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In this week’s episode of the Be the Bridge Podcast, Reverend Heather Taylor, Managing Director of Bread for the World, joins Tange Johnson, Be the Bridge’s Chief Transformation Officer, to discuss Breads’s mission to advocate for a world without hunger. She shares insights on the successes and challenges faced in advocacy, the role of government in addressing the crisis, and the need for a multi-faceted approach to solving hunger. Heather and Tange both reflect on their personal experiences with food insecurity and what the faces of hunger looks like.
This conversation was recorded on Thursday, July 3, as the Big, Beautiful Bill was headed to the House of Representatives. So the discussion touches on legislative changes affecting food assistance programs, the global hunger crisis, and the intersection of faith and justice in advocacy work. Listen to the end because even in the midst of everything going on, Heather expresses hope for ending hunger and encourages listeners to get involved.
Join in the conversation on our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn to let us know your thoughts on this episode!
Executive Producer – Latasha Morrison
Producer – Sarah Connatser
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Not all views expressed in this interview reflect the values and beliefs of Latasha Morrison or the Be the Bridge organization.
*this was transcribed by Spotify and has not been checked for errors
0:02
Welcome to the Be the Bridge podcast.
Be the Bridge exists to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation.
Latasha Morrison founded Be the Bridge in 2016 to foster needed dialogue and brave spaces and to give people the tools to pursue racial justice.
0:22
We provide resources and community to do just that, and this podcast is one of those resources.
You’ll hear interviews hosted by Latasha and our team, conversations about current events, and encouragement for your racial literacy journey.
Thank you for listening, subscribing and engaging in this important work.
0:43
Hello, Be the Bridge community.
This is Tangy Johnson, the Chief Transformation Officer with Be the Bridge.
And I’m excited about a special guest that we have here today.
We have Reverend Heather Taylor.
She’s the managing director for Bread for the World.
0:59
Hi, Heather.
How are you doing this morning?
Good morning.
I am here present and healthy and and feeling blessed for that fact.
At the same time, I’ll also be open and honest that at this very moment some very critical conversations are happening among Congress that have been anxiety inducing given our line of work at at Bread for the World.
1:28
I can, I can imagine, I know that it’d be the bridge.
We’re feeling a lot of the intensity and the heaviness of what’s happening in our world.
And you know, just for the sake of our listeners who have not heard of bread, would you please let us know what it is that you do there?
1:46
Sure.
So Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization, and we urge members of Congress to pursue a world without hunger.
We also work, educate, and equip communities and congregations across the nation to do the same, to urge members of Congress to pass legislation, policies, programs that help to address and hopefully end hunger here in the United States and around the world.
2:19
Wow.
How has that been successful?
How has that been challenging?
Can you give me an idea of, you know, what are some of the barriers that you’re facing?
I know Congress right now is a huge one, but can you just let our listeners know what some of our your challenges are or some of your wins have been?
2:44
Sure.
And and maybe I’ll start off with some of the wins and they might not be ones that immediately come to mind or would be obvious, but we’ve done a lot of advocacy around programs like the child tax credit, commonly referred to as CTC.
3:03
And CTC was expanded during the pandemic, and at that time, it reduced child poverty nearly in half.
So while the work of advocacy and change the the arc toward justice is long, there are those moments where one sleeps very well at night knowing that they help reduce in a single country, child poverty.
3:30
These are the kinds of wins that that we see.
I would also constitute a win as educating people, the public, and also members of Congress about what the face of hunger looks like.
It’s really important to dispel myths about who’s hungry and who faces hunger, to help individuals to understand that there are people, hard working people, that there are veterans, that there are homeless who have had extraordinary circumstances that are facing hunger.
4:04
So really understanding the problem so that we can better put forward viable solutions to address it.
So I would say some of the the general challenges is lack of of knowledge or awareness about hunger.
4:20
And so, so we’re working to help dispel and to address this.
