We did it! We reached our goal of $500,000 to fight hunger. Congratulations and thanks!
Our goal was for 2,500 of our travelers to donate $100 each to Bread for the World, enabling it to more effectively speak up for hungry people in Washington DC. That would raise $250,000, which I would then match to make it a total of half a million dollars. This pays for advocacy: employing policy analysts and hunger experts to help our congresspeople and senators better understand the impact of their laws on struggling people. (Considering the importance of government policy on hungry people, each dollar invested in such advocacy has about a hundred times the impact on hunger as direct charity does.)
With the values and passions of our new president-elect — and issues like minimum wage, affordable housing, nutrition, food stamps, education, and health care for our poor all on the table — the work of our friends at Bread for the World has never been more important.
The President of Bread for the World, David Beckmann, just called me to express his thanks for our support. A couple of nights ago, he gave an address to a gathering of policymakers and concerned citizens in New York City about the mission of Bread and its recent accomplishments. Reading the transcript of David’s talk will help those of you who donated better understand how you’ve empowered an important and effective mission.
There’s still plenty of time for you to learn about our exciting Christmas fundraiser and help advance Bread’s work. Just go to ricksteves.com/bread to learn more.
Most important, I wanted to thank the 2,500-plus travelers who joined me in this important initiative. In a political season when many wonder how they can make a difference for struggling people in our world (both at home and abroad), together we have made a real difference. We have shared the love in a powerful way this holiday season.
Thanks again, and Merry Christmas!
These issues will be greatly needed to be addressed, with the republican majority there are already bills to unbelievably cut medicare to seniors, to hold back the minimum wage. I feel strongly in a couple of years we are going to wake up to an emergency with the old and under represented that will make the recession of 2007 look like a cake walk. As far as lobbyist go, money would not have to be wasted on these fights if our freedom wasn’t being taken away from us every day. The money could actually be directly spent on food.
I ultimately decided against contributing to Bread for the World because I felt like I didn’t know enough about the work they do. I’d love to read the transcript that Rick mentioned in his post but it’s password protected. I think you can only read it if you’ve already made a donation. Rick, please consider making David’s speech accessible to all of us, so those of us who are on the fence about this organization can make an informed decision. Thanks!
Let me make this clear, I believe that Bread for the World is a great charity! I believe in Obama, and am very sad that Clinton did not win!
Bread of the World is rated 4 out of 4 on charity navigator and generally well respected elsewhere.
In my small private Christian grade school, the parents and teachers were overwhelmingly Republican (and I mean just about everyone.) We had Bread for the World day. We would learn about hunger and write letters and could donate money to Bread for the World if we wished. My school was well informed and enthusiastic about the organization. This played a part in my concern for hunger as an adult, all these years later.
It makes me sad that things are so harshly partisan now that people mock and sarcastically belittle an organization that works very, very hard to alleviate hunger. I mean, they are trying to do something really good, for pete’s sake, why judge that? One can support organizations like Bread for the World and still support more direct hands on charities, that goes with saying.
As far as lobbyists go, Pro-Life groups have lobbyists (as do the pro-choice.) The MS society has lobbyists, the American Cancer Society, just about any group along those lines. Like it or not, there are corporate lobbyists out there, and lobbyists that care nothing about people, and in our system it is important to have good lobbyists to balance out the bad ones. This is the real world with consequences for real people.
If you don’t want to donate, if it is not your style of advocacy, of course that’s 100% fine, but it is a good organization.
Sorry, the first time I typed “Bread for the World” it came out “Bread of the World.” Not sure if I mistyped that or autocorrect did, but the other three “Bread for the World” in the post are correct.
I was going to contribute my year end 10% of earnings to Bread but decided to go with Jill Stein instead. Wow was I upset when I learned Trump won even more votes thanks to the Wisconsin recount. Thanks a lot Jill!
Sarah – thanks for your comment, which was well thought out. A nice change from the knee jerk reaction comments that are not much more than “Trump sucks!” Or “Obama sucks!”
This may not qualify as a comment regarding European travel but I pulled out my copy of Rick Steves European Christmas last night (as I do every year) and enjoyed it as always! Also bought a round trip DIRECT flight ticket (Minneapolis to Amsterdam and back) for February for only $475. So excited! Merry Christmas and keep on traveling!