A $1.00 food stamp. I carry it in my wallet. It was my mother's. Some of you might remember her as a poster here, Sapphire Blue.

We received food stamps when I was a little kid, for a couple of years, I think. When she got a better job, and no longer needed food stamps, she decided to keep that last one. She always carried it in her wallet. She said it was to remember where she had been, where she might be again some day, and most of all, to remember all the millions of people who are still there, and to never turn her back on a single one of them, no matter what. And, by God, she never did, she never turned her back on anyone, she never looked away.

I'm doing my best to follow in her footsteps. I hope some of you are, too.


Indigo Blue

After reading these replies so critical of John Edwards (with the exception of Ken Burch's reply), some pretty childish criticisms at that, I've decided to delete this post. You can have at John Edwards somewhere else. Here's the link to the article if anyone wants to read it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...

It's pretty obvious that "There aren't many votes in helping poor people." And it's pretty damn obvious that there's not much compassion, either. It's also pretty damn obvious that I don't belong here. And, no, I won't let the door hit me.

FYI, I don't have a 'A thick skin' either.

"Hunger must be on presidential plate"
By George McGovern and Jim Mcgovern
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - Added 1d 22h ago


More people die from hunger in the world today than from war.

Yet in all the presidential debates, there was not a single question to the candidates on their plans to end this terrible problem. With all due respect to Joe the Plumber, we think making sure people have enough to eat is as important as his tax issues.

The number of hungry people in the world is fast approaching one billion. More than 400 million are children. Here in the most prosperous nation on the planet, there are more than 35 million of our fellow Americans who can be classified as hungry. There is not a single community in our country that is hunger free.

- snip -

This is a serious crisis that is getting worse. And what is maddening to us is that those in positions of power to fix the problem seem indifferent. Hunger is a political condition. We have everything we need - including enough food - to end hunger in the United States and around the world. However, we lack the political will to make ending it a priority.

- snip -

We also suggest our next president appoint a hunger czar, a point-person in his administration to oversee and coordinate the various food, nutrition and anti-poverty programs that fall under the jurisdictions of many different departments and agencies - so we can develop a single, comprehensive and concrete plan to end hunger here at home and around the globe.

- snip -

One of us is 86 and the other is 48. Both of us believe that we can end hunger in our lifetimes. We desperately need leadership at every level of our government to make this happen. The next president must make it a top priority.


George McGovern was the Democratic nominee for president in 1972. Jim McGovern represents Massachusetts’ 3rd Congressional District.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/...


-------------------------------

Congressman Jim McGovern: http://mcgovern.house.gov /

Researchers, Analysts Say Updated Poverty Gauge Long Overdue
Measurement formula unchanged since 1960s

New York City – Researchers and policy analysts at Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) are urging lawmakers to change how poverty is measured in America.

The poverty measure the government uses today was established in the 1960s and was based on research that said families spent about one-third of their incomes on food. To determine the official poverty level, government officials simply multiplied food costs by three. Although the figures are updated annually for inflation, they have otherwise remained unchanged.

The problem with using this method to measure poverty, says NCCP – part of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia – is that food now comprises only one-seventh of an average family’s expenses, while the costs of housing, childcare, health care, and transportation have grown disproportionately. The result is that the current poverty level has little bearing on the cost of family necessities.

“Most analysts will tell you that today’s poverty thresholds – about $21,000 for a family of four – are inhumanely low,” says Nancy K. Cauthen, PhD, deputy director of NCCP. When asked how much it takes for a family of four to make ends meet, 70 percent of Americans say $40,000 or more. And in fact, research consistently shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to meet their basic needs.

“The poverty measure created 40 years ago does not account for the vast differences in the cost of living across the country. So poverty in high-cost cities like Boston and San Francisco is measured by the same standard as poverty in rural Kentucky or New Mexico,” explains Cauthen. “A new formula is long overdue.”

Because the federal poverty level has never been adjusted for real changes in the actual cost of living, people who are considered poor today by the official standard are worse off relative to everyone else, than people considered poor when the poverty measure was established in the ’60s. The current federal poverty measure equals about 29 percent of median household income, whereas in the 1960s, the poverty level was nearly 50 percent of median income.

Cauthen points out that most advanced industrialized countries measure poverty quite differently from the U.S. Rather than setting minimum income thresholds below which individuals and families are considered to be poor, other countries measure economic disadvantage relative to the citizenry as a whole, for example, having income below 50 percent of median.

