Local hunger seder’s call to action

Thanks to the Jewish Light for publishing the Op-Ed “An obligation to intervene on behalf of supplemental nutrition” (April 3 edition). The Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis (JCRC) and its Bohm Social Justice Initiative was honored to be one of the communities across the nation that organized a Hunger Seder as part of the JCPA/MAZON Mobilization. Our seder, co-sponsored by Saint Louis University and its Center for Service and Community Engagement, was held on the SLU campus on March 19. Those attending, over 75 strong,  heard about what different faith traditions say about the problem of hunger and  learned that one in six people in our country deal with the problem of food insecurity every day. Too many families in our community struggle to put food on the table.  The seder focused on the importance of working to make affordable, good quality nutritious food available to everyone.

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An important component of the Saint Louis Hunger Seder was the “Call to Action.”  The Liebman/Gutow Op-Ed focused on the importance of protecting the Nutrition Program for Women, Infants &  Children (WIC).  At the JCRC-SLU Seder, participants signed  close to 100 postcards with personal messages urging adequate funding for WIC .  These postcards were delivered to the offices of Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and other members of Congress.  It is imperative that our elected officials hear from constituents about the real life impact cuts to essential food and nutrition programs have on families and children.   

Renee Marver and Gail Wechsler, Chair of Community Against Poverty Coalition (coordinated by JCRC) and JCRC Director of Domestic Issues/Social Justice, respectively

Don’t promote the less-than-heroic Lindbergh

I am totally shocked and disappointed in an announcement in the March 27 “Kibitzing with Caplan” column, which highlights the “Remember Lindy Squared” effort asking for $25 donations to sponsor a 12-by-12-inch square of a recreation of the Lindy Squared mural featuring a portrait of Charles A. Lindbergh. The column encouraged readers to join the Lindy Squared project by publishing their website.

Did no one on the Light’s staff consider that this might be a little offensive to the Jewish community because Lindbergh is widely believed to have been a Nazi sympathizer? 

Read Lindbergh’s statements as spokesman of the America First Committee (read his speeches on the PBS website for the ‘American Experience’ program, which featured an in-depth look at Lindbergh: http://goo.gl/xyjTq) or read further about Lindbergh’s beliefs elsewhere and you will quickly discover how he knocked himself off the hero pedestal with his words and actions before and during World War II. 

With many, many good organizations we can certainly give $25 to, does the Jewish Light really need to promote someone who was a proponent of eugenics and racial purity and expressed pro-Nazi sympathies? I think not.

Scott Schwartz, Chesterfield