Bishops go hungry in solidarity with poor

Bishops fast for the Big IF and the 1 in 8 who go hungry every dayThe Bishops of Oxford and Buckingham will be among thousands of people across the country giving up food on Thursday, 6 June, to draw attention to the fact that 1 in 8 people around the world go hungry every day.

The Big IF Fast aims to encourage world leaders to tackle hunger and save millions of lives. Bishop John said: "It's just outrageous that the world produces enough food for everyone, but not everyone has enough food to eat.

As a Christian, I want to stand up for those who are suffering and dying as a result of hunger and don't have a voice.

I hope that my small act of going hungry for a single day will help bring the plight of the starving to the attention of our world's leaders. "The other bishops joining the Big IF Fast are: The Rt Revd David Urquhart, Birmingham, The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Salisbury, The Rt Revd Steven Croft, Sheffield, The Rt Revd Alan Wilson, Buckingham, The Rt Revd Anthony Robinson, Pontefract, The Rt Revd Edward Condry, Ramsbury, The Rt Revd Chris Goldsmith, St Germans, and The Rt Revd Graham Kings, Sherborne. The Big IF Fast is being organised by the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign.

This coalition of more than 200 charities, faith groups and other organisations is working together to demand changes to the food system, like keeping promises on aid and stopping tax dodging by big companies, that will benefit hungry people.

Participants have been invited to add their names to a petition to Prime Minister David Cameron, calling on the G8 to take immediate action on global hunger when it meets later this month in Northern Ireland by. Thousands are expected to attend Big IF rallies in London's Hyde Park on Saturday, June 8, and at Belfast City Centre on June 15 to further pressure the G8 world leaders before they meet in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 17-18. endsMore information from: Sarah Meyrick - Director of Communications, Oxford Diocese 07824 906839 Steve Jenkins (Church of England) 07774 800212Big IF Fast: andy@speak. org. uk tel 020 8981 9441Notes to EditorsThe Big IF family-friendly public rally in Hyde Park on Saturday 8 June is expected to attract thousands of people, with speakers including Bill Gates, former Archbishop of Canterbury and chair of Christian Aid Rowan Williams and Natasha Kaplinsky and will be hosted by Gethin Jones and Myleene Klass. It will be preceded by an Ecumenical service at Westminster Central Hall, opening with a video message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and including a sermon by the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. The service forms the beginning of a day of campaigning and celebration by Christians taking part in the wider BIG IF event as part of the IF campaign to call on the Prime Minister to use his leadership of the G8 to tackle world hunger, and is organised by Cafod, Christian Aid, Tearfund, World Vision, the Church of England and other major denominations. Everyone at the rally will help create a huge visual petition made of 250,000 spinning flowers, with a total of two million petals representing the two million children who die because of hunger each year - lives that can be saved if world leaders take action at the G8. Enough Food for Everyone IF is a coalition of more than 200 charities, faith groups and other organisations which have joined together to campaign for action by the G8 on the issue of global hunger.

The last time we worked together at this scale was for Make Poverty History .

Now that the G8 group of world leaders are returning to the UK, we are demanding they take action on hunger. Enough Food for Everyone IF says the G8 can take three big steps towards ending hunger IF they:- Clamp down on tax havens and launch a convention on tax transparency to stop the flow of billions of pounds out of developing countries - money that could be used to end hunger. - Help poor countries make sure that everyone, especially children, have enough nutritious food to eat and support poor families to grow their own food. - Give people in developing countries more control over their land by protecting poor farmers from land grabs and using land to grow food not fuel. For more information about Enough Food for Everyone IF , contact Katie. harrison@tearfund. org 07949 181414.