Nearly three-quarters of the 795 million people in our world experience hunger regularly, live in rural areas, and work in small-scale family farming. At the same time, 500 million small-scale farmers feed a third of humanity. This means that the very people who produce most of our world’s food are unable to feed themselves.

To help fight this unacceptable injustice, World Renew has launched its participation in a Good Soil postcard campaign in partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB).

The Good Soil postcard campaign is designed to send a message to government leaders about taking action to end world hunger. World Renew is calling for Canadians supporters to send a postcard to Prime Minister Trudeau asking the Canadian government to increase support for small-scale farmers and other producers through Canada’s aid program.

Canada has a history of being a strong supporter of agricultural development. However, Canada’s aid budget for agricultural development has been steadily declining over the past few years.

“Contacting the Canadian government is an important part of helping to end global hunger,” says Foodgrains Bank Executive Director Jim Cornelius, “It tells politicians and government officials that Canadians care about people outside of our own boundaries who live with the reality of hunger.”

As this campaign begins to mobilize men and women across Canada, World Renew’s Canadian staff members took the time to add their own voices to the initiative. Over twenty staff recently gathered together in the Burlington, Ontario office to sign and send over postcards calling for action.

“Contacting the Canadian government is an important part of helping to end global hunger.”

This postcard campaign is already inspiring advocacy in classrooms. In February, World Renew's Advocacy Manager, Melody Mendonça visited a group of graduate students at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario to talk about advocating for strengthened support to small-scale farmers through the Good Soil campaign.

“We discussed why we need to advocacy and how we can influence policy-makers and raise awareness,” said Mendonça. “The students told me that advocacy was about making an impact, and they were keen to understand the role the government plays in determining the aid budget.”

After she shared the different tools of communication used in the campaign to engage different audiences, she invited them to sign a postcard as an action step. Fourteen of the students signed postcards to be send to Prime Minister Trudeau.

Young students in Guelph, Ontario also recently had the chance to learn about World Renew’s work and the role of advocacy in helping people overcome hunger. Rhonda Elgersma, World Renew’s Ministry Partner Program Coordinator, visited a group of twenty one grade six students at Guelph Community Christian School. In additional to sharing about how and where World Renew works, she talked with them about advocacy as a way to “make noise” in constructive ways about important issues.

“I was so impressed with the level of understanding and knowledge these young people had in regard to international development and missions work. They were so enthusiastic to learn about the work of World Renew and how they can engage in the global story,” said Elgersma.

“After learning about the Good Soil campaign, they were eager to participate and make their voice known to our Prime Minister. Once again, it reminded me you are never too young (or old) to be part of transformation and change! I thought of Mother Theresa’s observation that: ‘Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." These kids were an example of that, even simply by taking time to learn and make their voice known.”

To find out more about the Good Soil campaign and order postcards, go to worldrenew.net/goodsoil.