I have been thinking about begging lately. We have all encountered beggars -- whether on the streets of Nairobi, Chicago, or Boise. In future blogs I will give some of my personal perspectives on begging, but I recently came across the following story about Brother Juniper (1210-1258), who was one of St. Francis of Assisi's original followers. He is known for being one of the most outrageous "holy fools" in the history of Christianity, and this painting of Brother Juniper and the Beggar is displayed in the Louvre in Paris.

"Brother Juniper was so full of pity and compassion for the poor, that when he saw anyone poor or naked he immediately took off his tunic, or the hood of his clock, and gave it to him. (His superiors therefore ordered that he not) give away his tunic or any part of his habit. A few days afterwards, a poor half-naked man asked an alms of Brother Juniper for the love of God, who answered him with great compassion: "I have nothing which I could give thee but my tunic, and my superior has (commanded me) not to give it, nor any part of my habit, to anyone. But if thou take it off my back I will not resist thee." ... The beggar forthwith stripped him of his tunic, and went off with it. When Brother Juniper returned home, and was asked what had become of his tunic, he replied: "A good man took it off my back, and went away with it." And as the virtue of compassion increased in him, he was not contented with giving his tunic, but would give books, or clocks, or whatever he could lay his hands on, to the poor. For this reason the brethren took care to leave nothing in the common rooms of the convent, because Brother Juniper gave away everything for the love of God and to the glory of his name."

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Cauzal Coffee partners with Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) in our Hunger Cauze. CHF's mission is "to serve children in need ... across America and around the world."  Whether it is hunger, malnutrition, poor medical care, abandonment or abuse, CHF works to provide assistance and care to needy children.  To date, more than 10 million children in 70 countries have received $600 million in aid from CHF. In 2007 alone, CHF distributed more than $90 million of food and other services to children.  

The following video is a great introduction to Children's Hunger Fund:

2008 was a year of crises -- food, economics, conflict.  And these crises compound each other, making the overall effect even worse.  A recent article in the Washington Post says: 

"As shock waves from the credit crisis began to spread around the world, China scrambled to protect itself. Among the most extreme measures it took was to impose new export taxes to keep critical supplies such as grains and fertilizer from leaving the country.

About 5,700 miles away, in Nairobi, farmer Stephen Muchiri is suffering the consequences. It's planting season now, but he can afford to sow beans on only half of the 10 acres he owns because the cost of the fertilizer he needs has shot up nearly $50 a bag in a matter of weeks. Muchiri said nearly everyone he knows is cutting back on planting, which means even less food for a continent where the supply has already been weakened by drought, political unrest and rising prices.

While the world's attention has been focused on rescuing investment banks and stock markets from collapse, the global food crisis has worsened, a casualty of the growing financial tumult."  

Visit the following sites to learn more about the global food crisis, its impact, and what is being done to address this problem:  

BBC, 

Financial Times, 

World Food Program, 

UN Global Task Force, 

Reuters, 

ReliefWeb.

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Here is something that my sister, Laurie Cutter, recently blogged about.  Her blog tells the story of how we can help save the children of Burundi through simple adjustments in our coffee buying habits:

"When I walked into our front yard in Burundi, I'd sometimes find big squares of brown sack-cloth with coffee beans drying on top of them. And then later, I'd smell the coffee beans roasting. What a great aroma. I remember begging Mom and Dad to give me just one cup of coffee...please! They finally promised I could try it when I turned ten years old -- hoping, I think, that I'd forget their promise or eventually lose interest. But when June rolled around, I claimed my cup of caffeine, filled to the brim with strong brew and milk. Good memories.

Here's an easy way to help the children of Burundi while you enjoy a good cup of coffee:

In Burundi malaria and malnutrition kill more than 23% of all children before they reach the age of five! World Relief is working hard to saturate a community of 243,000 people in central Burundi with simple health messages to prevent these senseless deaths. Volunteers are taught health lessons every two weeks, and they pass along the life-saving information to their neighbors. Due to a generous matching grant, your gift will be matched three times by another donor!

Simply visit this web site and purchase a couple bags of coffee. Cauzal Coffee will give 33% of your purchase price to “Save the children of Burundi” and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your coffee not only tastes good, it does good.

I'm thinking this is a good option for Christmas gifts. Yeah?"

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