Offering of Letters

Bread for the World is an advocacy organization which lobbies for public policies that address the needs of hungry and poor people in our nation and around the world.  Each year, Bread for the World sponsors an Offering of Letters campaign.  In this campaign, participants write letters to Members of Congress in order to impact policy decisions.  Contact Bread for the World for their specific focus for this year, 2009. 

• Publicize extensively before the actual letter writing campaign.  As with other events during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, send out news releases, post flyers, and utilize other media.  This way, community members will know both locations and times to either write a letter or drop one off.

• Decide when you would like to have an Offering of Letters campaign during Awareness Week.  Some communities set up a booth for one day, while other communities have distributed letter writing information following the events during Awareness Week.

• Find names and contact information of Congressional representatives for your district.

• Ask local businesses and sponsors to buy postage, envelopes, pens, and paper.

• Handwritten letters are best; draft a sample letter that community members can replicate - please contact Bread for the World for sample letters. Some community members may have never written to their Congressional representatives so make this experience as convenient and straightforward as possible to encourage successive letter writing.

• Provide information about hunger and homelessness during the letter writing so that community members can include compelling statistics/facts in their letters on the need for supportive legislation.  You can obtain this information from Bread for the World (see below for contact info).

• Urge community members to continue their political action through voting, by writing letters to, calling, and visiting local Congressional representatives.

To receive an Offering of Letters kit and more information about Bread for the World, please contact:

Bread for the World
50 F Street, NW, # 500
Washington, DC 20001                      
phone: (202) 639-9400 and (800) 82-BREAD
Fax: (202) 639-9401                                      
Email: bread@bread.org                    
Website:  www.bread.org

* Bread for the World’s 2009 Offering of Letters will press the new Congress and the new administration to fix U.S. foreign aid to make it more effective in reducing hunger and poverty.