MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

Advocacy Alerts

Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2010

The U.S. Senate passed S. 3307, The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on August 5th, 2010. It’s an important first step, but it has a serious flaw.

The House of Representatives is still considering vital Child Nutrition programs for reauthorization. 

Your help is critical in making sure that Child Nutrition Reauthorization is enacted. Here’s what you can do:

Ask your Representative to support the reauthorization of critical Child Nutrition programs by bringing H.R. 5504, The Improving Nutrition For America’s Children Act, to the floor.

To stress the urgency of reauthorization, download and read letters MAZON and leading anti-hunger organizations sent to leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives on July 28, 2010.

Below is more sample text for a letter or email that you can send. You can cut-and-paste the text and use it as is, or modify it to suit your needs.  Click here to find the name and address of your Senators by state, and click here to find your Representative by zip code.  PLEASE ACT NOW!!

Here is the sample text:

I am writing to urge you to speak out against the provisions of the recent Senate- passed Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation that cut future SNAP/Food Stamp benefits to pay for other programs.

While I recognize that you have many priorities, the Senate bill will increase – not reduce – hunger and likely will harm the overall quality of low-income people’s diets. It is important to have a Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill that ensures that our children have access to healthier food in school, child care and out-of-school time programs but it is unacceptable to pursue these goals by cutting lifeline benefits for the poorest households in America with 40 million SNAP beneficiaries – more than half of them children. I am writing to you on behalf of the families who are not likely to speak for themselves but who need you to represent their interests and, ultimately, the interests of our nation that prides itself on its commitment to human rights and dignity.

You have an opportunity to speak in favor of, and vote for, H.R. 5504 which makes key improvements in access to and the quality of nutrition in the nation’s child nutrition programs, but also assures that the House does not fund such steps forward by cutting the SNAP program that is the nation’s first-line defense against hunger and food insecurity. Please put this on the top of your legislative priorities.

Thank you for your attention to and consideration of this matter.

Very truly yours,

For more sample letters and ways to make a difference, visit Advocacy Tips. Your voice has incredible impact!