FEATURES
Marcus Dillender works with lobbying group to fight hunger
Dillender (left) with Birmingham resident Dr. Gayle Pelham, who sponsored his internship. When it came time for Hess Center Fellow Marcus Dillender to select his summer internship, he wanted to work for an advocacy group with an international focus. And Dillender got just what he wanted after being paired with Bread for the World in Washington, D.C., a hotbed for public policy advocates. “I wanted to do something with hunger internationally and also wanted to have the opportunity to go somewhere else and live for a while,” says the senior math/ economics major from Rockwall, Texas. “I was excited to get both.” From June through August, Dillender worked in the Govern-
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mental Relations Office at Bread for the World, located within viewing distance of the U.S. Capitol. Besides attending legislative meetings at the Capitol, he used his quantitative background to analyze both farm bill proposals and domestic news on hunger issues and to write weekly updates for the agency’s headquarters and regional offices. He also assisted in the delivery of grassroots “offering of letters” to legislators. “Each day, I read through a lot of news sources and researched domestic issues like farm aid, welfare, minimum wage, and immigration,” notes Dillender. “In addition
to the massive amounts of reading I did about different policies and strategies, I attended Senate briefings and informative seminars.” Dillender says his experience with Bread for the World restored his faith in the American government. “I felt sort of cynical at first about whether an organization like Bread for the World could really help some of the billion-plus people who are starving,” he remarks. “But I learned that they are doing a lot more than just throwing money on the problem. There are programs being set up that will remedy long-term problems associated with hunger and poverty.” With a goal to use his quantitative background to research public policies in the future, Dillender has his mind set on graduate school. “This experience really opened my eyes to the fact that poverty takes on many forms, even obesity sometimes, like when people try to survive off cheap food. I also learned that poverty can’t be based on appearance. You never know what people are going through.” Editor’s Note: Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy group working to fight hunger worldwide.