“We are hopeful that Americans will join us in urging our legislators to take a good hard look at how we as a country address poverty – starting with a realistic way to define what it means in today’s terms, not those of the 1960s,” says Cauthen. For more information about poverty, including frequently asked questions on the topic, access the NCCP website.


The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) is the nation’s leading public policy center dedicated to promoting the economic security, health and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. Part of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, NCCP uses research to inform policy and practice with the goal of ensuring positive outcomes for the next generation.


http://nccp.org/media/releases/release_41....

'The Bread You Possess Belongs to the Hungry'
by St. Basil

They say: Whom do I wrong by keeping my property? What, tell me, is your property? Where did you find it and brought it to your life? Just like someone in the theatre, who had a seat and then stopped those who entered, judging that what lies common in front of everyone to use, was his own: rich men are of the same kind. They first took possession of the common property, and then they keep it as their own because they were the first to take it. If one had taken what is necessary to cover one’s needs and had left the rest to those who are in need, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one would be in need.

Isn’t it true, that you fell off the womb naked? Isn’t it true, that naked you shall return to the earth? Where is your present property from? If you think that it came to you by itself, you don’t believe in God, you don’t acknowledge the creator and you are not thankful to him who gave it to you. But if you agree and confess that you have it from God, tell us the reason why he gave it to you. ...

Who is the greedy person? It’s him who doesn’t content himself with what he has. And who strips? He who steals what belongs to the others. And you think that you are not greedy, and that you do not strip the others? What was granted to you, in order for you to take care of the others, you took it and you made it your own. What do you think?

He who strips the clothed is to be called a thief. How should we name him, who is able to dress the naked and doesn’t do it, does he deserve some other name? The bread that you possess belongs to the hungry. The clothes that you store in boxes, belong to the naked. The shoes rotting by you, belong to the bare-foot. The money that you hide belongs to anyone in need. You wrong as many people as you were able to help.” —St. Basil

St. Basil was bishop of Caesarea in the 4th century.

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magaz...


----------------------------------

SOCIAL JUSTICE vs. CHARITY
THROUGH OUR FINGERS
Ronald Stanley, O.P.

"Two men were fishing in a river. Late in the afternoon they started cooking some of the fish they had caught. Suddenly they heard the cries of a man being swept down the river. Immediately the men jumped into the river, swam out to the man, and were gradually able to pull him ashore. As they were on shore catching their breath, they heard the cries of a woman being swept down the river. They jumped back into the water, made their way out to the woman, and slowly brought her to shore. They were exhausted but happy to have saved both people. Then they heard to cries of a child being swept downstream. One of the men started back into the water to get the child; the other held back. "Aren't you going to save the child?" asked the first. "You go get the child," responded the second, "I'm going to go upstream to find out why so many people are falling into the river."


Charity is happy to spend all day pulling victims out of the river. Social justice asks: why are so many people falling into the river? Is there a pathway or a bridge in need of repair? Is there someone throwing people into the river? When there is a pattern of people repeatedly falling victim, social justice seeks to discover and remedy the root causes of the problem.

Charity does the important work of meeting the immediate needs of suffering people, for food, clothing, housing, medicine, etc. Most everyone today approves and praises charity.

Social justice, on the other hand, dares to ask troubling questions: if the earth's resources are meant to meet the needs of all the earth's children, why are 20% of the world's population consuming over 80% of the earth's resources, leaving 80% of the world living in misery? Isn't it only just that the privilege few live more simply, so that the masses might simply live?

(snip)

Our politicians smooth the pathways and bridges of the privileged, to the neglect of the poor. Little wonder then that so many of the poor keep falling into the river. Their falling is not simply an accident. They are not "falling through the cracks." They are falling through our fingers.

http://www.ramapo.edu/studentlife/ministry...


----------------------------------

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

- A Franciscan benediction

It's a 30-year sneak attack in America's class war
Dan Rodricks
October 19, 2008

Maintaining a tradition that has been around since at least the Reagan Revolution, John McCain the other night ridiculed the idea of "spreading the wealth" and accused Barack Obama of playing "class warfare."

This is the tired Republican knee-jerk that occurs whenever someone in the room - Democrat or independent, academic researcher or nonpartisan think-tank thinker - raises the unsettling issue of income disparity in the United States. Republicans throw the "class warfare" flag whenever somebody gets too close to the story of America in the nearly 30 years since Ronald Reagan brought us trickle-down economics.

