Help the Hungry and Poor

Saint Mary Parishioners,

This it is a note the Justice and Peace committee received. You can help ask Congress to keep funding for programs helping our nation's hungry and poor. It is from the Bread for the World organization. Please consider following their call to action.

My father used to say it’s better to build a fence at the top of the cliff than to send an ambulance to the bottom. That’s why I helped start Bread for the World, and in the last 37 years, we’ve made historic progress on diminishing hunger and poverty here and abroad.

During this Thanksgiving season, however, everything we’ve worked for is at risk.

I’m sure you’ve read the coverage about our ballooning national debt and the task of the “Super Committee” to cut our debt by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. The committee must give Congress its deficit-reduction proposals by Nov. 23, one day before Thanksgiving.

Now, more than ever, we need your help to strengthen the fence at the top of the cliff. Tell Congress to protect programs that give hope and opportunity to people experiencing hunger and poverty.

Reducing our nation’s long-term debt is critical, but hungry and poor people didn’t cause the problem, and cutting programs that help them won’t significantly reduce our debt. But cutting these programs will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable members of our society.

As the Super Committee considers budget cuts, please join me in urging Congress to keep our nation’s commitment to those Jesus called “the least of these.” Send a personal email to your member of Congress today.

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving, let us pray for those in the United States and around the world who are hungry and without enough food and other resources.

Sincerely,

Rev. Art Simon

Founder, Bread for the World

P.S. We hope that a steady stream of personal emails to members of Congress by Nov. 23—30,000 in all—will Congress prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable people in the United States and around the world.