Sara Shady is an assistant professor of philosophy at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn. She has worked on research involving environmental ethics.

Michael Schut is the Seattle-based author of Food & Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread. He leads retreats on the topics of spirituality, sustainability and eco-justice.

Created by the state Legislature in 1989, the Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force promotes awareness, compiles research and works on public policy change. One in six Oregonians – a record number – received SNAP (food stamp) benefits in June 2009. Oregon Faith Roundtable Against Hunger is a partner organization. Contact Simone Crowe, communications director.

Food Lifeline in Seattle is Washington state’s largest hunger relief agency. It has statistics on the people it serves. Mark Coleman is communications director.

Tamera Zivic is executive director of the World Hunger Education, Advocacy & Training (WHEAT) Organization in Phoenix, which works with 5,300 congregations in Arizona. She is a member of the national board of Bread for the World.

Donald E. Messer is a co-author of Ending Hunger Now. A United Methodist theologian, he is now executive director of the Center for Church and Global AIDS, which is based in Centennial, Colo.

The Houston Food Bank is dedicated to feeding those without sufficient food in the Houston area. The media relations contact is Adele Brady.

Lawrence Hinman is philosophy professor emeritus and former co-director of the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology at the University of San Diego. His research focuses on emerging ethical issues in science and technology, including the issues raised by stem cell research.

Ronald Cole-Turner is the H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, author of Transhumanism and Transcendence: Christian Hope in an Age of Technological Advancement and editor of Design and Destiny: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Human Germline Modification.