June 16, 2010

CHICAGO – Leaders of two organizations focused on ending hunger and poverty worldwide – Bread for the World and Heifer International – are co-recipients of the 2010 World Food Prize, the foremost international award for food and agriculture, often compared to the Nobel Prize. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a denominational partner with Bread for the World, and it is a covenant agency with Heifer International.

The Rev. David H. Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, Washington, D.C., and an ELCA pastor, and Jo Luck, president and chief executive officer of Heifer International, Little Rock, Ark., are the 2010 World Food Prize laureates, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in Washington today.

The laureates were recognized for their "landmark achievements in building two of the world's foremost grassroots organizations leading the charge to end hunger and poverty for millions of people around the world," according to a Bread for the World news release. In honoring them the World Food Prize "recognizes the critical efforts of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) in mobilizing and empowering everyday citizens to end hunger in communities around the world," the release said.

"The World Food Prize recognizes all that Bread for the World members and churches across the country have done to get our government to help end hunger in our country and around the world," Beckmann said. "U.S. funding for poverty-focused development assistance has tripled over the last decade; nutrition programs for hungry people in this country have more than doubled. This would not have happened without the advocacy of members and local congregations of Bread for the World."

Beckmann, a pastor and economist, became president of Bread for the World in 1991 after a 15-year career with the World Bank. He is the first ordained pastor to receive the Food Prize award, the Bread release said. Beckmann also serves as president of Bread for the World Institute and is founder and current president of the Alliance to End Hunger. His latest book, Exodus from Hunger, will be published in October by Westminster John Knox Press, the Bread for the World release said.

In an interview with the ELCA News Service, Beckmann said there has been significant global progress in recent years to reduce hunger, poverty and disease, and there's more to do. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have urged people to help farmers in poverty in impoverished countries. "That's a response to the prayers of many people," he said.

Child nutrition programs are another initiative that people can urge their members of Congress to support. Because of the recession, 1 in 4 children in the U.S. do not have enough food to eat, Beckmann said.

"We need thousands of people to be moved by the Holy Spirit to be active in making these changes," he said.

Beckmann added that he is "proud and grateful" that Lutherans in the United States have been working actively for a long time to overcome hunger. He said he hopes the World Food Prize provides encouragement to Christians "to seize the opportunity to change the world now."

The World Food Prize cited the effectiveness of Bread for the World's advocacy, which has achieved policies and programs that have brought hundreds of millions of people out of hunger and poverty, the release said. Under Beckmann's leadership, Bread has grown to more than 72,000 members, including individuals, 5,000 congregations and 50 denominational partners, including the ELCA. Through its members, more than 1 million Christians are engaged in Bread's advocacy to end hunger, the release said.

"I cannot begin to adequately express what this award means to me," said Luck, who became Heifer's president and chief executive officer in 1992. "This is the absolute pinnacle of my professional life. And to share this prize with David (Beckmann), a personal friend for whom I have great respect, is an added honor."

"Although this is a personal recognition, it would not have been possible without the efforts of the men and women who have shepherded Heifer International for more than 65 years, and the millions of families who have been helped and today continue to help others through Heifer's unique requirement that each beneficiary must Pass on the Gift to others, thus becoming a donor themselves. This provides the dignity they so richly deserve."

Under Luck's leadership, Heifer grew from a $7 million budget to more than $130 million, and she helped expand programs and projects into numerous countries worldwide, according to a news release from Heifer International.

Luck joined Heifer International in 1989 as director of International Programs.

The late Norman Borlaug, a Lutheran and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, established the World Food Prize in 1986 to honor outstanding individuals who make vital contributions to food and agriculture. Borlaug was once a Bread for the World board member. Beckmann presided at Borlaug's memorial service in 2009.

There have been 33 laureates so far, most of them scientists. The World Food Prize ceremony will take place October 14, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Information about the World Food Prize, including the 2010 co-recipients, is at http://www.worldfoodprize.org/, on the Web

ELCA News Service