This harvest time of year for us is an opportunity to consider why hunger persists in the world. 
According to international relief agencies, one in seven people go to bed hungry every night. Not because there isn’t enough food, but because of deep imbalances in access to resources like fertile land and water.
The following are various events and campaigns to help you get involved in ending hunger and providing good food for all.
October 16: World Food Day
Agricultural cooperatives are the focus of
World Food Day 2012. The
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945. The main objectives of World Food Day is to encourage attention to agricultural food production and to strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
“Agricultural Cooperatives –- Key to Feeding the World” is the formal wording of the 2012 theme and is meant to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.
Week of October 16: World Food Day Dinners
This October, Oxfam America is teaming up with a host of allies across the United States and around the globe. They are asking individuals and local groups committed to ending hunger to host a
World Food Day dinner on or around October 16th. The compelling idea is to foster a conversation about where your food comes from, who cultivates it, and how you can take personal actions that will make the food system more just and sustainable.
When you sit down to eat every day, do you think about how the meal you're eating is the product of a complex, and broken, global food system? Oxfam's
GROW Campaign aims to build a better food system: one that sustainably feeds a growing population (estimated to reach nine billion by 2050) and empowers poor people to earn a living, feed their families, and thrive.
October 17-19: World Food Prize
The
2012 World Food Prize is awarded to Dr. Daniel Hillel for his role in conceiving and implementing a radically new mode of bringing water to crops in arid and dry land regions. His work laid the foundation for maximizing efficient water usage in agriculture, increasing crop yields, and minimizing environmental degradation.
The World Food Prize recognizes the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Events take place annually in Des Moines, Iowa.
October 21: Bread for the World Sunday
Bread for the World Sunday is an opportunity to engage your congregation in God's work to end hunger. Through education, prayer, and worship, congregations commit themselves to the fight against hunger and poverty in our country and around the world.
Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. The idea is to focus on issues as varied as health and nutrition, hunger, agricultural policy, animal welfare, and farm worker justice.
The ultimate goal of Food Day is to strengthen and unify the food movement in order to improve our nation’s food policies. You can join this push for a stronger, more united food movement by signing up to organize or attend
Food Day events in your community. NCRLC is one of the partner allies promoting this local food movement.
Additional links and educational resources: