The Offering of Letters campaign is the main way Bread engages people in churches and other faith communities in advocacy with their members of Congress. If you are a member or leader of a church or faith community, you are invited to organize an Offering of Letters—an event at which people in your congregation, campus, or group sit down together to write to members of Congress on a specific issue.
From this page you can download Offering of Letters materials—a toolkit that will help you organize a local Offering of Letters and make your voice heard. Printed copies can be ordered free from the bread store.
About the Campaign
Overview of This Year's Topic Bread for the World's 2020 Offering of Letters to Congress: Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow urges Congress to pass legislation that provides nutrition for vulnerable people in the United States and abroad. Our faith calls us to stand alongside women and children around the world. Our government should provide leadership toward a well-nourished world.
Victories from Recent Offerings of Letters The 2019 Offering of Letters achieved victories in a year marked by partisanship and intense disagreements. Bread for the World drafted two Global Nutrition Resolutions, which were introduced in the House and Senate. Each resolution passed out of their respective committees with broad, bipartisan support.
Campaign Poster The actions that Congress takes have far-reaching impact on the lives of millions of people in the United States and around the world living in hunger.
Sample Letters to Congress (DOCX, updated October 8, 2020) This sample letter will help you, your church, or community group send handwritten letters or personalized emails to your representatives and senators in Congress.
Presentation for Workshop Leaders (PPT) This PowerPoint presentation is one of several tools in the Offering of Letters toolkit provided to help you introduce the 2020 Offering of Letters campaign to your church, campus, or group. Use this presentation to support the way YOU want to present Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters. Feel free to add or remove slides as you like. Also, remember Bread is here to help.
Regional Webinars Bread’s Organizing Department is hosting regional webinars in May to explain the campaign and give tips on how to conduct a successful letter-writing event in your church, campus, or community.
Faith Resources
Prayer and Litany for an Offering of Letters Gracious God, you have called us, through your prophets and your Son, Jesus Christ, to live out your vision of a world without hunger. Trusting in your love and mercy, we lift our voices and pray alongside all those who suffer from malnutrition and its devastating impacts.
A Litany for Your Offering of Letters Christ Jesus, we continue to find ourselves out of right relationship with you and God's people. We see hunger, disease, lack of water, and crops dying all around us. Help us to make our relationships with one another a reflection of your call to justice.
Bulletin Insert Each year, thousands of churches from many different faith traditions take part in the Offering of Letters campaign. Promote your event and help participants learn about the issues through announcements (spoken and in the bulletin), newsletters, and social media.
A Pan-African Devotional Reflection By Rev. Professor Quardricos Bernard Driskell. Through the Offering of Letters to Congress, we can distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. Empowered by faith, with deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we will work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system to end poverty and hunger in the land.
A Pan-African Litany By Dr. Kathleen Dorsey Bellow. Holy Spirit of God, breathe in us power to transform the current unsustainable state of the world. Instill in us the audacity of our ancestors to advocate for right—the retooling of harmful systems and the rebuilding of wholesome and healthy communities worldwide.
A Pan-African Prayer By Rev. Dr. Walter Arthur McCray. Our Father in Heaven, grant us the love and will to meet the needs of all humanity—from African humanity to all peoples throughout the earth. We desire to give more than we do but have lost much land and resources. Nevertheless, Lord, increase our capacity to share.
Advocacy Guides
Guide to Conducting an Offering of Letters Whether you are new to letter-writing or are experienced in organizing people to speak out to our leaders in Washington, D.C., this "how-to" section of the toolkit will help you prepare for an Offering of Letters. Setting up an Offering of Letters event is doable. It doesn't take as much time as you might expect, and you will find that it enriches your faith experience.
Advocacy 101 This resource provides an explanation of how Bread for the World carries out its advocacy with Congress. It explains the legislative process at the federal level and how Bread activists, as constituents of their federal representatives, can engage at various points in the process.
Facts about Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition
Facts on Hunger and Poverty in the United States In 2018, U.S. poverty and food insecurity rates continued to decline. However, far too many of our neighbors continue to struggle to buy nutritious food and secure steady jobs with livable wages.
Facts on Hunger and Poverty Around the World Worldwide, extreme poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 1990, even while factoring in population growth. While this is a remarkable achievement, 1 in 10 people in the world (736 million), still lives on less than $1.90 per day.
Fact Sheet: Global Hunger in the Time of COVID-19 The World Food Program projects that, without urgent action, the number of people facing food crises could double by the end of the year due to COVID-19.
Fact Sheet: SNAP and COVID-19 A very important feature of SNAP is that it is designed to respond to changes in need, making it very well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fact Sheet: Nutrition in Africa Africa and Asia are the two world regions with the greatest burden of all forms of malnutrition. In 2018, more than one-third of the world's stunted children and more than 25 percent of wasted children lived in Africa.
Fact Sheet: Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean Latin America and the Caribbean has made impressive progress against childhood stunting—since 2000, the rate has fallen from 16.7 percent to 9 percent, an improvement of 46 percent. Very high levels of economic inequality remain a significant barrier.
Fact Sheet: Nutrition in Southern Asia and the Pacific Asia and Africa are the two world regions with the greatest burden of all forms of malnutrition. Southern Asia and the Pacific islands, also called Oceania, have higher levels of childhood stunting and wasting than any other world region.
Fact Sheet: Why We Need $200 Million for Global Nutrition Programs Bread for the World and its partners are asking Congress to provide $200 million for global nutrition in the fiscal year 2021 budget. If invested in high impact, evidence-based nutrition programs, $200 million could reach more than 9 million women and 5.6 million children.
Fact Sheet: Why We Need $50 Million for Summer EBT Child nutrition programs are an important safeguard against child hunger, yet too many children are left without the nutrition they need when they are out of school. The Summer EBT program offers an opportunity to reduce hunger by giving families additional resources to buy food during the summer.
One of the best times to raise the issues of hunger and poverty is during election campaigns. Engage candidates in your state/district on hunger and poverty using our elections resources.
Exciting progress has been made against global malnutrition. In just five years, Kenya reduced its child wasting rate by 39 percent. But obstacles remain.
By Jordan Teague, senior international policy advisor
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in faith.” These words from Colossians 2:6 remind us of the faith that is active in love for our neighbors.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to respond to changes in need, making it well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.