But certainly because we are an advocacy organization, at the end of the day, the political climate over the last several years and the increasing political divisiveness have made it especially difficult to address a hunger that by nature and historically has had bipartisan support.
4:50
But that is not a given in the present day.
And so it’s really important that we are present, the people of faith are present, and that we continue to educate about why hunger really is and what we can do to solve it.
Wonderful.
5:06
Thanks for sharing that.
What do you say about the debate that hunger and poverty should not be a government issue, It should be a state issue or a church issue?
5:24
Whose issue do you feel that hunger lies on?
I mean like the the responsibility.
Where does the responsibility lie?
It’s important to note that to to solve hunger and to really get at the root, there has to be a multi pronged approach which means everything from our churches and our local food banks to the government playing a role.
5:49
The reality is that while we need every aspect or level of society to be involved, that the dent that the federal government can put in reducing hunger cannot be compared, right?
6:07
It is, It’s beyond comparison.
And so when we think of the millions of people that can be impacted, it’s incumbent upon us to get involved and to to know that there is a responsibility of our government that is called to govern and to help care for the people, its citizens, its residents, its constituents.
6:30
We often say at at Bread for the World, and, and certainly it’s put forward by our president, Reverend Eugene Cho, that God cares about people policies we know impact people.
And therefore it is incumbent upon us to care about the policies, the decision makers, the structures that are in place and putting these for these policies forward.
6:52
So if you want to address a problem, the problem of hunger, the problem of poverty, to ignore our government knowing that it is the number one and one of the most, if not the most effective ways to address the problem, we would be utterly remiss.
7:09
And we have a role.
The government is is made-up of its people and represents its people.
We are the government.
And so it’s it’s it’s one in the same.
And then it’s just determining what role we as individuals may play in that process.
I love what you said about we being the government.
7:27
It’s comprised of people and a lot of times I think we look at it as two separate entities.
They are the people who work outside of the government.
And then there’s the government, this, you know, largely elusive entity that sits alone and, and governs and makes rules that are absent of people.
7:50
And that that is a that is a great issue.
So thank thank you for saying that.
I had a chance to read your story, an article that you submitted about your own experience with.
8:06
I would, would I call it food insecurity or would it be just, yeah, your own experience with that?
And that resonated deeply with me because I have a very similar experience.
So can you, can you tell our audience how it is that God kind of connected the dots and aligned your own life with purpose and, well, intentionality and being at Bread Now.
8:33
So can you give us a little bit about your story, your background?
Sure, I’m, I’m happy to share that.
So I, I grew up and I lived the vast majority of my childhood and young adult life below the federal poverty level.
8:51
I was raised by a single parent, very blessed to have both parents involved in my life.
But I was raised by a single mom, and I witnessed her experience as a working single mom who struggled to make ends meet.
9:07
And by virtue of this experience, I was also cognizant of the kinds of assumptions and the kinds of stereotypes that are often associated with families who may be struggling.
And I was cognizant of our own ignorance, our lack of knowledge about how the systems work, what policies were put in place, how could we get involved in sharing our story to improve these policies.
9:35
And so I had an intrinsic burden from a very early age to want to be able to bridge the gap, see what I did there, but bridge the gap between policy makers and people who are in power and people with lived experience.
9:54
And so I set out my life trajectory in this vein and knew that it was a critical part of my life, calling not only to elevate my own story, but to get to know the stories of other people and to help ensure that vulnerable populations have increased access to knowledge and to resources.
10:17
I also appreciate it and still do that it’s not only knowledge, resources and education, but it’s the power of God that it’s the power of God that I overcame the number of statistics that said I should be anywhere else but sitting here on this interview or in this podcast or helping to lead an organization that has a 300,000 member network.
10:43
But I was able to do that because of my faith, because of the people that God brought into my life, coupled with access and a pursuance of knowledge and resources and an understanding of my own agency.
10:59
And so I’ve, I’ve really felt called to the intersection of faith and justice and have devoted my life to working with and alongside vulnerable population such as women and children who generally are put in positions where they may not have such access.
