National Council of Churches News

A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food and the Future
debuts in November on ABC affiliated stations

New York, November 1, 2011 --This fall, on ABC affiliated stations, the three-time Emmy Award-winning filmmakers of Diva Communications bring you a new interfaith documentary – A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food, and the Future.

With a generous grant from Odyssey Networks and the support of the New York Board of Rabbis, the National Council of Churches, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church in America, Bread for the World, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Seventh-Day Adventists, and the Westside Campaign Against Hunger, A Peace of Bread hopes to restore a nation’s conviction that hunger can be eliminated. For local listings, check the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission webpage.

A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food and the Future is a compelling and heart-felt look at how young, and not so young, faith leaders are trying to finally make a dent in this country’s 49 million people (17 million of which are children) that are experiencing hunger.

With faiths’ enduring mandate to “feed the hungry,” A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food, and the Future explores the work not only of the steadfast caregivers in soup kitchens and food pantries, but also that of a new generation of anti-hunger activists – all of whom driven by faith in a brighter future.

National Hunger and Homelessness week is November 12-20, and viewers are urged to call their local ABC affiliate to ask that the show be aired.

Agricultural sustainability, social network community building, and advocacy to reshape food policy – these are just some of the ways in which faith based groups are bringing a new perspective to an old problem.

A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food, and the Future reminds us that we are “not obligated to finish the work (of perfecting the world) but neither are you allowed to desist from it.” ( Pirket Avot 2:16) And with 36 million people suffering from hunger in our nation, the issue requires the combined effort of us all.

Among the segments:

As a young college student, Eli Winkelman founded Challah for Hunger to raise money and awareness for hunger through the production and sale of challah bread. The organization has since grown to over 40 chapters in schools across the nation and beyond.

The young men of Gonzaga’s College High School’s Campus Kitchen spend their summers cooking and delivering meals to the less fortunate in the shadow of the nation’s capitol.

At the Jewish Farm School in upstate New York, Nati Passow worked toward a long-held dream of agricultural sustainability. Participants connect to their faith by working the land and growing food for the cause.

A Peace of Bread - opening sequence from Diva Communications on Vimeo.

Also featuring:

An interview with Congressman James McGovern; co-Chair of the Hunger Caucus

The Interfaith Hunger Seder held at the Capitol Building in Hartford, Conn.

The weekly food distribution efforts at the Seventh-day Adventist Berean Church, Atlanta, and Westside Campaign Against Hunger

An interview with David Scherer (a.k.a. AGAPE) who uses the power of music to raise hunger awareness amongst youth across a 100+ show tour every year.

The gleaning of America’s fields through the work of the Society of St. Andrew

The advocacy work of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Bread for the World and the America Jewish World Service

All it takes is a few creative solutions, a lot of big hearts and an unalterable will.

For more information contact bread@divacommunications.com

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact: Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212 (cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org