Bread for the World Urges Leaders Not to Forget Poorest Victims of Gulf Oil Spill

WASHINGTON, June 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bread for the World is urging leaders and experts not to forget hungry and poor people who are being impacted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as British Petroleum begins compensating workers and businesses affected by the company's leaking oil well.

"Many of these people were suffering a disaster before the disaster," said Rev. David Beckmann, World Food Prize Laureate and president of Bread for the World. "There is no doubt that the Gulf oil spill will have untold costs for the hungry and poor people in that region."

The coastal counties under the greatest threat in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are among the poorest in the country. In those counties, about one in four children participates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). Mississippi has the highest rate of hunger and food insecurity in the country.

Along with high unemployment, an increasing number of the region's low-income workers are likely to face cutbacks in their hours because of the oil spill's economic impact.    

"The situation in the Gulf should compel Congress to redouble efforts to strengthen tax credits for the working poor and fund the needed increase for the child nutrition programs," said Beckmann. "Now more than ever we must not forget that there are extremely poor people in this Gulf region who are being made even worse off by this environmental and economic crisis."

Rev. Beckmann was recently named a 2010 World Food Prize Laureate — the Nobel Prize equivalent for food and agriculture — for his efforts to end hunger and poverty for millions of people around the world.

Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

SOURCE Bread for the World