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2019 Offering of Letters

• Call (800-826-3688) or email your members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor the Global Nutrition Resolution (H.Res.189/S.Res.260) and fund the international affairs budget by increasing funding for global nutrition to $250 million.
• Senators will craft funding bills for fiscal year 2020 when they return to the Capitol in September—including the international affairs budget. With robust funding, we can jumpstart efforts to make faster progress on global nutrition and help the United States spur action from other partners.
• The bipartisan Global Nutrition Resolution acknowledges that progress has been made, thanks to strong U.S. leadership and a bipartisan commitment, but more needs to be done if we are going to eliminate malnutrition. If your member of Congress has already cosponsored the resolution, thank them. You can view a current list of House cosponsors (H.Res.189) here, and a list of Senate cosponsors (S.Res.260) here.

For more information on this issue:

• The 2019 Offering of Letters: Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow
• Fact Sheet: Why We Need $250 Million for Global Nutrition Programs

Watch for action alerts. For additional talking points, contact organizing@bread.org or call 800-822-7323.

New 2019 Offering of Letters Resources

Find the most up-to-date sample letter here (DOCX).

If you are looking for a video to introduce the 2019 Offering of Letters to your church or organization, consider using a video short from Rev. David Beckmann of his recent trip to Ethiopia. You can find the video here, or view all of the video shorts from his travels in Ethiopia and Guatemala here. You can also view “Accelerating Global Nutrition: Lessons from Nepal,” which is a short video that lays out the crisis of malnutrition and how your advocacy is making a difference.

Many of you have been asking where you should report your Offering of Letters events. You can report letters here with the online feedback form.

For leaders interested in conducting an Offering of Letters workshop or adult forum on global nutrition, the organizing department has developed a PowerPoint presentation that you can be accessed here or in the Offering of Letters toolkit.

Publishing a letter-to-the-editor (LTE) helps educate members of Congress about hunger issues. If you would like to write an LTE on global nutrition, find a template here.

August Recess

August recess means opportunities to engage with your members of Congress. You can invite them to your local event or to take a tour of your church pantry. You can schedule an in-district visit with them or attend one of their town hall meetings.

Your members will be in their home districts and states and looking to hear from constituents all month. Members are scheduled to return to Washington D.C., for legislative work on Sept. 9. Make sure ending hunger is part of the conversation. Contact your organizer for more ideas and talking points.

Activists in Action

“This trip has changed my life”

Note: In honor of Black August, Bread for the World is highlighting stories of activists affected by mass incarceration.

Growing up, Brandi Eubanks had it hard

She was raised with her two brothers and four cousins by her grandparents and single mother in Eutaw, Alabama until her mom moved to public housing with Eubanks and her two brothers. Her father died when she was 9-years-old, but she hardly knew him because he had spent most of her early childhood in and out of prison. 

Before his death, Eubanks had only seen her father three times. “The first time I saw my father was through the gates of an old two-story brick jailhouse down in downtown Eutaw while my mother was walking me to school,” she said. 

As a child, Eubanks suffered significant abuse, including physical, sexual, mental, and emotional  abuse. She says God has played a major role in her life and healed her from the trauma of her past. 

“Now I am able to walk in liberty receiving every blessing God has for me,” Eubanks, 24, says.

One of those blessings was the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., in June to participate in Bread for the World’s 2019 Advocacy Summit. Eubanks, a student at Stillman College, says one of her professors who she considers a mentor and “second mom” suggested she attend. 

At the Pan African Consultation, Eubanks learned about the root causes of hunger and poverty, including mass incarceration. 

Since African Americans are up to 10 times as likely to be targeted and later incarcerated, they are also up to 10 times as likely to experience food insecurity as a result of mass incarceration, according to Bread for the World Institute. 

Eubanks visited the offices of Rep. Terri Sewell and Sen. Doug Jones and advocated for increasing funding for global nutrition program. Eubanks believes that what happens globally affects us at home. 

“This trip has changed my life and answered a lot of unanswered questions,” she said. “Now, I am able to bring what I’ve learn back to [the] community, especially [the] organization that I’ve founded called ‘I am 18 Youth Wellness Organization.’” 

The Christian-based organization focuses on helping at-risk youth ages 5 to 18 from becoming homeless, substance abuse users, or incarcerated. It does this by providing intervention and prevention services, including mental, physical, and spiritual programs.

Eubanks believes in never giving up, never being afraid of rejection, and never being afraid to tell her story. 

“I believe the world would be a better place if we all put our differences aside and come together in love for the greater good of all,” she said. “Some would argue that poverty is a choice. I question how can poverty be a choice while laws and systems are set up to oppress people?”

She added: “Something needs to be done and it is up to us to do it. Hatred stops the growth of a country, state, county, and individual. But love allows things to grow.”

More Resources: Activist Tool Kit

The Activist Tool Kit is intended for new and current Bread grassroots hunger activists. It provides a set of how-to sheets for carrying out advocacy and fact sheets on the current issues Bread for the World is working on.

It's ideal as a starter toolkit for new Bread activists or as a set of updates for current activists. Form your own toolkit by printing out some or all of the sheets in the kit.

How-tos:

• How to Conduct an In-District Meeting with a Member of Congress (or the Staff)
• Effectively Using Public Meetings to Engage with Members of Congress
• Writing a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Newspaper
• Conducting an Offering of Letters

Issues-related pieces:

• Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
• Fact Sheet: Why We Need $250 Million for Global Nutrition Programs
• Hunger by the Numbers (2017)
• Fact Sheet: Fortified for Life. How the U.S. Government Supports Global Nutrition
• Briefing Paper: A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Nutrition. Assessing USAID’s Progress
• Poverty-Focused Development Assistance (PFDA) 101
• The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program
• Getting to Zero Hunger by 2030: Race, Poverty, and Hunger
• Mass Incarceration: A Major Cause of Hunger
• Border Policy: Addressing Root Causes of Hunger and Immigration
• Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Indigenous Community
• Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the African American Community
• Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Latino Community

Biblical resources:

• The Biblical Basis for Advocacy to End Hunger
• The Bible and Immigration Reform
• The Bible and Poverty-Focused Development Assistance
• The Bible and Mass Incarceration
• The Bible on Health as a Hunger Issue