May 10, 2010
IMPROVING CHILD NUTRITION WITH POSTCARDS
Small postcards made a huge difference! Food Lifeline staff recently delivered a huge stack of postcards to Congressman Jim McDermott at his district office in Seattle. On the back of each postcard was the following statement “My name is ________ and I believe every child should have access to adequate, nutritious meals. Please help make this a reality by supporting a Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill that will: Improve the quality of meals for children; Increase program access so more children can participate; And finally, make programs easier for communities to provide, so that all children have the nourishment they need to succeed.” Staff, volunteers, and local community members signed these cards, which were just a fraction of the more than 1,000 that have been collected during our ongoing campaign.
During the meeting, Food Lifeline staff discussed the importance of federal Child Nutrition legislation to children and families and encouraged Representative McDermott to continue to work towards an increase in funding for child nutrition programs. He was touched by the postcards and voiced his support for necessary improvements to the legislation.
Representative McDermott, along with Representative Rick Larsen, Representative Jay Inslee, and Representative Norm Dicks, has signed on to a “Dear Colleague” letter to Speaker Pelosi urging a full $10 billion in new funding for these essential programs. We appreciate their continued support of child nutrition programs and their efforts to secure adequate funding. Thank you to all those who signed a postcard or our online petition. Your voice is making a difference!
NOW is the key time to let your lawmakers know how important it is to adequately fund child nutrition programs. Send a letter to your lawmakers and ask them to work toward getting a full $10 billion in new funding for these vital programs.