Community Spotlight: University Lutheran Church’s Offering of Letters
Selection of letters
This Sunday, April 7th, my congregation at University Lutheran Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry held our annual Offering of Letters for Bread for the World. ULC has been participating in Bread’s advocacy campaigns for longer than anybody can remember; Bread’s research tells us that federal nutritional assistance programs, like SNAP, WIC, Food for Peace, and School Meal programs, provide 10x more help to people in need than all our country’s churches and charities combined. As a congregation with a perpetual focus on hunger relief, we want to see our government reflect our desire to see a world where none go hungry, and to use our resources to make that happen. As always in a democracy, it is our responsibility to make sure than hunger relief is made a priority.
About Offerings of Letters
Bread for the World was formed 50 years ago with this exact idea in mind; in our modern era, alliviating hunger is less about growing enough food and more about ensuring equal access. Our congress has the ability to help make that happen through assistance programs, but these programs are always at risk, which is why we must continually speak to their importance. Organizing advocacy campaigns can be a lot of work; many people want to participate but aren’t sure of what to say, or what policies are most important. You need postage and addressed for congressional offices, and a letter writing task can also fall down our priority lists in the shuffle of daily business.
Bread for the World makes this process much easier by providing materials, like sample letters and educational information, and by identifying priorities. This year’s Offerings of Letters are all focused on the Farm Bill, just like last year’s campaign. As we wait for congress to act on this policy, it is important for us to keep pushing for equitable bills; the Farm Bill has the ability to affect the operations and funding of all our nutritional assistance programs, as well as other agriculture and food processing regulations that can address food waste and food access.
Over the years, our Offerings of Letters have taken different forms. Some years, we have shared materials with the congregation and everyone has written letters on their own time while our church office keeps tally. Other years, our forum hour was dedicated to the activity. This year, the ULC Anti-Hunger Committee decided to organize a letter writing party! By dedicating time and space on a Sunday morning to the Offering of Letters, we were able to give our community encouragement and support, as well as answer questions, explain policy, and provide factual information for everyone who was interested in participating!
Our Day
Our day started with our Adult Forum hour before service. Ruth Wooten, our LAMA Liaison, seasoned advocate, and Offering of Letters veteran, gave an information session about the importance of the Farm Bill and the efficacy of advocacy. We talked about the priority issues laid out by Bread, including SNAP funding and the Food Date Labeling Act, which would standardize the system for dating food products, helping to reduce food waste by clarifying consumer and retailer confusion. We also talked about the Enhance Access to SNAP (EATS) Act. This bill was not included in Bread’s priorities, but at University Lutheran and Lutheran Campus Ministry, we focus a LOT of effort on hunger on college campus. We thought it was important to advocate for this policy because the EATS act would allow college students across the country to count their school work and credit hours towards their work requirements for the SNAP program. Currently, every state has different requirements, and many require students to work additional hours outside of school, meaning that many low income students are unable to access SNAP assistance.
Bulletin Insert
Our committee also made sure to have a presence during the service. For the last two weeks, we have included an insert in our bulletin. One side of the sheet shared details about out April 7th event, Bread for the World, and Farm Bill policy. The other side featured Bread’s sample letter and mailing addresses for our state officials. This way, we were able to alert out congregation to the project a week early. This insert also made it possible for folks who could not stick around after the service to participate in our Offering!
After service, we held our party during our normal refreshment hour. Our council president brought some expandended refreshments — something between the usual coffee cake and a true lunch — and we set up tables for everyone to work on. Each table was provided with a few copies of Bread’s sample letter for folks to work from, a list of mailing address for our Senators and Representatives, and a sheet of facts about the Farm Bill and Bread’s priorities for those who hadn’t attended the Forum, along with paper, envelopes, pens, and pencils. Together there was lots of fellowshipping, comparing policy, sharing experiences, and learning together.
Posing with a letter to Sen. Romney (Utah)
At ULC, we serve a meal for college students after our Sunday service, so the many of people who stuck around were our Campus Ministry students! Because of our congregation’s unique make up, we have many folks who aren’t Arizona voters! Our students are from all around the world, meaning that we able to target many different officials with this Offering of Letters. In addition to our Arizona law makers, our letter writing party advocated to officials from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Utah, among others!
Some people only had time to write one letter before leaving, and others made a point to write all three of their congressional representatives. Some preferred to send emails instead of writing everything out by hand, and others wrote letters much longer than Bread’s sample. Holding a dedicated event for this year’s Offering was a definitive success. More than one person noted their appreciation for a dedicated time to work on their letters, so that they actually made sure to write them. Many more took home materials to tend to over this week. Throughout the day, I kept my laptop open and one hand to double check congressional districts and track down more addresses as people needed them.
For many of our younger members, this letter writing party was their first foray into advocacy. We all know that the hardest part of advocating is first getting involved. Policy can be written in archaic language, and government priorities are ever shifting, and for many people, keeping tabs on enough details to chose when and what to advocate for is quite difficult. Events like this one can ease the path of entry by providing clear information and specific instructions.
So far, ULC’s Offering of Letters is at 27 letters and counting, not including all of the emails and letters that are being worked on remotely! While this number may not sound huge, it is definitely a good output for a congregation of our size. Advocacy is important and impactful no matter its scale, because you never know when your voice might be the one to convince a law maker. I encourage all of our LAMA-connected congregations, small groups, and ministries to hold their own Offerings of Letters this year, even if you’re worried about participation. Bread truly makes the process of participating so easy, and your congregation might just surprise you!
Why Advocate?
Our first reading this week came from Acts 4:32-37
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Caring for our neighbors in need isn’t just one way to serve God; it is an essential part of testifying to the risen Christ. Though the Bible didn’t know much about the democratic system of government we find ourselves living in today, but our modern tax system mirrors that of the apostles’ common care. By paying our taxes, we are able to share our resources and take care of our world together; through financial and nutritional assistance programs, we are able to help people on a bigger scale and with deeper support than our churches and food banks can on their own. It is up to us to speak to these values so that our government can reflect them. Even one letter advocating for equitable assistance programs testifies to our Christian commitments to Love and Grace.
For more information on organizing your own Offering of Letters with Bread for the World, click here.
Has your church pledged an Offering of Letters yet? Have you help a letter writing campaign on a different topic? Let us know! We would love to feature the story on our blog. :)
