02/12/2025
A LETTER FROM BREAD FOR THE WORLD
(We are sharing this portion of a letter from Rev. Eugene Cho, President and CEO of Bread for the World, as an act of faith and hope. It is a long letter, but please read it. It offers a broken-hearted but reasoned response to recent cuts in humanitarian aid. We are offering the links to related articles, and to pages on the Bread for the World site, in the response section.)
Dear [supporter],
I write to you with a heavy heart. You’re aware of the recent executive orders and other directives that are impacting many of the hunger, poverty, and malnutrition policies and programs that Bread for the World has supported over the last five decades.
While adjustments are common with administration changes, and standard reviews of government programs are healthy, the immediate foreign assistance pause and sudden restructuring of USAID will significantly set back global hunger. I fear that much of the progress that Bread and our partners have made – which had already been halted by COVID, climate, conflict, and costs – may be impacted for generations to come.
The Secretary of State’s waiver for emergency food assistance gives us some hope. We are also grateful that some of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is exempted, too, allowing critical HIV medicine to proceed and prevent people dying from losing access to treatments (20 million HIV-positive people depend on PEPFAR).
But the impacts of the pause and work stop order are devastating. Maternal and child nutrition programs, therapeutic feeding centers, and programs for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers that are not covered under the waiver are being closed. The impacts of this are dire for, as an example, the 4.5 million children under the age of five who are facing acute malnutrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The US has established itself as a leader in development assistance, and the sudden absence of our investments will not only affect people’s ability to feed their families today – it will have long-term impacts. When two-thirds of the staff for the President’s Malaria Initiative were laid off, one said: “You could open the funding floodgates again tomorrow and you will still have children dying months from now because of this pause.”
As a non-partisan organization, Bread has built strong relationships on both sides of the aisle. Being nonpartisan does not mean we remain silent when we believe certain actions are antithetical to our faith and our mission. We strive to embody a healthy political presence that emanates from our faith. One of our organizational commitments is to value courage and prophetic voice. In a spirit of wisdom and love, we intend to be bold in articulating and pursuing our vision of a world without hunger.
To that end, Bread is doing everything we can to gather information, advocate directly to Congress, collaborate with partners to share news and impacts, and organize to raise voices of faith. We are committed to responding with reason, strength, and moral conviction.
Bread is also moving forward with our 2025 advocacy campaign, Nourish our Future, which focuses on WIC (the Women, Infants & Children Program), the Child Tax Credit, and global nutrition. (See the link in the responses below.)
Many people have reached out to ask what Bread members can do right now, and the truth is that continuing with this campaign is one of the best things we can do. In fact, there’s never been a more important time to organize and advocate for nutrition.
For every $1 invested in addressing undernutrition, countries see $23 in returns. Fully funding proven nutrition programs is powerfully efficient and effective. Now more than ever, it is important that our congressional representatives hear voices advocating for the protection of nutrition programs. (See the link in the responses below.)
(Rev. Cho goes on to ask for financial support and prayer support.)
With hope,
Rev. Eugene Cho
President and CEO
Engaging Churches in the Healing of Hunger & Poverty at 
