He held its presidency for 16 years, building awareness about hunger in ways that informed political leaders and propelled policy.
Starting in 1975, Bread has held “Offering of Letters” campaigns, encouraging congregations and community groups to send letters and email messages to lawmakers to urge passage of legislation to reduce domestic and global hunger.
Simon, an ecumenical minister affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, pointed to the importance of grassroots activism.
“(N)either religious leaders nor policy analysts can substitute for the influence of voters from a legislator’s home state or district,” he wrote in “Silence Can Kill.” “Voters who speak up, not big money interests, can be the movers and shakers who get Congress to act.”
The Rev. David Beckmann, the second president emeritus of the organization, said Simon “responded to God’s call to make the world more consistent with God’s love for everybody” and set an example for others.
“Arthur Simon led the development of Bread for the World from a prayer into a powerful, nationwide movement to get our nation’s elected leaders to help end hunger,” said Beckmann in a statement. “In the 50 years since Art started organizing, Bread for the World and its members across the country have played a leadership role in expanding and improving poverty-focused international aid.”
After his retirement from Bread, Simon was the director of the Washington office of the Christian Children’s Fund, a community development organization, from 1992 to 1997.
In 2019, he told RNS that he had not given up on his decadeslong hope for an end of hunger.
“I don’t think Bread is giving up or other advocacy groups are, or churches for that matter who are engaged this way,” he said. “When there are setbacks you just got to work harder. It’s not unreasonable. Sometimes it just takes reaching that tipping point in the public sense of things that hunger is an outrage in a country as wealthy as ours.”
This article originally appeared here.
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