11:22
So that’s, that’s what ultimately brought me to, to Bread for the World.
And in a in a very short way of telling it and, and how my my story really underscores my my passion and my call.
I love it.
Thank you for that.
I, I just think it’s so important to, to really highlight the face of hunger, the faces of hunger.
11:47
So by that, I mean, you know, we have, I think people have a picture of those people who need SNAP benefits or who need Medicaid.
And it’s typically negative because I I feel that that helps most people sleep at night.
12:05
You know, if, if they feel that if they can put people in a box and make them the lazy or make them the unmotivated, then laws can be passed with that generalization with little to no guilt or, or remorse.
12:22
And but you spoke a little bit about the face of hunger.
You, you gave actually your, you added your own personal experience, your own lived experience in there.
So we see that there that challenges some of the belief system of what hunger looks like.
12:42
Can you broaden that to give us some statistics about what hunger looks like?
What’s the face of hunger that you’ve experienced while working with bread?
Sure.
And and in so doing, I, I would like to expound a little if I may on the, the SNAP program in particular in the US and for those who may not know that’s the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and it is the most effective anti hunger program in America.
13:13
So I have to say that again, the most effective anti hunger program, which means that we must work to protect it.
Now.
This program helps to serve 42,000,000 Americans, which means that no community is untouched when we’re talking about 42,000,000 Americans.
13:35
I think it’s also important to note that 84% of US counties with the highest rates of childhood hunger are in rural areas.
So again, that doesn’t necessarily align with maybe a stereotypical image that that we were the first images that come to mind.
13:58
But if we think about rural America and the variety of people who live in rural America and their experiences, and again, people who are working that are encumbered with hunger.
When we think about our veterans, our veterans who we know are devoted to this country, who we know worked the vast majority of, of their lives and even put their lives on the line quite literally.
14:24
And yet are here returned in this country and struggling with hunger.
And we think about the elderly who also may have have worked and, and served well in their lifetime, but don’t necessarily have the access to the, the kind of, of, of benefits plan or insurance packages such that they are facing hunger.
14:49
And already, even though this program is so effective, there are many individuals and families who by the end of the month, their food benefits run out.
And so when we think about major, massive cuts that may be on the table to the hundreds of billions, this would only exacerbate the the situation.
15:13
It’s important to think about women.
Over 60% of folks who face hunger are women.
And and that’s around the world.
So when we’re thinking about in the US, when we think about global and women work hard, right?
15:30
Women are contributing to their societies.
I mean, there, there are statistics over and over.
And yet these are the individuals who are most impacted and most encumbered.
And so I think when we really dig in to some of these statistics, it gives a more holistic view of hunger.
15:50
And then we have to start thinking about why it is what it is and and addressing these causes.
That’s a lot.
I, I recall while I, while I was in grad school making the decision to get SNAP benefits and that was, it was actually tough for me because I left a job to go to grad school and realized that, wait a minute, I need can’t work right now And well, couldn’t find a job.
16:28
So I needed to do that.
And I remember going to apply and getting those benefits because a lot of college students in rural Michigan where I went to school had had SNAP benefits and in addition to that was given Medicaid.
16:46
And the Lord had it to where I ended up having complicated pregnancy.
And I was married at the time and had and still didn’t have a lot of money.
We were both students and had a complicated pregnancy and Medicaid was the only thing that well, complicated pregnancy.
17:08
But also she had a complicated life and she was in the hospital for several months.
And that care was, I remember a week was $200,000 for the care that she needed.
And if not for those benefits, I don’t know where I would be or where she would be.
17:26
So I’m very humbled and appreciative of the support that I was able to receive at that time.
So when in thinking about a picture of what this looks like and who benefits from the services and resources, it just runs the gamut.
17:47
So thank you for sharing that and that I, I’d like to ask now that the big beautiful bill has passed through Senate, I hate to call it the big beautiful bill because there’s nothing beautiful about it.
It’s, it’s been quite devastating for people.
