"We Care Through Prayer."
It's June, Dairy Month!

Donate Seed to Family Farmers!  +  Green Ribbon Campaign
Saint Isidore, Patron Saint of Farmers  +  Project Milk

National Catholic Rural Life Conference  + Green Ribbon Campaign Announcement
President, The Most Rev. Raymond Burke, Bishop of La Crosse  +  Being Poor

Green Ribbon Campaign

The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is expressing its solidarity with farmers at this time of crisis by a "Green Ribbon Campaign." The purpose of the campaign is to pray for and support farm families during this time of difficulty.  Farm prices are at a historic low, farm families are suffering from low prices, weather-related disasters, the loss of a safety net due to the last Farm Bill -- "The Freedom to Farm Act of 1996". The "Green Ribbon" symbolizes HOPE. We pray for family farmers. We invite others in the religious community and in all walks of life to wear a green ribbon to show that you care. We ask everyone, urban and rural, to offer support, encouragement, and neighborly care for farm families suffering distress. We ask legislators at the local, state, and federal levels to work for more effective legislation to protect our environment, to support a family farm system of agriculture, to support healthy rural communities. Our green ribbon means that this is "A Time to Act." The National Commission on Small Farms has published a report calling for significant policy changes in agriculture. The "Green Ribbon Campaign" signifies that it is time for action to support our farm families and our rural communities.

Please join with others in your local church, community, farm organization in wearing a green ribbon. Tell others why you are wearing it. Wear it over your heart on the outside of your clothing. Any green ribbon will do. Get one at any store. Offer one to someone else from your surplus. Pray and think of something that you can do. Be a sign of HOPE!

The theme of the Green Ribbon Campaign is:

"We Care Through Prayer."

Parishes and other groups wishing to support the campaign to cut green ribbons are asked to hand out to parishioners and others and ask them to pray for family farmers.

Did you Know?

• The average food item in the U.S. travels at least 1300 miles before being eaten.

• Three percent of the farms in the U.S. supply 75% of the nation's food.

• Nationwide, 98% of all family farm households rely on off farm sources to supplement their income.

• In 1979 the average American used three times as much energy to bring food to the table as the average citizen of a 'developing' country used for all purposes.

• In 1973, 21 cents of every food dollar was spent on manufactured foods.  In 1987 it was 41 cents.  Following current trends it will be 90 cents by the year 2000.

• In 1949 there were 116,500 family dairy farms in Wisconsin.  Today there are only 22,614.

• The number of farms in Portage County has decreased by 90% since 1949.

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  PROJECT MILK

  For 16 years, Father Joe Walijewski has been providing our Wisconsin milk not only to the children of the orphanage, but also to the neighboring areas. In all, we have sent over 325 tons of milk to Peru. Father Joe now wishes to expand his operation to the surrounding county, and this marks the first time that we have sent three shipments within a year.

  Traditionally, Project Milk has made its appeal during Lent, a season with a growing number of charitable collections. In our effort to supply Father Joe with a greater supply of Wisconsin milk, and to raise awareness of the plight of our farmers here in Wisconsin, our year 2000 appeal has been moved to the beginning of June during our "June Dairy Days."

  If you'd like to help, send a check marked to "Project Milk" to PROJECT MILK, Diocese of La Crosse, P.O. Box 4004, La Crosse, WI  54602-4004.

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NCRLC President, Bishop Burke

The Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin was elected president of the NCRLC board of directors at the semi-annual meeting December 15, 1996. Burke spent his earliest years on a dairy farm that also raised turkeys and bees. When his father died, Burke was age 8 and the family relocated to another farm. Along with his five brothers and sisters, Mrs. Burke farmed for a number of years. family farming and the agricultural way of life is deeply embedded into his vocation. His coat of arms includes a sheaf of wheat which represents agriculture, the principal work of the people of the diocese. The NCRLC president is elected to a three-year term of office, serves on the executive committee, represents NCRLC at meetings, and presides over the board of directors' meetings.

forwarded by member Daryl ...

B E I N G   P O O R

One day, a father and his rich family took their son for a trip in the country with the firm purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a day and night at the farm of a very poor family.

When they got back from their trip, the father asked the son, "How was the trip?" "Very good, dad!" "Did you see how poor people can live?" the father asked. "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?"

The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon."

As the little boy was finishing, the father was speechless. His son added, "Thanks, dad, for showing me how poor we are!"

Isn't it true that it all depends on the way we look at things? If we have love, friends, family, health, good humor, and a positive outlook towards life ~~ we've got everything!  We can't buy any of these things, but still we can have all the material possessions we can imagine, provisions for the future, etc., but if our spirits are poor, we have nothing.

We Care through Prayer!   We Support Family Farms!

... for family farmers, growers, pork, poultry, and livestock producers, 
farm workers, rural businesses, and all who care for the Earth ...

Wear a Green Ribbon today!

This appears on the Web Site of Father Pat's Place, http://frpat.com   ©1999-2005 by Fr. Pat Umberger.  Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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