Recently in Worthy Causes Category

From Feeding America:

With one in eight Americans not getting enough to eat, hunger is a serious issue in our country.

On Wednesday, April 29, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and the spouses of 150 Members of Congress helped raise hunger awareness by spending the day packing lunches for hungry children at the Capital Area Food Bank.

This is a critical time to spread the word about hunger in America. Both American families and the food banks that help them are struggling with the economic downturn. In this tough time, Feeding America is working with those committed to ending hunger--like Mrs. Obama--to help those who are in need.

Feeding America greatly appreciates the First Lady's ongoing commitment to fighting hunger, and the President's commitment to ending childhood hunger by 2015. Will you join President and Mrs. Obama in this fight? To become a Feeding America Hunger Advocate, please visit our Hunger Action Center today!

Ending hunger, regardless of where it is found, is a worthy cause. Prayerfully consider partnering with an organization like Feeding America in this endeavor.

I participated in the Pound For Pound Challenge this year and pledged to lose ten pounds. I am happy to report that I actually lost 11.5 pounds! :)

For more information on Feeding America, click here.

If you have never looked at the statistics on human trafficking then you may not be aware of how prevalent it has become. The stats are shocking and heartbreaking ... but there are people out there trying to make a difference.

For more information, visit www.theA21campaign.org. Please consider joining and downloading their prayer guide.

When it comes to helping feed the poor, I can get quite vocal. I know it and if you have read me for even a few months ... you know it too. Which is why I want to tell you about Angel Food Ministries.

Angel Food Ministries has been feeding families since 1994. They started feeding 34 families and now feed over 500,000 families across 35 states. Each month there is a different menu and a box consists of fresh and frozen items. The food is good. There are no out-dated boxed goods or produce that is almost too ripe. Typically, one box can feed a family of four for one week or a single senior for almost a month. A box just costs $30. There are also special boxes that can be purchased along with a regular box and they vary in cost (usually around $18 to $20+). There are no limits to how many boxes a person can buy. Plus, they also accept food stamps.

If you have a heart for feeding the poor, please look into donating to this wonderful ministry. You could also buy a box for a needy family in your community ... introducing them to Angel Food. :)

Even as you read this, persecuted Christians from around the world are gathering names and addresses from their local communities. These names are then submitted to Bibles Unbound where members have the opportunity to mail New Testaments in the appropriate language directly to the field. This unique program gives you the ability to stand alongside our persecuted brothers and sisters and help create a witness for Jesus Christ in hostile lands right from your own home.

For a donation of only $30.00 per month you will receive everything you need to mail 5 New Testaments to individuals in a Restricted Nation. Please consider joining today.

I don't know how many of you are aware of the true nature of our prison system. Most of us don't think about such things. Criminals are people we don't want around. We tell judges to lock them up and throw away the keys. We support excessive sentencing for minor crimes. We fill our prisons with drug addicts until they are overflowing and we don't know what to do with the real criminals.

We don't think about how many of our inmates are raped in prison ... let alone how many are murdered. We don't consider the impact prison will have on a young man who has never really known life. We don't consider the impact of spending years behind steel and concrete, surrounded by nothing but men and the pornography that is distributed, will have on a man's psyche ... let alone his sexuality and what deviance will come into play before he is released.

And, on top of everything else ... we don't consider the role God can play in the lives of our inmates. How He can lift these men and women up and show them a better way and a better life. We don't think about how He can restore the dark places in a man's mind and heart. We don't think about the impact He can have on a person and how He can transform them.

The people at Prison Fellowship do. They know how the Gospel can transform prisoners and their families. And, while they have been working each year to spread the Good News throughout our prisons ... a federal judge ruled this month that the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a prison program they helped launch, is unconstitutional and must be shut down. They are appealing this decision and will fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

They need our support. And, right now ... a good friend of their ministry is matching every gift they receive to help them meet their Fiscal Year End budget. Up to $500,000! That means that any gift you give today will be doubled, going twice as far to bring the Good News of the Gospel to prisoners everywhere. On June 30, their fiscal year comes to an end. So, if you can, please give today. There isn't much time left.

A commenter left a link to the news that Andrea Clark has passed away. Her family was by her side and had this to say ...

Andrea passed away peacefully a little before 3pm today, with her family and her friends at her bedside. We love her so very much and we are going to miss her terribly. We hope that the battle that we fought for our sister will bring to light and bear witness to the horrible acts committed in the name of ethics in hospitals across the state of Texas.

Click here to read the rest. It is powerful and speaks volumes.

Related:

• Murdering Andrea Clark

Update: St. Luke’s, in their eagerness to escape continued bad publicity, have offered to pay for Andrea to transfer to a hospital that is willing to take her. Praise God!

Let's call a spade a spade. When an insurance company pressures doctors to remove life support from a patient and those doctors take a meeting and decide that life support will be removed ... against the patient's wishes ... it is murder. When they pull that plug, they will be committing murder ... plain and simple.

This is not a family affair. This is not one side of a family wanting to keep their loved one on life support while the other contests that is not their wish. This is a woman who has made it clear that she does not want to die and wishes to remain on life support and Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn't want to foot the bill. Well, I am sorry, that is what Andrea Clark paid all those premiums for every month ... for them to foot the bill.

I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Life Republicans. I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Life Democrats. I am not going to ask where are all the Pro-Choice Republicans and Democrats. I am going to ask where are all the compassionate human beings that inhabit this planet and why aren't they throwing a collective hissy fit!? I am going to ask why isn't the media all over this? I am going to ask why am I not hearing about this all day and night on my TV set?

Other bloggers blogging:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield - Killing Andrea Clark for Profit?
• URGENT ACTION: Are Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hospital Placing Profits Before Life?
• KILLING MY SISTER - WE ARE PROTESTING - HELP US
• The Sad Case Of Andrea Clarke
• An Andrea Clarke Update
• Time Is Running Out For Andrea Clark
• Killing Andrea Clark - We are Protesting - Help Us
• More On Andrea Clark - URGENT Action Needed!
• Help Save Andrea Clark

Special thanks to Laura from Pursuing Holiness for bringing this to my attention. Go check out her post that has a lot of contact information on what you can do on behalf of Andrea and her family.

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty is an interfaith membership organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in the United States. PFADP relies on its members for support. Annual membership rates are: $25/individual, $40/household, and $100/congregation, or whatever amount is affordable. Checks are acceptable or you can donate securely online at www.pfadp.org.

If you are not a member, please consider joining today.

Bill Clinton and George Bush, Sr announced the the creation of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

While visiting with hundreds of hurricane refugees, many statements were made by both men, but I agree with this the most ...

Clinton said he thinks the federal government's response to the tragedy should be examined. But for now, he said, the focus should be on helping the refugees restart their lives.

"There is still a lot of anger. There is still a lot of confusion, but I don't think we should be surprised," Clinton said. "These people lost everything and the experience they had in the Superdome or the convention center was horrible."

Via CNN.

A hotline has been established to report missing persons who have been lost due to Hurricane Katrina. Call 1-888-544-5475.

If you are looking for places that need your donations, see this post.

Don't forget that there are thousands of animals that are in need of care while they await being reunited with their owners. See this post for more information.

Also, this post has a lot of information on housing, donation drives, finding lost loved ones, etc.