Hunger, Housing, & Poverty
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World Hunger Day, observed annually on May 28, is a global event.
It aims to raise awareness and inspire action to end world hunger.
As we approach World Hunger Day 2025, it’s crucial to understand that the fight against hunger is not just about providing immediate aid; it’s about creating sustainable systems that ensure long-term food security for all.
With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reporting that about 2.4 billion people around the world are moderately or severely food insecure, the battle against hunger remains one of humanity’s most challenging crises.
World Hunger Day emerges as a beacon of hope and a call to action.
To effectively support World Hunger Day 2025, consider donating to reputable organizations combating hunger, volunteering for food drives or local organizations, and raising awareness through social media or community events. You can also educate yourself and others about the root causes of hunger and advocate for policies that address them.
Here again are eight practical ways in which you can pledge to be a part of this local and global movement:- Educate yourself & others to understand how hunger affects Baltimore and different communities and regions.
- Volunteer to help relieve volunteers. Support our Loaves and Fishes teams and signup to relieve them whenever they are away on vacation.
- Challenge yourself. Make a pledge to prepare one casserole for the St. Ignatius community.
- Publicize World Hunger Day on social media.
- Support global humanitarian organizations like CRS and JRS.
- Advocate for policy changes.
- Reduce food waste.
- Adopt sustainable eating habits.
Partner with Local Communities to End Hunger
Hunger in Your Neighborhood: How Families
by Ben Gross | May 5, 2025
Fare with Food Insecurity Across MarylandFor a long time, we’ve known that food insecurity has a negative effect on Marylanders. But as we continue to gather more, and take a deeper dive into local data, our research and reports are showing some surprising information about how much where families live affects how much hunger impacts their lives.
Geography plays a role in which of the different root causes (lack of financial resources, transportation or dependent care challenges, etc.) families are forced to overcome.
Our colleagues at the United Way of Central Maryland offer excellent insights into the intersection of geography & hunger, through their A.L.I.C.E. Report.
Hunger is about more than food. It’s about people!
Volunteer
- Support of our Loaves and Fishes MinistryAdvocate
- End the pause on U.S. foreign assistance and protect domestic nutrition programs.
- Pledge to advocate for the protection of lifesaving foreign assistance and domestic nutrition programs.Take Pledge
- By taking any of these steps, you can make a meaningful difference in the fight against hunger and support World Hunger Day 2025.
Thank You!
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Upcoming Events
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City Wide Action
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Leadership Training Workshops
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A Roadmap for Rebuilding Baltimore Neighborhoods
In 2022, ReBUILD Metro and BUILD engaged national housing experts to complete a new study on Baltimore’s citywide vacancy crisis. Their report, Whole Blocks, Whole City, analyzes the crisis in unprecedented detail and illustrates why it has been so intractable. The report also offers bold and actionable strategies to tackle the crisis at scale: using ReBUILD’s successful revitalization of East Baltimore communities as an exemplar, the study stresses the need for a “whole blocks” model that would change both how we examine abandonment in Baltimore and how we fix it.
As ReBUILD continues striving to transform communities in East Baltimore, we are committing ourselves to advancing “whole blocks” solutions that resolve abandonment in communities citywide. Our online Whole Blocks Toolkit will offer an expanding series of tools and resources to help mission-driven redevelopers of abandoned row houses plan, finance, and execute strategies to resolve abandonment across entire blocks in order to restore and revitalize the neighborhoods they serve.
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Parishioner Call to Action!
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Further Updates
For more details about BUILD’s successes, commitments and coverage in the press, click on the links below.
- Progress already made towards ending Baltimore’s vacant and abounding crisis once and for all. Click here.
- Baltimore Sun (if the article is behind a paywall, click here.)
- ABC/WMAR
- WYPR
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Contact
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Candra Healycandrahealyst-ignatius.netHunger, Housing, Poverty Committee Chair
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Defining Hunger
The U.S. government does not use the term “hunger” but defines and regularly measures the incidence of two related conditions.
One is “low food security,” or not always being sure of having enough money to pay for food.
The other is “very low food security,” skipping meals or not eating for a whole day or longer because there is not enough money for food.
The term “food insecurity” refers to households in either group. Bread for the World considers food insecurity to be hunger. Americans frequently interpret “hunger” or “food insecurity” to mean that someone does not have enough food.
And, of course, it’s true that not having enough food is hunger. But the two terms also encompass not just the number of calories available to people, but the nutrients they consume.
Since nutritious foods tend to cost more and may be harder to access in low-income neighborhoods, people who live below the poverty line are too often forced to choose cheap foods that may be filling but do not provide the nutrients needed for good health. Their health—especially the health of children—can and does suffer as a result.
