Over a year ago, MAZON set out with an ambitious goal to collect and deliver 47,000 postcards to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a simple but powerful message: No one deserves to go hungry.
Each postcard represented 1,000 of the 47 million Americans currently struggling with hunger. Collecting all 47,000 was not a simple undertaking, and the weight of what we were working to represent was never far from our minds. Communities across the country answered the call. Thousands of handwritten notes flooded our offices, filled with urgency, compassion, anger, and hope. It was a true national expression of collective power.
Our campaign took hold at a time when the Trump Administration has increasingly acted unilaterally to attack our most vulnerable neighbors. We aimed to make it harder for USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to continue to quietly implement changes that would directly threaten food security for millions. While we fought for policies to protect struggling Americans and collected postcards to raise the alarm about the state of hunger in our country, Secretary Rollins and the USDA implemented alarming policies, including:
- Refusing to provide SNAP benefits during the 2025 government shutdown;
- Trafficking in misguided and harmful rhetoric about SNAP eligibility and “waste, fraud, and abuse”;
- Authorizing new restrictive waivers limiting what SNAP recipients can purchase; and
- Discontinuing the annual Household Food Security Report, which practitioners and advocates have relied on for decades to assess the extent of food insecurity in this country.
Thousands of people nationwide picked up a pen to show that we are watching with concern and outrage, and that we expect our government to protect our communities from hunger — not deepen it.
The postcards came from everywhere: synagogues, classrooms, kitchen tables, holiday tables, and community events. Some people wrote one postcard and others wrote dozens.
“I participated in MAZON’s postcard campaign and really appreciated the chance to be involved. Turns out, I had enough experiences and thoughts to fill 100 postcards!”
“This was a project my son took on as part of his Bar Mitzvah. He volunteered at a local food pantry and then was able to get friends, classmates, and religious school classmates to write postcards. We even set up a table in our local park to invite community members to participate. Someone he told about the project was so inspired that she signed up to get 50 postcards of her own. This truly is a grassroots campaign.”
“We really appreciate that you took the time to read them. Whether we reach the 47,000 goal or not, every person who wrote a postcard has become better educated about the situation and has become a strong advocate for the work of MAZON.”
The Numbers:
- 623 unique postcard orders
- Over 220 postcard parties
- 50 states represented
- Top 3 synagogues for postcard returns: Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York, NY; Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, MO; Temple Isaiah, Lafayette, CA
Every person who wrote a postcard engaged with us about the realities of hunger in America. Every gathering sparked conversations about SNAP and the decision-makers who are directly shaping food access for our neighbors. And every participant is now part of a growing network of advocates who refuse to accept hunger as inevitable.
Want to get involved?
Although this postcard campaign is coming to a close, there are still opportunities to engage. Write to your members of Congress, join our call-in day to the USDA, and sign up for our Rapid Response Team.