18:06
There’s been an outcry in how this could potentially impact us if passed now.
Can you share how this could potentially impact the work that you do with bread?
Sure.
18:22
I, I’m happy to do that.
And also, if, if I may even just to, to respond to some of what you shared because it, it resonates with me with respect to college hunger, because I too experienced, as I shared in the beginning, I was food insecure the vast majority of my childhood and young adult life, which includes the college experience.
18:47
And we do extensive work with college students to educate them about the SNAP program.
So good on you that you even knew you had SNAP benefits available to you as college students because most college students, many of whom are food insecure, do not know that the SNAP available benefit is available to them.
19:11
That was true for me.
Granted, that was decades ago, but it is still true today.
And there’s even a formal term for it called the SNAP gap.
And so one of the things that we are looking to do is not to increase the benefit, but just to educate and increase awareness so that students who are already eligible can access this benefit.
19:31
And as you shared in your story, for so many, the vast majority of people who are participating in this program are only in the program for a temporary period.
So they’re not right living off of it, so to speak, over their lifetime, but it is it is a very short term, temporary period.
19:48
And we have students who are I’m sure, like yourself, who are are working in school.
They’re also have side gigs and jobs just to get by.
So they’re already working some 4050 sixty even up to 70 hours a week and food insecure and eating ramen noodles.
20:07
Getting the lowest meal plan, if they can afford that, which only is going to grant them maybe some 5 plus meals a week, which is not enough for anyone to sustain themselves.
So again, just to just just to elaborate on the different faces and aspects of hunger now with respect to this, this bill, the reconciliation bill, that’s, that’s maybe what we’ll we’ll call it.
20:31
And it is, it is what it is.
That is now before the House and it is being debated even as we speak.
Again, up to $200 billion worth of cuts over the next 10 years would be put in place as a result of this bill.
20:55
And so this is going to impact, it’s not hyperbole, 10s of millions of families, there are estimates that show about 3 million could lose their benefits altogether.
So these these are real people who are impacted, right?
21:14
And, you know, we know that there’s a high percentage of children who benefit from SNAP.
Children who are eligible for SNAP receive things like free school meals or meals during the summer.
21:32
Their benefits are going to be reduced.
That’s going to impact hundreds of thousands of children as a result of this reconciliation bill that’s being put forward.
We know that there are stricter work requirements, but again, not for people who are able bodied and already willing and able to work.
21:52
There were exemptions in place for veterans.
There were exemptions in place for homeless individuals and for young children who are coming off of foster care.
This will now be stripped as a result of this bill being put forward.
22:12
As I shared previously, refugees who were in this country lawfully, lawfully will no longer be able to access the benefit at a point in time in their lives where they are extremely vulnerable and very much in need.
22:34
And so this has a very real impact on people and the policies that impact them.
If this bill goes forward, of course, we’re going to continue to advocate What are the things that we might do next, one may ask?
22:54
Well, the SNAP program in particular is governed by the farm bill.
Farm bill gets gets reauthorized every five years.
It was due to be reauthorized IN2023I believed it’s been extended twice, which means it still has to be reauthorized.
23:11
And that there will be work around this legislation moving forward in the months ahead.
And while we may not be able, depending on the outcome and, and it hasn’t happened and we’re still praying, but depending on the outcome, while we may not be able to prevent some of these cuts, we can look more closely at, at provisions to make sure that vulnerable populations are are better protected, to make sure that people have incentives and an increased ability to buy fruits and vegetables.
23:49
So all is not lost.
But because this program is so essential and these cuts are historic and because globally we are facing the worst hunger crisis in a, in a lifetime, it will have an impact.
24:07
And and that means that we will double time our advocacy efforts to address the aftermath.
Well, thank you, Bespoke.
Briefly about the global impact and I will say my mother is from West Africa, my dad is from Michigan and they’re I’m a missionary kid and I grew up in Liberia and Liberia has gone through many iterations of unrest and to include a 14 year civil war.
