Alabamians lobby Congress for hunger aid

Fifty letters might not seem like a lot, but it really does make a huge impact when a senator sees how many student voters care about the issue.”
   
The issue is world hunger, and Erin Stewart, president of Samford University’s Bread for the World (BFW) chapter, said she and her fellow students do at least one such Offering of Letters every semester.
   
“This last one was very successful. We were able to get about 50 letters sent to Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is on the budget committee this year, asking him to increase federal poverty-focused development assistance by 1 percent,” Stewart said.
   
Samford students aren’t the only ones bombarding the capital with hunger-related letters.
   
BFW, a nationwide Christian movement that lobbies the nation’s decision makers on behalf of the world’s hungry, is encouraging all campuses and congregations to participate in the 2006 Offering of Letters.
   
Alabama Baptist churches are participating in the Offering, collecting from church members letters addressed to their representative in Washington.
   
The letters call on Congress to appropriate a robust increase in poverty-focused development assistance — $5 billion — in the fiscal year 2007 budget, according to Jennifer Stapleton, BFW religious media associate. 
   
This money would go to help provide for basic needs like health, education, clean water and food.
   
“This increase is an important step in ongoing work to direct an additional 1 percent of the federal budget to overcoming the global emergencies of extreme poverty, hunger and AIDS,” Stapleton said.
   
How does a church organize an Offering of Letters? Here are the five steps BFW offers for congregations that want to get involved:
   
• Pray. Ask God’s blessings and guidance for you and the community you serve.
• Create your team. Invite people in your congregation who have an interest in global issues, hunger and justice for poor people to join you in preparing an Offering of Letters. Arrange a meeting to plan and keep your pastor informed.
• Gather resources. Visit BFW’s Web site, www.bread.org, for more information or to order a kit that includes a handbook, CD or DVD and other resources.
• Plan the event. What’s the best date for your Offering? How does it fit into the church calendar? How does it fit with the legislative process? Encourage sermons and missions presentations. Involve Sunday School classes.
• Write the letters. Letter writing can be done at a special time during worship, between services or during Sunday School. Have plenty of paper, envelopes and pens, along with copies of the latest sample letter (available from BFW’s Web site). Those who prefer not to write should be encouraged to pray for hungry people. Letters can be collected and brought forward in worship for dedication.
   
According to Stapleton, a similar effort last year — the ONE Declaration, signed by 2 million Americans — produced an effective and united voice.
   
“President Bush and other world leaders heard our message and made impressive promises,” she said. “At last summer’s G8 Summit in Scotland, the president pledged to double aid to Africa by 2010. At last fall’s 189-nation U.N. Millennium Summit in New York, he promised to double foreign assistance in order to meet the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015.”
   
The Offering of Letters gives Christians a way to urge Congress to fulfill the promises the president has made on the international stage, Stapleton said.
   
“What will it take to end extreme poverty? It will take people of faith and conscience … partnerships from around the world … [and] decisions made by Congress and the president that we, as citizens, can influence,” she said.
   
In addition to the Offering of Letters, churches and campuses can be a part of other BFW events throughout the year on both the local and national levels.
   
On BFW’s Lobby Day June 13, people from across the United States gathered in Washington to lobby their members of Congress directly on issues that affect the hungry and poor.
   
And on a day during the spring semester this year, the Samford BFW chapter held Hope for Hunger, a biannual event at the school during which students sign up to give up one meal in the cafeteria, the money from which goes to the Children’s Hunger Fund.
   
“Bread for the World shows students how to harness their own political power for the public interest,” Stewart said. “It also provides Christians with a way to act out their faith through advocating for the well-being of hungry people all over the world.”
   
For more information, call 1-800-82-BREAD or visit www.bread.org.