And the story is this: Most of the money in this nation during that time has trickled up, not down, and the disparity between the wealthiest 5 percent of citizens and the poorest 5 percent has never been wider. People in the middle haven't done much better than those just below them.

There are two prime reasons for the anger among Americans over the Wall Street meltdown and the ensuing federal bailout: Government at all levels allowed the free markets to build a time bomb of complex and grossly expensive problems that taxpayers are now on the hook to fix, and a million men in suits made fortunes off the smoke-and-mirrors promise of easy credit and ever-rising asset values.

Americans are losing their homes, and no one appears to be headed to jail. It is assumed that the million men in suits will come out of this just fine; their portfolios may have suffered, but they are well-insulated - better than the rest of us - for the long recessionary winter ahead.

"It looks to a lot of people that the primary beneficiaries of this government action will be the people who created it in the first place," says Michael Reisch, who just became the first Daniel Thursz professor of social justice at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, returning there after being away to teach at three other universities since 1986.

The cause of current citizen anger is not limited to the current economic mess. It's the boil-over from a long period in which working people saw virtually no growth in income or wealth while a financial elite grew fatter. If you're not angry, you haven't been paying attention. Unless you've been in the privileged fifth at the top of the American income scale, you've been getting the gooey end of the stick handed to you for years.

Pardon me while I indulge in a little class warfare, with the help of research from the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. Here are some facts from the CBPP's spring report: In the past decade, incomes have declined by 2.5 percent among the bottom fifth of American families while increasing by 9.1 percent among the top fifth.

On average, incomes have grown by just 1.3 percent among the middle fifth of families during the same period.

Continued @ http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newsp...

Wealth gap creating a social time bomb

• Race behind division in US cities, says UN report

• Beijing is most egalitarian place in the world

John Vidal, environment editor
The Guardian, Thursday October 23 2008

Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.

In a survey of 120 major cities New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable "alert" line used to warn governments.

"High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies," said the report. "{They} create social and political fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity."

According to the annual State of the World's cities report from UN-Habitat, race is one of the most important factors determining levels of inequality in the US and Canada.

"In western New York state nearly 40% of the black, Hispanic and mixed-race households earned less than $15,000 compared with 15% of white households. The life expectancy of African-Americans in the US is about the same as that of people living in China and some states of India, despite the fact that the US is far richer than the other two countries," it said.

Disparities of wealth were measured on the "Gini co-efficient", an internationally recognised measure usually only applied to the wealth of countries. The higher the level, the more wealth is concentrated in the hands of fewer people.

"It is clear that social tension comes from inequality. The trickle down theory {that wealth starts with the rich} has not delivered. Inequality is not good for anybody," said Anna Tibaijuka, head of UN-Habitat, in London yesterday.

The report found that India was becoming more unequal as a direct result of economic liberalisation and globalisation, and that the most unequal cities were in South Africa and Namibia and Latin America. "The cumulative effect of unequal distribution {of wealth} has been a deep and lasting division between rich and poor. Trade liberalisation did not bring about the expected benefits."


Continued @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/2...

Thursday, October 23, 2008

'It was either there or the street'

Inferno devastates recently evicted family who found refuge in ramshackle house
3 children, woman die in fire that destroys five homes in Highland Park

Francis X. Donnelly, Catherine Jun and Tanveer Ali / The Detroit News

HIGHLAND PARK -- Instead of a radiator, there was a space heater. Instead of a stove, a hot plate. Instead of a bathroom, a bucket.

This was the two-story house on Waverly into which Katie Dale and her three children moved two weeks ago. It was the best she could do after being evicted from another home for failing to pay property taxes.

Her downward spiral turned lethal Wednesday when a fire caused by the space heater killed her children and their great aunt. Dale and three other residents survived the fire.

"She had to have a roof over her babies' head," said a cousin, Shamelle Jones. "It was either there or the street."

- snip -

Dale, who is 5½ months pregnant, clambered out of a second-story window and yelled for her children to follow her. They didn't, and she jumped from the roof.

She was treated for cuts and bruises at Henry Ford Hospital, where a dozen family and friends tried to console her.

"God took three lives and gave her one," said her sister, Lawana Dale. "That's a hurting nobody can imagine."


Continued @ http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...


