Bread for the World's Ted Bradbury addresses the CEUMC congregation on Sunday, May 9. (Photo by Mark Braun)

Help support low-income families

Ted Bradbury of the Maine chapter of Bread for the World addressed the CEUMC congregation on Sunday, May 9, urging everyone to write letters to members of Congress concerning legislation that would provide assistance to low-income, working families.

Congress will soon debate a series of tax cuts and tax credits that will expire this year — a crucial means of providing assistance to low-income, working families.

Take a few minutes and hand-write a letter to one or more of our members of Congress, offering your support for the legislation that low-income families so desperately need. Rather than an e-mail, or type-written letter, a hand-written note will be much more personal and show how much we care about this crucial issue.

Bring your letter to church on May 23 and put it in the offering plate along with your weekly offering. Letters will be collected and sent to our members of Congress through Bread for the World.

Addresses for our members of Congress:

• Senator Susan Collins: 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
• Senator Olympia Snow: 154 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
• Rep. Chellie Pingree: 1037 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
• Rep. Michael Michaud: 1724 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

For more information on Bread for the World and how the letter writing campaigns have worked in the past, click here: Bread for the World.

For more details on how to write the letter and what to say, click here:

BREAD FOR THE WORLD — OFFERING LETTERS 2010

Write to Congress. Here’s how:

1. Include your name and address at the end of your letter AND on the envelope, so your members of Congress know that you are one of the people they represent.

2. Ask for specific action, using the sentence below or your own words:

“I ask you to protect and strengthen key tax credits that can make a big difference for low-income workers and their families.”

3. Give reasons why. Examples are:

Share your personal story about what motivates you to write. Letters with personal stories are the most compelling and effective. Have you or someone you know been affected by these tax credits? In the midst of the debate over which taxes to change and which to renew, the needs of low-income people should not be lost.

President Obama and others have created a national goal of ending childhood hunger in the United States by 2015. They have also said that one way to do that is to increase income for low-wage workers through programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.

In 2005, the Earned Income Tax Credit alone lifted more than 5 million people over the poverty line, including 2.6 million children. But we can and must do more.

4. Send your letter to Congress.

SAMPLE LETTER

Date __________

Dear Rep. ___________________ or Dear Sen. ___________________

     Our nation needs a bold, comprehensive strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States. It’s vital that we make sure low-income families can meet their basic needs — including food. I ask you to protect and strengthen key tax credits that can make a big difference for low-income workers and their families.

     These programs work. In 2005, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) alone lifted more than 5 million people above the poverty line, including 2.6 million children. But we can and must do more. Nearly one in four children lives in a family that struggles to put food on the table. We need to protect and strengthen EITC and the Child Tax Credit and work toward the day when no parent has to send a child to bed hungry.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Address