Feed the Fish For a Good Cause

Once again, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is asking supporters to feed a fish to help combat world hunger.

Peter Fish, the gold fish asking your help this year, might remind people of the iconic fish from their childhood days or the days when their children were small. The little orange plastic fish banks are possibly the most memorable part of CRWRC’s World Hunger Campaigns each year.

Churches distribute the banks each fall, children fill them with their coins, and the banks are collected so that the proceeds can help CRWRC fight global hunger around the world.

This year, hoping to expand his reach, Peter Fish is going virtual. CRWRC is launching a Facebook campaign to spread the word beyond the youngsters and have people feed the fish as much as possible.

By going online, the goal is to maximize the number of dollars being committed to the fight against hunger. Peter Fish says participating is not hard. It’s easier than actually getting in a boat or standing on a pier. The steps are simple:

• Join the Feed The Fish cause on Facebook. Donate $10 to CRWRC’s Feed The Fish campaign.
  Note: US and Canadian donations can be given through the facebook cause page. However, if you wish to receive a charitable tax receipt from CRWRC, please donate at www.crwrc.org/fish.
• Tell 10 friends about your donation and encourage them to join the cause.
• Get others intrigued by posting your status on your Facebook profile. For example: "<name> fed the fish, will you?" or "<name> didn't forget to feed the fish!"
• Each small action can have a world of impact.

For more than 30 years, CRWRC has helped the CRCNA highlight global hunger and participate in a response.  Traditionally, this campaign happens during the weeks leading up to World Hunger Sunday (designated by the CRC Synod in 1979 to be the first Sunday in November).

That would mean distribution of the materials on Sunday, October 17 and a culmination in World Hunger Sunday on November 7. However, the materials are designed so that they can be used at any time of year.

This year's campaign reminds us that what we want and what we commit to do are two different things. Commitment – wholehearted and prayerful – is a conscious decision. While we might all want hunger to end, we also need to make a commitment to be part of the solution.

Today, around the world, there are people who have made that decision to do something to end hunger around them. They are improving farming techniques, teaching adult literacy, providing small loans to business people, and taking other steps to find long-term solutions to poverty.

The campaign includes everything your church will need to hold a World Hunger Sunday service including: song suggestions, bulletin announcements, children's sermons, instructions for holding a "Show of Hands" activity, sermon suggestions and more. You can also order devotional booklets that offer three weeks of devotions, activity suggestions, and giving suggestions to help individuals and their families explore their commitment to ending global hunger at home. Are you in?

World Hunger Resourcesc can be obtained by clicking, Hunger Resources.

Donations Go To: Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, a nonprofit organization established in 1962 by the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

Initially, a disaster response and adoption agency, CRWRC expanded its focus in 1979 to include international community development programs and eventually merged a third emphasis, justice education, into its vision and mission.

Today, CRWRC is a well-established, bi-national organization with reputation for innovative and sustainable grass-roots development and relief work around the world. To go fishing and help Pete fill the need, visit: Fish Donation.