**************************************

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

A digital-vigil for John Robert McGraham


This is a guy who never hurt anybody

Houseless, mentally ill man in LA doused with gasoline and set ablaze

Daily Newswire Service
Sunday, October 19, 2008;

LOS ANGELES -- City officials and residents gathered at a memorial service Saturday for a homeless man doused with gasoline and set on fire.

John Robert McGraham, 55, died October 9 when he was set on fire near Third Street and New Hampshire Avenue.

Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge told the crowd at Immanuel Presbyterian Church that McGraham was mentally ill and living on the streets, but remembered as a simple but peaceful man.

"In the case of John and all of the homeless, we must encourage all of our leaders to work on the issue of mental illness," LaBonge said. "I know that we'll always keep John in our hearts."

During the service, a projector showed pictures of McGraham's family, and shots of him as a baby and young boy. The last photo showed him with his hair uncut, fully bearded, wearing a battered coat, shirt and shoes.

Presiding pastor Rev. Frank M. Alton, officiated the services, which included a translator for a largely Latino crowd on the second floor of the church.

"We thought he was alone," said his sister, Sharon McGraham. "It is so wonderful to be loved. Thank you so much."

The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote next week to offer a $75,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever is responsible for the crime.

At a news conference Friday, police and McGraham's relatives asked for the public's help in finding two men believed to be responsible for the killing.

LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck called McGraham's death "a crime that should shock every man, woman and child in the city of Los Angeles."

Witnesses say two men, in their mid- to late-20s, jumped out of a late-model tan or gold car, possibly a Honda, and poured gasoline on McGraham before setting him on fire, Beck said.

The men bought a red gas can and filled it at a station in the area, Beck said. Police have yet to find surveillance video that would help identify the killers.

The man, who once worked at the former Ambassador Hotel nearby, lived on the streets for years, where his sisters brought him food and money.

Susanne McGraham-Paisley said her brother was a peaceful person who avoided trouble.

"This is a guy who never hurt anybody," she said.

Sharon McGraham choked back tears as she described her brother as sweet and good-hearted.

"He was just so precious. He was such a sweetheart," Sharon McGraham said.

http://www.poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=n...

**************************************************************

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Sleep without Drowning

The Mayor is water-hosing human beings in the most recent example of "cleaning up"

Bruce Allison/PNN Elder and Poverty Scholar
Saturday, October 18, 2008;

The increased criminalization of poor folk in San Francisco and across the nation is alarming. San Francisco has called for and will be implementing a community court in the Tenderloin at the behest of Mayor Newsom. There are reports of citizens, poor folk, houseless folks--ie, human beings being hosed by high power water hoses by DPW (Department of Public Works) trucks performing the noble job of cleaning the sidewalk. Hygenic metaphors such as dirt, blight, and "cleaning up the neighborhood" when referring to poor and houseless folks are dangerous because they ultimately cease to be just metaphors--they manifest into brutal attitudes that say that incarceration is the answer.

DPW has been driving down the streets with water canons, hosing people without warning. Those being hosed are elders, undocumented people, and people whose work is unrecognized--such as recyclers and street sheet vendors who can't afford a home. This is a direct result of limited beds due to Newsom's Care Not Cash policy. I personally talked to a DPW worker who said of the hosees, "These are just crackheads".

The Coalition on Homelessness plans to expose this ridiculous scenario to the public. They have cameras and are collecting more information. For the safety of the coalition, I cannot disclose the location of the cameras.

Using water hoses on human beings will cost the city money in medical costs as a direct result of illness such as pneumonia brought on by being hosed. This is not helping the city's economy--it's actually hurting the reputation of San Francisco. The city and DPW should be ashamed of their gestapo tactics-- hurting people whose only crime is not having any money in their pockets.

Mayor Newsom, I am tired of you using these cruel tactics on people who cannot fight back. And to the Chief of Police, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are hurting innocent people who are just trying to get a little rest.

http://www.poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=n...

*******************************************************************

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

We Only Need One Billion

Families, children and elders in poverty ask congress to consider giving at least one billion of the proposed 700 Billion Bailout to families and elders struggling with poverty across the nation

tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia/PNN
Friday, October 3, 2008;

Thousands of families, children, and elders in poverty are barely subsisting in this country, while thousands of others are struggling to stay housed after having their houses foreclosed on, their welfare subsidies timed out(ended) and their food stamps cut off, if we were given even one billion of the 700 billion dollar bailout, that was approved by congress, we could bring hundreds of families permanently out of poverty and into economic stability.

This is an excerpt from a press advisory released last week by POOR Magazine. I made this statement as a formerly houseless and currently very poor mother. I made this statement as a director of an organization that works on visionary and real solutions to poverty. I made this statement as a resident of a country who consistently pits the poor against the poorer and decides with impunity who is deserving versus underserving of aid.

It was noted many times last week, even by so-called moderates and conservatives in casual conversation that capitalism doesn't work. Mothers, fathers and individuals in poverty have been knowing that for years. It was also noted on BBC radio (one of the few places where one can actually hear truth-media) that other countries across the globe know this but that the way they implement so-called socialism is not by saving multi-million dollar corporations in need, but rather, by setting up guaranteed housing, health care and services for their neediest citizens.

As poor people who have struggled to survive and sometimes even thrive, we have developed, through lived scholarship, logical solutions to poverty and economic instability, lasting solutions that we have figured out through our own experiences. One of our ideas include a sweat equity co-housing model that provides permanent housing, micro-business opportunities, arts education and a multi-generational, multi-lingual school for houseless families. The interesting thing is each of these models only costs 2.5 million dollars.

Once again this is a flagrant example of who is trusted with money, whose ideas are considered legitimate and whose requests for help are even listened to.

As Congress and the Senate pondered the extremely expensive corporate bailout, poor people across the nation watched in disbelief. Shelters are closing, state budgets are being slashed, services for the poor are being closed and peoples homes are being lost to foreclosures. Meanwhile economic justice advocates have been begging, pleading and requesting support for years, and our requests are continually referred to as special interests, handouts or too much government.

Finally, the saddest aspect of this odd experience is the overt example of the deserving versus undeserving mindset that informs U.S. service and resource allocation. When poor people ask for help, we are called bums, stupid, lazy and/or blamed for what got us into poverty. When the high profile panhandlers of Wall street and beyond came up with this insane corporate welfare plan, they weren't laughed at or called names for all their deadly mistakes with our tax dollars or questioned about their corporate scams that set up the average homebuyer to fail with overpriced interest rates. No, instead they were rewarded for their innovation and given 700 billion dollars.


http://www.poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=n...

Gov. Pleads For Winter Home Heating Aid
Mass. To Get $163 Million
POSTED: 7:27 am EDT September 26, 2008
UPDATED: 7:30 am EDT September 26, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick urged Congress on Thursday to provide more money for what are expected to be record home heating bills this winter, saying sharp increases in energy prices and the tumultuous economy are affecting many families, not just the poor.

Patrick met with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to discuss energy assistance and other issues. He also testified before a House panel on the need for heating aid in cold-weather states.

"What's at stake is the real possibility that many citizens in the colder regions of this country will be at risk of freezing to death without federal help," the governor told a hearing of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

- snip -

John Drew, executive vice president of Action for Boston Community Development, a nonprofit group that arranges fuel assistance, said there was a long line of worried people in his offices clutching utility shut-off notices and overdue bills on Thursday morning before he left to come to Washington to testify.

"This is my Katrina," Drew testified. "My concern going into this winter is that we're going to see an epidemic of homelessness."

Continued @ http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/1...



Hmmm... I wonder whether Senator 'pro-life' mcsame will support an increase in energy assistance funding so people in the colder regions of this country won't freeze to death? Seems to me that being 'pro-life', he would not only support a funding increase, but that he would introduce emergency legislation, suspend his campaign, and parachute into DC to make sure that this legislation is passed forthwith. I mean, if you're really pro-life, you can't let people freeze to death when they don't have the means to heat their homes, can you?

senator mcsame... got your parachute ready?

UN agency vows to buy from poorest farmers
By Javier Blas in London
Published: September 25 2008 04:24 | Last updated: September 25 2008 04:24

The World Food Programme on Wednesday announced a significant shift in the way it buys agricultural commodities, saying it will now purchase from the world’s poorest farmers as it broadens its role towards development from emergency aid.

The United Nations’ agency said its new procurement policy would enable “small farmers to access reliable markets so they can sell their surplus crops at competitive prices, bolstering fragile local economies”.

The move reflects the recognition that, with some poor countries continuing to need emergency food aid for decades, the only long-term solution to resolve hunger is to boost local agriculture production, aid officials say.

Josette Sheeran, WFP head, said that the “Purchase for Progress” programme would help both poor farmers and hungry people.


Read the rest @ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/935a8ca0-8a8a-11...

World Food Programme's Purchase for Progress: http://www.wfp.org/p4p /