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Meetings
2nd Thursday of the Month
at 6PMIgnatian Hall -
Next Meetings
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Thursday, June 12, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PMThe Justice & Peace Ministry of Saint Ignatius Catholic Community is dedicated to serving faith and promoting justice.Read More
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Thursday, July 10, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PMThe Justice & Peace Ministry of Saint Ignatius Catholic Community is dedicated to serving faith and promoting justice.Read More
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Media Watch
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House Reconciliation Bill Will Harm Kids, Families
May 19, 2025Washington, D.C., May 19, 2025 – Bread for the World issued the following statement on the House of Representative’s budget reconciliation package, which is expected to be voted on this week.
“The House budget reconciliation package does little to help the most vulnerable families and instead includes numerous provisions that will push millions of children deeper into hunger and poverty. Bread for the World opposes this harmful package and strongly urges lawmakers to reject it,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World.
The reconciliation package makes significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to cut $290 billion from the program over ten years – the largest single reduction of domestic food assistance ever enacted. The bulk of the funding cuts come from pushing costs of the program on to states, imposing strict work requirements on unmarried couples, single parents, and other guardians with children over six and older adults up to age 64, and limiting future benefit increases.
On May 13, Rev. Cho sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, Ranking Member Angie Craig, and members of the Committee outlining Bread’s concerns with the harmful SNAP provisions.
Read ArticleMay 14, 2025 - This Just In!
Our partner, Bread for the World is on Capital Hill TODAY in the room where SNAP cuts are being voted on the House Agriculture Committee. They coalition is paused to pray in the halls of Congress. Will you join us in Prayer for SNAP AND write Congress?
View VideoBudget Reconciliation Update: Cuts to SNAP are Cuts to School Meals
May 2, 2025
This week, the House Education and Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the federal child nutrition programs, including school breakfast and lunch, unveiled legislation that would cut $330 billion in federal spending by gutting higher education programs and support. This bill was passed out of committee and now heads to the Budget Committee, where it will be bundled with other committee bills before it is considered on the House Floor.
Read ArticleOn Baltimore’s East side, rehabbing – not razing – a blighted block.
April 29, 2025Sixty years ago when Sharon Duncan was a girl, her mother rented their two-story rowhouse on Mura Street for $12 a week.
By the time Sharon was an adult and employed at a hospital, she moved a few doors away and paid a landlord $275 a month. Given the option of buying the house, she jumped in at $15,000.
She’s lived on Mura Street, in Johnston Square, for 40 years now – long after most of her neighbors left.
Read Article
CRS Urges Congress to Prioritize Critical Poverty-Reducing Humanitarian Aid in FY26 Appropriations
April 2, 2025WASHINGTON, D.C.– Bill O'Keefe, Executive Vice President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), along with other organizations, is urgently calling on Congress to protect and prioritize poverty-reducing international humanitarian and development assistance in FY26 Appropriations.
In a written testimony submitted to the House Subcommittee on National Security and the Department of State, O'Keefe urged Congress to maintain funding for critical programs that address global health, development, disaster relief and migration challenges. The total funding request for these programs amounts to about $30 billion.
‘Scale and speed’: State wants to fast-track redeveloping Baltimore’s vacants
April 2, 2025
$50 million will start hitting the streets July 1, Maryland’s housing secretary said six months ago. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore packed into a crowded multipurpose room at a West Baltimore community center and set an ambitious goal: knocking 5,000 vacant homes off the city’s tally in five years.
Since then, a group of some of the city’s and state’s most prominent movers and shakers have attended monthly gatherings on the 17th floor of a Downtown Baltimore office tower, outlining, debating and raising questions about how to reach that lofty benchmark. These conversations have publicly displayed just how tangled Baltimore’s web of blight has become...Read Article
Lawmakers want to protect immigrants despite Trump threats, but options are limited
March 31, 2025The General Assembly may seek to prevent cooperation with federal immigration authoritiesIn the final days of the legislative session, Maryland lawmakers are considering a series of bills aimed at protecting the state’s immigrant communities from the Trump administration’s sweeping mass-deportation efforts. Three main bills being debated would prevent U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from accessing state databases without a warrant; keep ICE out of private areas of “sensitive locations” like public schools and libraries; and block local police and sheriffs from signing enforcement agreements with ICE. But the nature of the American immigration system means there are limits on what state lawmakers can do, a challenge that has brought intense debates and amendments to the bills throughout the session..Catholics rally to aid LA wildfire victims. Here's what to donate
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January, 2025(OSV News) -- As deadly wildfires ravage Los Angeles, Catholics are mobilizing to help those impacted.
