by Donna Hansen

The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Monroeville was the venue for an informative Bread for the World workshop on March 3, 2013. Larry Hollar, Senior Regional Organizer for Bread, introduced the 22 participants to the 2013 Offering of Letters theme, which is “A Place at the Table”. Larry discussed the current political landscape in Washington D.C. and urged all participants to conduct an Offering of Letters at their place of worship or organization, ideally this spring. Writing letters, especially hand-written letters, to our national Senators and Representatives, is a powerful way to get their attention. The focus of the 2013 Offering of Letters is to ensure that the voices of the hungry and poor are included at the table during the continuous budget negotiations, to implore Congress to maintain funding for the programs that benefit the hungry and poor, and to approach the budget talks in a balanced fashion, including proposals for new sources of revenues at the same time that spending cuts are sought.

A new and exciting part of Bre
ad’s Offering of Letters this year is a separate Petition asking President Barack Obama to make a commitment to end hunger by working with Congress in a bipartisan fashion. Larry indicated that this is the first time Bread has ever asked its members to sign a petition and that it is aiming to obtain 100,000 signatures. For more information about the Petition and the Offering of Letters, please go to www.bread.org/2013.

The workshop also included a visit by Chris Rosselot to underscore Senator Bob Casey’s support of issues pertaining to the hungry and poor and to discuss Senator Casey’s move to the influential Finance Committee. Sheila Christopher from Hunger Free PA talked about state programs that feed the hungry in Pennsylvania, and Dr. Bob Dove enlightened the participants on issues to consider when conducting a letter writing campaign. The workshop ended with a discussion of Immigration and a brief showing of the DVD “We Are All Immigrants” by Sister Jeanette Bussen, CSJ.

If interested in learning more about the Regional Bread Team, all are invited to our next Regional Bread planning meeting on Wednesday, April 24 at 10 AM at Christian Associates. Inquiries can also be made by contacting me at 412-812-1553 or at donna.hansen@verizon.net

Donna Hansen is Co-Chair of the Regional Bread for the World Team and a member of Waverly Presbyterian Church.