24:43
And one of the things that we saw was the different NGO’s, the different non governmental organizations coming in to supply aid to the area because there was definitely a hunger crisis.
24:59
There was definitely, you know, a a deeper poverty issue because there was always poverty, intense poverty.
And so now when I think about the elimination of USAID and potentially other organizations with funding being reduced or eliminated from organizations that provide provided food to these countries, these war-torn or impoverished countries, that is, that’s heartbreaking.
25:31
And well, that’s it’s beyond heartbreaking for me.
It there’s an evil attached to it, so can you let our listeners know or help our community understand the impact of the elimination of organizations like and USAID?
25:52
Yes, this has had a devastating impact.
And in fact, there was a report that’s fairly renowned among those of us who were involved in the International Development space.
The the source is renowned, and that’s The Lancet report.
26:11
And just this week, I believe it was Monday, they issued a report that verified that USAID was responsible for saving some 91,000,000 lives over the last two decades.
26:28
Wow, wow, wow.
Now that alone begins to bring home what the impact might be with the agency not existing now, some programs have been salvage.
26:44
Nevertheless, some 83% of programs have been cut or eliminated, and this report shows that up to 14,000,000 lives will be lost.
27:00
There will be up to 14,000,000 deaths over the next five years directly as a result of these cuts.
And that may well be a conservative estimate.
So these are real lives.
27:15
These are real people being impacted.
You know, we were really blessed to take part in a prayer vigil all around life saving international aid.
And we did this in partnership with the Accord Network, which is a network of Christian faith-based International Development organizations.
27:42
And it was really critical for these organizations to speak up and to speak out because these are ones that see first hand on the ground.
They saw the immediate impact before we had the stats.
27:57
And that’s, that’s the the shame and the horror frankly, around all of this is that getting all the data to back up what we knew was already true took time, but the damage was already done.
And but what we had were these stories of people who are working on the ground and organizations that are faith-based, like Compassion International, that participated, like World Relief, like World Renew.
28:29
There were others that didn’t participate in this vigil, but certainly are among similar casts of characters like World Vision and Catholic Relief Services.
So again, I think this is so important because it talks and speaks to the role of people of faith and a faith-based organizations.
28:49
And I think that it’s about the work, it’s about the call.
I think it’s important to highlight this as well because people who work within these organizations are of all political stripes, right?
So it, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not about a, a party issue, but it’s about a work what we are called to do.
29:10
People who understand that absolutely we want to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, but that what we witnessed the way we witnessed it within the time frame that we witnessed it is not the way to go.
29:28
And that unfortunately, 10s of millions of lives right are hanging in the bounds.
It’s, it’s sad because as we figure it out or the, the damage that’s done is so it’s, it’s tremendous.
29:57
The.
Magnitude billion deaths.
When you sit with that, it’s, it’s overwhelming to me personally and it’s not something I just believe that that deserves a pause.
And, and perhaps that’s the problem.
30:18
One of the issues is that we’re not pausing to think of the impact of the decisions that we’re making on on one hand.
But it’s so encouraging to know that there are many people who come to the table recognizing the magnitude of the issues and are doing what they can to make sure that that that they aren’t contributing to continued loss.
30:47
And that they’re putting forth efforts to make sure that they’re doing what God has called them to do to help the poor, to feed the hungry.
And I, I just, yeah, just kind of needed to pause there for that.
31:08
Thank you for that wisdom.
Yeah.
So, yeah, at Be the Bridge, I know personally we get some pushback when we speak about some of the the injustices with this administration or any other administration.
31:31
We are not a partisan organization, but we do call wrong, wrong and right, right.
So how do you help people understand the intersection of faith and justice just in the work that you do?
31:54
Can you, can you let our listeners know about just how you bring the fate?
You listed a lot of organizations just in that with that prayer vigil came together that were interfaith and of kind of opposing or varying political beliefs.
32:13
So So how do you help people understand the intersection of faith and justice?
Really it’s about looking to scripture.
