Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal will focus on the plight of hungry children during its next prayer vigil October 20 at Bloomington's First Christian Church.
The hour-long "Celebrate Children's Prayer Vigil" begins at 6:30 p.m. The event also will include a canned goods collection competition among local K-12 students, with donations going to Bloomington's Clare House.
"We are planning to have our next Prayer Vigil focused around children within our community, state, and nation that are in need due to hunger," reported NIOT:B/N Faith and Outreach Committee Willie Holton Halbert.
"It is our desire to engage people of faith and our entire community in improving the lives of children and their families in our community, state and our nation."
The vigil is part of the 2015 Children's Defense Fund (CDF) National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, “How Long Must I Cry for Help? Bending the Arc toward God's Vision of Justice for Children," October 16-18, which will focus on real solutions to significantly reduce child poverty. Thousands of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other faith communities across the country are holding community-wide interfaith special worship services, educational programs, and/or advocacy activities to engage people of faith.
CDF’s recent report, Ending Child Poverty Now, outlines steps to "make a huge down payment on ending preventable, costly, and immoral child poverty in our wealthy nation." By investing an additional 2 percent of the federal budget into existing programs and policies that increase employment, make work pay, and ensure children’s basic needs are met, our nation could reduce child poverty by 60 percent and black child poverty by 72 percent, lifting 6.6 million children out of poverty immediately, according to CDF.