Vernita’s comments: 
If you are a frequent movie-goer or even someone like me who only goes to see something very occasionally, I have a recommendation for you. “A Place at the Table” is a new movie which is currently showing in some local theaters and also available on itunes and On Demand for home viewing. (The local reviews have been three stars and more). It is also a movie which directly coordinates with the Bread for the World 2013 Offering of Letters which uses the same theme. This documentary tells the story of three people from different parts of the United States, each struggling with food insecurity--a single mother, a fifth-grader, and a second-grader with health issues. The stories are interwoven with insights from experts--sociologist, author, nutrition policy leader, teachers, activists and ordinary citizens. Each of the presentations helps us see how in the past 40 years the U.S. has gone from being a country with little hunger to a country where today 50 million people don't know where their next meal is coming from. That number includes one in four children! No, the movie is not another downer; it is hopeful in showing how our country, filled with our God's abundance, can provide for our hungry people. The movie helps us understand that we, as American citizens can and must decide to prioritize ending hunger by making healthy food available and affordable. We can do it--it will be good for everyone, for the future, and what God requires of us.

Ed’s details on the movie: The documentary – A Place at the Table (run time: 84 minutes)
The narrative cuts back and forth between a half dozen main characters while focusing on three of them. Rosie is a fifth grader in Collbran, Colorado. Her teacher, Leslie Nichols, who was also hungry as a child is brought into the picture. She also volunteers at the local food shelf. A rancher and sheriff are also interviewed. The rancher
tends his cattle full time plus works a 40 hour week as school janitor. The sheriff is the only one left of a three man department and he now has to use the food shelf. Odessa Cherry is a second grade teacher in Jonestown, Mississippi, and develops diabetes so she brings nutrition awareness to her students. Barbie is a single mother of two in Philadelphia. At first she is unemployed and gets by with food stamps and other help but then she gets a full-time job and is poorer and has less food because she is ineligible for food stamps and child care. She is also part of a 40 women Witness to Hunger bus trip to Washington to testify before Congress. Representative Jim McGovern (Mass.) and Jeff Bridges are quoted at length and Top Chef Tom Colicchio (husband of the film’s producer, Lori  Silverman) is shown trying to produce healthy meals on the budget that school cooks are given (95 cents per meal). Jeff makes the point that in the 1980’s the need for food went up but the amount of resources allocated by our government went down. He also notes that private charity has not reduced hunger in the U.S. David Beckmann is identified and has a few short cuts in the film. Some of the facts cited are that 70% of the USDA dollars in the farm bill go to 10% of the farms which are mega-farms; that the subsidies areallocated with 1% for vegetables, 15% for dairy, and 84% for cotton, corn, soy, wheat and rice; that food stamps require a diet on $3 per day; that of all of the economic secure countries in the IMF the U.S. ranks worst with 50 million people food insecure; that the school reimbursement rate for school meals is the same as it was in 1973; that the 2011 Child Nutrition Act allocated $4.5 billion over ten years but that much of that was paid for by cutting food stamps with a net increase of six cents per meal; that the number of food banks has grown from 200 in 1980 to 40,000 now while hunger has gotten worse (not to be confused with food shelf growth which is from 500 to 50,000 – Ed); that in a few years one of every three children will get Type Two Diabetes from the high carb diets; that we need a “living wage” standard because 85% of food insecure families already have a full time wage earner. Bridges hopes that this problem “wakes people up” so that we can reclaim our agriculture policy – that we already have the solutions – that we have to make our government answer when 50 million people don’t have enough to eat. (This is as close as he gets to saying that we have to contact our Congress-persons. – Ed)
    Watch the trailer at: http://www.bread.org/ol/2013/a-place-at-the-table/
        3 Ways to watch it at home:
            1- You can rent it for $6.99 from amazon.com for a 48 hour rental to stream.
            2- You can rent it as part of a Netflix account (Netflix.com) which costs $7.99 per month to stream any movie  and you can also rent any dvd and have it mailed to you for an additional $7.99 per month.
            3- You can also rent it through iTunes (the account is free: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2731)  for $6.99. You must start watching it within 30 days of rental and finish it within 24 hours.
                                                                        DO IT!!             HAVE A HOUSE PARTY!               I’ll bring the popcorn.
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