Virginia Synod World Hunger Team
World Hunger Team Mission Statement
Keeping with Christ’s commandment to love one another, the Virginia Synod World Hunger Team’s mission is to educate, facilitate, and encourage congregations to engage in aspects of hunger and poverty elimination both domestic and international.
The Virginia Synod Hunger Committee wants to emphasize months or days during the year that have connections to hunger issues. Each month we will provide you with some important facts, prayer petitions, and an activity that your congregation can do to observe the event. The information will be posted monthly on this page. Click on the “+” next to the month you are interested in and the section will expand to display the information on that month. Please feel free to share this information in your newsletters and or bulletins.
You can download the calendar showing Hunger Observance Days using the buttons below.
National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Day
- Wednesday, January 18th — Day for All People. Your opportunity to lobby the VA General Assembly.
Black History Month – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Saturday, February 4 – National Homemade Soup Day
- Sunday, February 12 – Souper Bowl Sunday – Collect cans of soup for your local Food Pantry.
Observance Days
- Wednesday, March 8 – International Woman’s Day
- Wednesday, March 21 – Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Wednesday, March 22 World Water Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
- Friday, March 24 – World Tuberculosis Day
Observance Days
- Saturday, April 22 – Earth Day
- April 24 – 30 is World Immunization Week.
- Tuesday, April 25 — World Malaria Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Saturday, May 7 — National Lemonade Day
- Friday, May 12 – International Day of Plant Health
- Saturday, May 13 – World Migratory Bird Day
- Saturday, May 20, World Bee Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Monday, June 5 – World Environment Day
- Wednesday, June 7 — International Food Safety Day
- Saturday, June 17 — World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
- Tuesday, June 20, World Refugee Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Tuesday, July 11, World Population Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
- Friday, July 28 – World Hepatitis Day
Observance Days
- August 1-7 — World Breast Feeding Week
- Wednesday, August 9 — Indigenous People Day
- Saturday, August 19, World Humanitarian Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Friday, September 8 — International Literacy Day
- Monday, September 18 — International Equal Pay Day
- Friday, September 29, International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
Observance Days
- Sunday, October 1 — National Homemade Cookies Day
- Monday, October 16 — World Food Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
- Tuesday, October 17 — International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Observance Days
- Monday, November 13 — World Antibiotic Awareness Week
- Saturday, November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Bread for the World
Observance Days
- Friday, December 1 — World AIDS Day
- Sunday, December 10 — Human Rights Day – Facts, prayer petitions, & suggested activities are available.
- Wednesday, December 27 — International Day of Epidemic Preparedness
World Hunger Resources
Until All Are Fed: Hunger Advocacy Toolkit
The Virginia Synod Hunger Team has developed lesson plans for use with adults and older teens. These self-contained lesson plans provide a biblical basis for discussion and exploration of hunger in your community with an emphasis on how you and your congregation can take action. The sessions may be used together or as standalone discussions; however, if you plan to use them all, we suggest the following sequence: “Assessing the Need”, then “Feeding our Neighbors” and ending with “Hunger Advocacy.” Each session is tied in with one or two webinars found at the Virginia Synod website as well as other resources listed in the lesson plan. The lessons are easy to use can be facilitated by anyone; lay or clergy. We hope you find these resources easy to use and enlightening! Please fill out the evaluation after using the resources so that the Hunger Team can gauge their usefulness.
- Until All Are Fed Resource Description
- Until All Are Fed_Assessing the Need (Word)
- Until All Are Fed_Assessing the Need (pdf)
- Until All Are Fed_Feeding Our Neighbors (Word)
- Until All Are Fed_Feeding Our Neighbors (pdf)
- Until All Are Fed_Hunger Advocacy (Word)
- Until All Are Fed_Hunger Advocacy (pdf)
- Until All Are Fed Survey
Spring Food and Faith Series: Hunger Ministry Resources
Over the last year, as the world has reeled from the effects of a deadly pandemic, we have seen the number of hungry people around the world rise, watched as food pantries and soup kitchens expanded to serve an ever-growing number of guests, and longed for the time when we “will hunger no more, and thirst no more … and God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17).
Thank you for all you are doing in your congregation and community to continue God’s work and to share the grace and love of Christ. We invite you to continue your work by connecting your congregation to the church’s global work to end hunger and poverty during ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving, which begins on Ash Wednesday.
To prepare, visit ELCA.org/40Days and download or order resources today. You’ll find free resources including:
- A week-by-week guide for congregational leaders to make it easier to engage your congregation in ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving
- A daily devotional calendar that members can use at home to inspire reflection throughout Lent.
- A weekly study guide that can be used individually or in groups (online or in-person) to invite deep discernment and critical thinking, with inspirational stories about how your gifts to ELCA World Hunger are at work in the world.
- An action guide for congregations full of ideas for how to engage your members in the work of ending hunger.
- Reproducible stories to copy and paste into digital or printed bulletins, or to use as inspiration for sermons.
- Presentation slides with 40 Days of Giving information to include before or during worship.
- Video conferencing backgrounds to use during sermons or study times.
Partnership and Advocacy Resources
Walking together with your community can be a wonderful way to respond to God’s love for you and to witness to God’s love for the world. The resources below are intended to help your congregation work with local partners to identify needs, to match those needs with gifts and assets in the congregation and congregational networks, and then provide help that is helpful. Together we can be the church for the sake of the world.
- Step-by-Step Guide to Identify and Create a Community Project
- Asset Mapping: Simple How to Guide (Section 1 could easily be adapted to a Zoom Meeting)
- Bible Study: We are Church Together from Bishop Eaton
As followers of Jesus, we not only have the opportunity to respond to immediate needs in our world, but we also have the opportunity to align our voices to promote justice and equity in the world. Below you will find links to advocacy resources to support change in Virginia and across the US.
Upcoming World Hunger Events
World Hunger Team Contact Information
Betsy Liljeberg
World Hunger Team Leader
Email: b4liljeberg@gmail.com
The Rev. Kelly Bayer Derrick
Email: bayerderrick@vasynod.org
Phone: 540-389-1000
Access ELCA World Hunger Resources at:
https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Relief-and-Development/ELCA-World-Hunger