Priorities
Martin Luther wrote that Daily Bread is: “When you say and ask for daily bread, you ask for everything that is necessary in order to have and enjoy daily bread, and on the contrary against everything that interferes with it. In short, in everything that pertains to the regulation of both our domestic and our civil affairs.”
His views spoke to all that is required for a family to live in the fullness of God’s love; nourishing food, a safe place to live, a good education, and a social structure that protects the wellbeing of our neighbors who struggle for daily bread. In our baptismal calling to work for justice and peace, we must speak out to our elected leaders and advocate for children, families, vulnerable adults and seniors so that we all receive our daily bread.
Children are deeply impacted when a parent suffers job loss. Today in Wisconsin nearly 200,000 kids are living in poverty. A family of four earning less than $22,000 each year is living below the poverty line, and struggles desperately to make ends meet. Even more troubling, 12,000 of kids in Wisconsin are homeless, a problem that is persistent in each area of our state – rural and urban. A life without reliable meals, without housing and health care, and a solid education affects children throughout the rest of their lives.
LOPPW looks at the parts of life that ensure our kids have their daily bread, and we chose our legislative agenda based on how it impacts them.
Wisconsin’s Children Must Have: Food: Each school day 335,000 students (or 2 of every 5) qualify for a free or reduced price lunch at their school. Of the 800,000 residents who receive food through the FoodShare program, nearly half are children under 18. Without school meals and FoodShare our kids suffer unnecessarily from hunger. LOPPW supports lunch and breakfast programs in our schools to keep Wisconsin kids healthy and smart.
Health Care: BadgerCare+ provides health care coverage for 468,000 children to ensure they grow up to be healthy adults. Too many kids suffer from asthma, or other serious illnesses. LOPPW supports BadgerCare+ as a successful and critically needed program for children and their families.
Education: Wisconsin’s schools provide a quality education to 871,000 K-12 students. Our children are entitled to a solid education no matter where they live. In the social statement “Our Calling in Education” ELCA Lutherans are committed to ensuring all children have access to high-quality education that develops personal gifts and abilities, and serves the common good.
Housing: An estimated 12,000 students from districts around the state are homeless. The Green Bay school district cites 900 students in their district who are living alone or with their families in emergency shelters, or at the homes of family and friends. Children desperately need a stable home and family to succeed. LOPPW supports legislation that gets to the roots of homelessness and provides this basic necessity for our kids.
Often it’s impossible to separate one of these priorities from another. A child who battles hunger struggles to learn in school, and has a higher risk of illness. Children who miss school due to illness, quickly fall behind in their studies and find it tough to keep up. Without a quality education and committed teachers, poor children whose lives are chaotic struggle to learn and succeed. When a family looses their home, the children are less likely to have healthy meals and are distracted by the family’s daily struggle to have a safe place at night.
LOPPW works each day to support legislation that brings daily bread to Wisconsin’s children. We cannot do this alone, and the support of Lutheran Christians is vital to our mission that all children share in the richness of God’s love. Please join our network and speak out for our children.
Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19:13-14)