It’s about looking to the the Word and very basic principles, chapters like Matthew 25, where Jesus himself calls us to remember and to treat well, to minister to, to meet the needs of the least of these.
32:45
In today’s context, that might even that context include women, include children that would include those who may be rejected by their socioeconomic or ethnic or religious identity, such as when we think about the story of the Samaritan.
33:09
This is what God calls us to do.
Right.
Even now, although on some level it seems cliche to say, love thy neighbor.
And when we think of Jesus interacting with the lawyer of of which I am, and then talking about the importance of loving our neighbor, essentially Jesus was saying, do you see somebody who’s hurting?
33:43
A That’s the first question.
B.
Do you have something?
Are you able to do something about it?
Right.
And C is it?
Is it somehow within your sphere of influence?
If so, you’re their neighbor and this qualifies, if not, compels you to act.
34:10
So for me, it’s it’s very basic.
It’s really about biblical principles.
And even as we think about the Old Testament, when we look at the book of Isaiah and we think about all of the scriptures around justice, seeking justice alongside mercy, when I think of Proverbs, scripture in Proverbs 31, that calls us to speak up, to speak out right for the destitute, defend the rights of those who are poor and needy.
34:46
And so all that to say that it’s not at least in my view, deep or complex, but it it, it really is aligned with the core tenets of our faith.
The question is, are we willing and able to draw upon our faith and have the courage to do what it is that we are are called to do and that we’re able to do within our sphere?
35:15
That’s right.
That that spans and definitely connects with the work that we do would be the bridge as well.
It is everyone’s problem and even though it can be uncomfortable, everyone can play a role.
35:34
Everyone can play a role.
Everyone has a role that they can play and when everyone is playing their role, the impact is endless.
It’s, it’s, it’s great indeed.
All right, I, I wanted to kind of close with this.
35:52
You’ve just been a wealth of knowledge and I just really appreciate you being on here.
And it’s just, it’s so timely sometimes the work that we do in racial justice because we see, we, we look at a global perspective and we look about at everything that’s happening.
36:16
And I find that I have to personally get tunnel vision and focus in on what’s happening in front of me or else I’ll get overwhelmed by how great the issues are and kind of get swayed back and forth.
36:34
You know, the Bible talks about for fixing our eyes on Jesus for it’s, it’s important to do so.
It’s, it’s because if not, we’ll just get tossed and turned by the waves.
I want to ask, do you personally believe that we can see hunger end in our lifetime?
36:56
I because it’s such a huge problem and, and the waves are crashing.
It’s it’s, I mean, you know, do you think that that’s a possibility?
And if so, how can our community help that help make that happen?
37:16
We at Bread generally often get asked this question.
I can say not only on behalf of Bread, but personally, yes, I do believe it.
I do believe it is possible.
37:34
Why do I believe it’s possible?
Because we have the resources to do it.
The resources are there.
What we lack, by and large, is the political will.
And So what we can do to bring about change is to get engaged and to get engaged with our communities and yes, to get involved in politics, to reach out to our members of Congress, our representatives who are representing us, right?
38:10
They’re representing our communities and our values.
And, and it doesn’t take much to pick up the phone and call.
If one has not done it, it can seem a little intimidating.
But it doesn’t, right, to say, hey, I care about these issues.
38:26
I care about hunger.
I want to see people protected and so it is or to write.
I will encourage people that one viable way, not the only but one viable way certainly is to join BREAD.
38:44
I would encourage folks to visit bread.org and it is very easy.
We, as well as other orgs, make it very easy to write your members of Congress because this is a way that we can impact millions, that we can put a dent in hunger, and that we can end and that we can solve it.
39:04
But yes, I do believe that it’s actually possible because I’m radical enough to believe that we serve a powerful God.
I also know that we have the resources available to us.
And certainly even as we are looking here at home, we are among still the wealthiest nation in the world.
39:24
Yes.
And so now it is incumbent upon us to steward it well and to put forth policies and programs that are absolutely going to make an impact.
