PORTLAND — Bread for the World is inviting everyone interested in hunger issues to a public potluck dinner on Saturday, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, 515 Woodford St.

Sarah Rohrer of New York, deputy director of Bread for the World, will speak on hunger and poverty in the United States and throughout the world.

Those who are interested are asked to bring a dish to share.

Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging the nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. In her role, Rohrer educates people about the reality of hunger and then trains them to use the gift of their voices to affect longterm change. Previously she held a position in an emergency drop in center for chronically homeless people in Atlanta, Ga. Rohrer has worked with Bread since 2008 and has a master’s of divinity degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Despite living in the world’s wealthiest nation, 14.5 percent of U.S. households — nearly 49 million Americans, including 16.2 million children — struggle to put food on the table. In the United States, hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food, but rather the continued prevalence of poverty, she said. Both issues must be addressed in the continued efforts to help those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45).

For more information, call 774-8740.

Registration is not required. For more information about hunger and Bread for the World visit www.bread.org.