Write to Congress
Ask Congress to Reform U.S. Food Aid
Offering of Letters campaigns encourage individuals to
write letters to Congress about anti-hunger legislation and
policies. Bread for the World provides a sample letter and
information about the issues so you can encourage people
to prepare letters to their representatives and senators in
Congress. Our letters will urge Congress to reform U.S. food
aid. See pages 3 through 7 for more information about the
issues in this year’s campaign.
In this digital age, it may seem anachronistic to write personal
letters to members of Congress when it’s so easy to click on and
send a form email message. But because it’s so easy, Congress
is flooded with electronic messages. Research indicates that the
volume of form emails has decreased their effectiveness. But
writing a personal letter or sending a personal email message
tells your member of Congress that you are so concerned about
the issue that you’ve taken time to write him or her about it.
Congressional staffers log each letter; the number of letters
indicates how serious the issue is to constituents.
Writing a letter is simple and should take only a few minutes. Follow these steps for an effective letter:
1. Write your name and address at the
end of your letter and on the envelope,
so your members of Congress know
you are one of the people they
represent.
2. Ask for specific action, using this
sentence or your own words:
I urge you to protect and reform U.S. food
aid in ways that increase efficiency, increase
nutritional quality, and maintain funding
levels.
3. Give reasons for your request. Some
examples:
• Share your personal story about
what motivated you to write.
Letters with personal stories are the
most compelling and effective.
• My church is already helping
by [example], but I also expect
the government to do its part to
address hunger overseas.
4. Send your letter to Congress. Put
each letter in a separate envelope and
address it.
SAMPLE LETTER
[Date]
Dear Senator__________ , or Dear Rep.___________ ,
U.S. food-aid policies can be more effective in helping people in times
of crisis and in fostering long-term solutions to hunger. I urge you to
strengthen our food-aid programs in the following ways:
1. Improve efficiency by:
• allowing more food purchases in or near the country where it is
needed.
• reducing sales of American-grown food in developing countries
to fund projects.
These changes will promote long-term food security by directly
supporting local farmers’ efforts to improve their lives.
2. Enhance the nutritional quality of food aid and better target it
to vulnerable populations such as women and children in the
1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second
birthday.
3. Protect funding for emergency and development food aid.
These critical reforms to the U.S. food-aid program can benefit an additional
17 million people while making sure U.S. tax dollars are used wisely. God
shows compassion for hungry people in the Bible. We can do our part by
making these programs work better for hungry people today.
Send your letters to:
Sincerely,
Sen. __________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
[your name]
[your address]
[city, state, ZIP]
Rep. __________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
10 Bread for the World • www.bread.org/go/OL
For the most current version of this sample letter, visit www.bread.org/go/OL.