Catholic Charities USA -- the official domestic relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and a member of Caritas Internationalis, the church’s global network of humanitarian organizations -- is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, which can be accessed through the agency’s website at catholiccharitiesusa.org.
“As usual, 100% of the funds raised go directly to our local agencies in the affected areas who are offering emergency and long-term relief to those who have been displaced or are suffering as a result of the wildfires,” Kevin Brennan, CCUSA’s vice president for media relations and executive communications, told OSV News in a Jan. 9 email…
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Observing Poverty Awareness Month
January 8, 2025Harry Schiffman, LMSW is a lecturer at Rutgers School of Social Work. He explains the significance of Poverty Awareness Month and ways social workers and allied professionals can observe it this month and beyond.
Catholics rally to aid LA wildfire victims. Here's what to donate
Tell us a bit about your journey to social work.
My journey to social work started as I watched my mother being active in the Borough Park community in Brooklyn where I grew up in the 1950s. She was active in both the synagogue that we belonged to and the yeshiva that I attended. She was always involved in community-wide events and activities.
January, 2025(OSV News) -- As deadly wildfires ravage Los Angeles, Catholics are mobilizing to help those impacted.
Catholic Charities USA -- the official domestic relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and a member of Caritas Internationalis, the church’s global network of humanitarian organizations -- is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, which can be accessed through the agency’s website at catholiccharitiesusa.org.
“As usual, 100% of the funds raised go directly to our local agencies in the affected areas who are offering emergency and long-term relief to those who have been displaced or are suffering as a result of the wildfires,” Kevin Brennan, CCUSA’s vice president for media relations and executive communications, told OSV News in a Jan. 9 email…
Read Article
A Baltimore woman is challenging tax sale after losing her home
December 24, 2024Still, homeowners have continued to fall through the cracks, sometimes due to technicalities and other times due to city errors.Others have unfairly rigged the system: Earlier this year, a Baltimore employee pleaded guilty to accepting cash bribes over a nearly eight-year period in exchange for removing some homes off the tax sale list.. In Maryland, municipalities are required to sell ....
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Governor Moore Signs Housing Legislation to Make Maryland More Affordable
April 26, 2024
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Wes Moore today presided over the second bill signing ceremony of 2024, signing three housing bills dedicated to making Maryland more affordable. The bills, part of the Moore-Miller Administration’s 2024 legislative agenda, address concentrated poverty in Maryland’s marginalized communities, reduce instability in Maryland’s housing supply and affordability...
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St. Ignatius Catholic Community Joins BUILD Housing Public Action to End the Crisis of Vacant and Abandoned Homes in Our City
January 5, 2024
On Monday, December 11th at 6:30pm at Greater Harvest Baptist Church (1617 W. Saratoga St), St. Ignatius Catholic Community Justice & Peace representatives joined more than 550 faith & community leaders from across Baltimore as we gathered to press forward on our work to end the crisis of vacant & abandoned...
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“The Face of Poverty” by student artist Megan Jackson is a national entry of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Multimedia Youth Contest. This contest allows students in grades 7-12 to learn about poverty in the United States, its root causes, and faith-inspired efforts to address poverty, especially through CCHD. The contest is sponsored by CCHD and RCL Benziger.
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“The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. … Inequality is the root of social ills.”– POPE FRANCIS
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Top Priorities for 2025
- Feature HOUSING 101, a series of workshops, podcasts, and webinars to educate ourselves about housing issues, e.g., vacate housing.
- Use letter writing and social media platforms to endorse local and relevant housing legislation in Baltimore City and surrounding counties.
- Use letter writing campaigns of support on the federal level to end hunger and poverty at home and abroad.
- Build relationships with our local and state representatives.
- Host a Speakers Bureau at St. Ignatius Catholic Community featuring social justice speakers.
- As a parish located in Baltimore City, identify and directly support key housing, hunger and poverty issues that impact the communities we serve.
- Continue to expand parish support and community relationships.
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Community Partners
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Community Housing Hub
What Baltimore Can Learn From Other Cities that Have Tackled Vacant PropertiesFrom the Baltimore Banner
Baltimore isn’t the only place that has struggled to reduce a glut of vacant properties: several other cities and towns also are dealing with decades of flight to the suburbs, the Great Recession housing crash, and the lingering effects of redlined neighborhoods or other remnants of racist or discriminatory practices.Some states — including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. — have been able to use a $1.5 billion Obama-era program to prevent foreclosures and address neighborhood blight, but Maryland did not qualify. Baltimore’s vacant house problem is so stubborn and pervasive that no one tool, developer or community association alone can solve it, but those working on the issue say the city should try new ideas, tap community resources and pursue legal options to make progress.
The Baltimore Banner went looking for examples of how other cities have addressed vacant and blighted housing. These are some of their stories.
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