes of hunger in Brazil: (1) Social inequality — extreme income concentration; (2) Unemployment and low wages — millions in informal employment; (3) Food insecurity (~33 million in 2022 according to the PENSSAN Network); (4) Food inflation (the basic food basket rose 30% post-pandemic). — Brazil came off the UN Hunger Map in 2014 but returned in 2022 — according to the PENSSAN Network/UFRJ, 33.1 million Brazilians were in severe hunger in 2022, a historic regression caused by the pandemic + the dismantling of social policies.

4. Make a collection of food items for the ASA of your church, of another church, or a community center/restaurant or, if that is not possible, choose a family that needs assistance and deliver the collected items to them.

   Answer: Organize a collection with the club unit: (1) set a goal (e.g.: a basic food basket for 5 families = ~50 kg of food); (2) list the priority items: rice, beans, oil, sugar, coffee, pasta, salt, cornmeal, powdered milk, cookies; (3) promote it at the church, school, neighborhood, and on social media. — A Brazilian basic food basket has approximately 13 essential items according to the DIEESE table (Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies) — an average budget of ~R$ 700-800 in capital cities, enough for the basic food of a family for 30 days.

5. Visit a food bank, a food distribution center, or a community restaurant or kitchen and volunteer to help the staff working at the establishment. Talk with them to learn how the food is obtained and what some of the challenges are in obtaining, storing, and distributing it. This requirement can be done by your unit alone or with the whole Pathfinder Club.

   Answer: Identify a local institution: a municipal Food Bank, Mesa Brasil SESC, a soup kitchen, a church community kitchen, or ASA. Schedule a visit and volunteer (min. 4 hours). — Mesa Brasil SESC, created in 2003, is the largest food bank program in the country — it receives and redistributes more than 36 thousand tons of food per year to 1.3 million people in situations of food insecurity, according to official data from the national SESC.