Faith Food Action Network: What We've Learned So Far

Recently, FFAN Project Director Mr. Eyon Biddle Sr and Director of Ecumenical Innovation & Justice Initiatives Rev. Breanna Illéné sat down for a conversation about the Faith Food Action Network (FFAN). The FFAN is a mutual aid project with the Wisconsin Council of Churches in conjunction with the Medical College of Wisconsin, in partnership with Milwaukee-area churches and the general community. 

When talking about the project, Mr. Biddle uses the phrase “tsunami of challenges,” and that is an apt description of how things have been for much of this project. The project came about because of existing challenges, such as structural/systemic failures that have caused predominantly African American neighborhoods in Milwaukee to become places where healthy food is rarely available, and when it is available, it is not affordable. 

Institutions began to breakdown during the COVID pandemic and have broken down even further with the ending of pandemic-era programs. Congregations and staff are watching grocery stores closing down at an alarming rate, leaving whole areas of the city without access to affordable, fresh, healthy food. At the same time, members of many urban congregations have moved away from the neighborhoods in which their church buildings are situated and this has caused a disconnect between congregations and their immediate neighbors.

“No one is coming to save us,” Mr. Biddle exclaims in the conversation. Black churches have not always been allowed to be part of the traditional institutions that are now failing. As he wrote in an earlier article, it’s up to us to follow Jesus’ example of caring for our neighbors . 

At this stage in the project, Mr. Biddle and Rev. Illéné are visiting congregations to help reawaken communal, cultural memories through a storytelling project. During these visits, they are asking members of participating congregations to tell stories about times when the church has helped people in the past, and to imagine ways the church can help in the present and future. We look forward to sharing those stories and imaginings with you soon.

Learn more about the project here, and watch the full conversation here.