And then last, I just want to note that we’ve seen, we’ve seen programs really make a, a difference even in, in the last several decades.
39:52
I believe it was in 1990 that 4 and 10 people around the world were, were living in poverty and then as recently as 20/23, it was 1 and 10.
And so we see, and this is the result of good development programs of which the US has played a very significant role.
40:18
So it is it.
It can work when we do the work.
That’s important.
But we do need the political will.
Well, I said it was my last question, but I actually do have one last question.
How are you personally being filled?
40:38
Like we, we spoke prior to starting this interview about I’m doing this work in a climate where you may feel overwhelmed.
40:57
And you know, let me say this about myself doing racial justice work and trying to help and be a hope giver when a lot of the things that are happening are draining hope personally.
41:15
So I want to ask you, what are you doing to replenish your hope?
Well, as you give hope and do this work.
Yes, indeed.
Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a deep breath like I’m doing right now.
41:34
And, and I will say just on a very practical and spiritual formation front, now more than ever, it is so important to rest and to take care of oneself, doing the basic things that can fall by the wayside, like connecting with our local church, like being disciplined in morning devotional.
41:58
Because in that process, God, Holy Spirit speaks to us.
And we are reminded that this isn’t the first time, right, that a nation has undergone some trouble, right, right.
This is, you know, it might be the first time for us in our generation.
42:17
Right.
Right, this, this is old hat for the God that we serve and, and being grounded and reminded of that and stepping back in moments because it’s easy to get addicted to things like the news, like a drug.
But stepping back, right and, and communing and then also drawing upon our own personal stories.
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And then that looks different for everybody.
Reminding myself of how God has done tremendous things in my life personally and then also for my people.
Right.
I I identify as African American.
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Slavery is a horrible atrocity and yet I sit here free.
Look at.
God.
Look at God.
Right, right, right.
Right.
And, and, and, and somebody was living to cross that threshold.
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But look at God and look where I am able to sit today.
So I can look at the stories of other people.
I can look at biblical stories.
I can look at the story of the people within which I have been born and their story.
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This is how I stay encouraged.
This is how I try to keep perspective and, and, and to remember ultimately who’s in control as as we say in the, in the church world.
But this is what I do.
And that’s not to say I don’t have moments.
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So I I certainly want to confess that, but this, this is this has been my plan for for getting through these times.
Wow, yes I will.
I always say that the biggest hope giver is remembering what God has done in the past.
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You build an altar there and go back to that and remind yourself of how he’s kept you.
And the Lord knows.
I’ve had stories that I just kind of shake my head and all like, wow.
So just as he did then, he will do now.
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And, and we can trust.
We can trust that.
So I I do thank you for being here and speaking with our community.
How do we get in touch with you?
How do we learn more about bread and how do we give?
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Can you?
Let us know your information.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for that question.
And yes, again, please visit bread.org, bread.org and you will see exactly how to get involved, exactly how to donate and give and support.
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And also if you wish to, to get more deeply involved, how to connect with your regional organizer.
We have state and regional organizers all across the country who would be all too happy to respond to you and to help give you the tools to engage and to connect with like minded individuals who who want to make a difference.
45:25
That’s wonderful.
Thank you, Reverend Heather Taylor for being with us today.
You’ve been a blessing and I appreciate you and look forward to hearing about all of the amazing things to come.
And we you’re a partner of ours and we love Eugene Cho.
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He has he’s definitely a friend of be the Bridge.
So I thank you again for.
All the work.
That you’re doing and now you are as well.
Exactly.
All right.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
It’s been a blessing to be here.
Thanks for listening to the Be the Bridge Podcast.
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To find out more about Be the Bridge and what we offer, visit bethebridge.com.
Partner with us in this work at bethebridge.com/give.
Connect with us on social media and remember you are not alone in your pursuit of righteousness and justice.
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Latasha Morrison is the executive producer, Sarah Connatser is the producer, and transcripts are done by a wonderful team of volunteers.
Thanks for listening.
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