Hunger Action!

Dear Community,

At chapel on Friday, join in SFTS action on hunger!
During the Passing of the Peace, we will bring forward
our offering of canned goods and advocacy letters as
part of peacefull effots at Hunger Action on campus.

We will:

1) Collect and then donate our canned goods to the
Marin Community Food Bank, which provides emergency
food for low-income seniors and families in short or
long term crisis. (Most needed food items are
canned/boxed tuna, chili, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti
and spaghetti sauce, cereal,pork and beans, meat and
fish (canned, dried or in pouches),  peanut butter, rice
and dry beans, canned vegetables and fruits.) Boxes will
be available for collection in the Student Lounge,
Montgomery Hall, and the library/computer lap starting
on Wednesday for those who'd like to contribute to the
canned food drive earlier in the week.

2) Collect and then send advocacy letters to Congress,
asking them to take public policy action on hunger issues.
We are using the sample letter below—asking our Senators
and Representatives to increase our federal budget’s
poverty-focused development assistance by $5 billion for 2007.
You are invited to write letters and bring them with you to
worship, so we can mail them as a group—or to bring to worship
printed-out copies of the emails you have sent online through
the Bread for the World’s web site tool
(http://capwiz.com/bread/issues/alert/?alertid=8839016&type=CO).

This is our 5th Hunger Action worship service where we have
collected both canned goods and advocacy letters/postcards.
We hope you will join us!

If you cannot attend Friday’s worship but would like give
canned goods or send letters please contact
Rebecca Barnes-Davies at 451-2826 or prc@sfts.edu.

Blessings,

Rebecca

>>>>>
SFTS HAE Worship Letter Writing 2006

Sample Letter               
Your name
Your address
Date

Rep. _______________  or Sen. _______________
U.S. House of Representatives              U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515   Washington, DC 20510

Dear Rep. _______________ (or Dear Sen. _______________):

Poverty-focused development assistance helps poor people
around the world to overcome hunger, poverty and disease. 
500,000 Africans now have access to HIV drugs, in part
due to U.S. government funding.  This shows that our nation
can make a difference.

Currently we give less than half of one percent of our
federal budget to poverty-focused development assistance. 
I urge you to increase that amount by $5 billion for 2007. 
This will help move us toward the international commitments
our country’s leaders have made.  We have a monumental
opportunity to cut global poverty in half. Let’s take it.

Sincerely,
Your Name

** Find Your Rep: http://capwiz.com/bread/dbq/officials/

** Send your letter online:
http://capwiz.com/bread/issues/alert/?alertid=8839016&type=CO
But don’t forget to let us know you did it—print it out
and stick it in the offering basket or email/call Rebecca
to add you into our count!

** For more information on this campaign:
http://www.bread.org/take-action/letters-campaign/take-action.html

** Letter Writing Tips
1  Be personal. Handwritten letters still get more attention.
2  Be concise and request specific action.
3  Send your letters to the Washington, D.C, offices of
your members of Congress.
4  Since the anthrax scare of 2001, it takes 2-4 weeks for
letters to get to your members of Congress.
5  Continue to write to ask for co-sponsorship into the summer.
6  A good formula for letters includes the following components,
in any order: make a specific legislative request of your members
of Congress, give a reason - talk about your motivation and/or
provide a fact, write your name and address on both the letter and
the envelope. Members of Congress pay primary attention to their
own constituents.