Friday, April 22, 2011

Nebraska State Senator lives on food stamp diet - Omaha.com


Senator lives on food stamp diet - Omaha.com

State Sen. Heath Mello bought a loaf of wheat bread, a half-gallon of skim milk, peanut butter, jelly and Frosted Mini-Wheats from the grocery near his midtown Omaha home last Sunday.
Those five items, which rang up to less than $16.85, have constituted his entire diet this week.
Mello and Beverly Neel, an assistant to State Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins, are trying to subsist on the food allowance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as food stamps — in order to draw attention to the lack of healthy food available to low-income families.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Operation Others Hosts Speaker on Homelessness

Operation Others hosted Matthew Works, a speaker on homelessness to Creighton Prep this past week. The theme of Matthew’s talk was offering hospitality and refuge to the homeless. Matthew has been homeless since 1997 and for the past several years has traveled the country being an advocate for the homeless. Matthew showed students from Prep some of his artwork, including a Church he constructed with passages from scripture, including the words of Jesus “Come unto me all ye that labor and I will give you rest.” But on the front of the Church is a lock signifying how we fail to provide refuge and shelter for the homeless in our midst.  Matthew makes the point that Jesus experienced homelessness, yet our Churches today are not as hospitable as they could be to welcome the homeless in whom Christ continues to be present. 

Students involved in O.O. serve meals at the Francis House, a homeless shelter in Omaha, each year and help out with the Streets of Omaha Project which provides food to the homeless and those living in poverty through the Open Door Mission. Matthew’s presentation was challenging, calling us to move beyond giving food to the hungry and homeless, but seeking ways that we can truly be hospitable and provide refuge.