Economic Crisis

Churches and charities throughout the country are preparing for what they expect to be their biggest service of free Thanksgiving meals.

With more families struggling to put food on the table and the unemployment rate high, many nonprofits are anticipating larger crowds for their turkey giveaways and dinners on Thursday.

The Salvation Army Greater New York Division announced that it will expand its annual Thanksgiving Dinner this year to feed more than 10,000 hungry New Yorkers across the boroughs, Long Island and Westchester, making it one of the largest holiday dinners in the division's 129-year history. Last year the group served 800 meals. more >>

First Baptist Church in Brattleboro, Vt., is selling its Tiffany stained-glass window to continue helping the homeless.

The more than 100-year-old window, which depicts St. John the Divine, is being sold to help make necessary repairs in the building so that the church would be able to keep its homeless shelter open.

Cutting the pastor's hours and letting the custodian go didn't prove to be enough especially as the congregation was experiencing decreased membership and giving. more >>

WASHINGTON – A green economy will simultaneously tackle poverty, unemployment and climate change, contends a new report by a Christian anti-hunger group.

In Bread for the World Institute’s 20th annual hunger report, entitled “Hunger 2010: A Just and Sustainable Recovery,” creating green jobs that advance clean, renewable forms of energy and boost energy efficiency was offered as a solution to the current economic and climate change crisis.

Most proposed ideas address hunger, unemployment or the climate change problem separately, but the report suggests that the United States approach the interrelated problems as a package. more >>

LONDON –The Jubilee Debt Campaign has launched a new campaign encouraging faith groups to take action on global poverty and poor country debt.

Representatives from the major faiths gathered in Birmingham on Wednesday to launch Global Poverty, Seeking Justice.

“There is a desperate need for further action on debt and global poverty," said Jubilee Debt Campaign co-chair Stephen Rand. "Faith communities and organizations have already played a vital role in the campaign. more >>

Most Americans still support government funding for faith-based initiatives, according to a new report.

More than eight years after former President George W. Bush launched a program allowing churches and other religious organizations to receive federal funding to perform social services, 69 percent of Americans say they favor the initiative, the Pew Forum reported.

Only 25 percent oppose it. more >>