February 14 Updates

Laser Talk from Saturday's Global Conference Call:
Presenting our 2009 appropriations requests to your member of Congress.
Regarding global poverty, our world is filled with both problems and solutions. For example, 26,500 children die each day of malnutrition and preventable diseases, yet 33 cents worth of oral rehydration salts could combat diarrhea that causes 5,500 of these daily child deaths.
Nearly 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day yet microloans as small as $20 can provide a path out of poverty.
Tuberculosis kills 1.6 million people each year and is becoming even more difficult to stop. Yet it takes about $16 worth of tuberculosis drugs to treat this deadly killer.
Members of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations will soon be making life-altering decisions on 2009 foreign aid spending levels. Will you please write and speak to the chairman and ranking member of that subcommittee and urge them to fund child survival efforts at $1 billion with $100 million going to UNICEF’s innovative and effective Accelerated Child Survival and Development program; to provide $500 million for microfinance with half going to the very poor; and to provide $550 million in the fight against Tuberculosis?
I can provide you details on these and a few other requests.

Laser Talk from Saturday's Domestic Conference Call:
Domestic Laser Talk: Support Highest Funding Levels for Nutrition and Rural Development in the Final Farm Bill (January 2008)
Introduction: My name is _______________ and I am a constituent of yours and also a RESULTS volunteer. I would like to discuss reducing hunger and poverty in the new Farm Bill with you.
Engage: The Food Stamp Program, which is reauthorized in the Farm Bill, currently serves 26 million people per month, half of them children. Rural development programs help rural communities generate economic growth, build infrastructure, and reduce poverty.
Problem: Unfortunately, a food stamp benefit of only $1 per meal, a savings limit set back in 1985, and other outdated eligibility restrictions undermine the program. Plus, resources for rural development programs are inadequate to effectively help rural communities.
Inform: The House and Senate have both passed vital improvements to food stamps, TEFAP and rural development in their versions of the Farm Bill. It is imperative that the House-Senate Conference Committee adopt the best provisions from both bills in the final Farm Bill.
Call to Action: Will you urge Conference Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and the other conferees to enact:
The House food stamp provisions on the standard deduction, child care expenses, and minimum monthly benefit
The Senate food stamp provisions on asset limits and unemployed adults
The House provision on TEFAP funding
Permanent funding for all nutrition improvements, and
The strongest possible Rural Development Title
Thank you for your time and attention.

It's critical we contact Senator Harkin's office at 202-224-3254 to urge him to work to get the Farm Bill passed through conference rather than letting the old Farm Bill be renewed.

Draft of Op-Ed on RESULTS for The Gazette: -- let me know your thoughts!
RESULTS Brings Hope for Poverty and Hunger

One in six American children live below the poverty line. Globally, there are 1.2 billion people living on less than $1 per day. Most of these are women. The US Department of Agriculture reports that more than 35 million Americans were living in households considered “food insecure” in 2005. And the number of people in “very low food security” households was 10.8 million.

In September 2006 I attended the Churches United Zero Poverty Symposium. One of the speakers was Jos Linn, a RESULTS organizer who spoke about what the international organization did to create the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty.

RESULTS is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization which mobilizes grassroots activists throughout the world and provides the education and tools necessary to lobby Congress on issues of poverty and hunger.

The local RESULTS group formed after a follow-up meeting at Christ Episcopal Church and now comprises nine members from three communities of faith in the Cedar Rapids area. The CR Area RESULTS Group meets twice each month: once for national conference calls and once to write letters, write letters to the editor, or other activities specific to bills pending in Congress.

Between monthly meetings, group members are updated on legislative action through the blog posts which summarize weekly conference calls with two regional coordinators. Most RESULTS groups work on only global or domestic issues. The CR Area RESULTS Group is unique in that it works on both global and domestic campaigns.

RESULTS provides education on activities such as how to write an effective letter to your member of Congress, as well as how to develop a relationship with Congressional aides and the media. Weekly email updates provide extensive background on legislative issues and RESULTS campaigns, valuable tools in writing letters and making phone calls.

The issues of poverty and hunger have weighed on my heart for years. I was frustrated by my lack of knowledge, however, about how to be effective in advocating efforts. I would write emails to my elected officials and got spotty response. Watching the news just didn’t provide enough information about legislation in Congress and so I felt I was tilting at windmills trying to get something done. In addition, I was alone in my efforts.

And then RESULTS happened and now I have hope that I can affect change in Washington which will results in a better life for those living in poverty and hunger. I know now that emails to members of Congress are not the most effective means of communication. Rather, hand-written letters faxed to Washington have a greater impact. I know how how to write a letter to the editor in order to both educate and motivate the reader to take action. RESULTS gives me background information on the issues that provides the tools necessary to write effective letters and make phone calls that will have an impact.

And, RESULTS provides me with a community of like-minded individuals who are also searching for hope in the fight against hunger and poverty. There are 100 RESULTS groups throughout the country doing the same things I’m doing. When the Cedar Rapids group meets, we are each encouraged by the reality that we are not alone in our efforts; we are a community of activists who use the RESULTS education and tools to grow support in our fight against poverty and hunger.

Membership in RESULTS is painless. For more information, call me at 377-4772 or email me at dianemjohnsmith@aol.com. I’d love to share what RESULTS can do for you.
By Diane John-Smith

Take two Actions Now on Behalf of Hungry People
1) Call your Members of Congress (Senators and Representatives) to urge passage of a final Farm Bill conference agreement with the strongest nutrition title.
Use the toll-free number (1-800-826-9624) made available by AARP to connect to the U.S. Capitol switchboard. (You will be connected after listening to a short message). Share the toll-free number with your allies.
Message to deliver: Please tell your Member that hungry people can't wait; it is crucial that the final Farm Bill include new investments to improve food stamp benefits and food stamp access for needy people and to increase funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to stock shelves in local food banks.2) Sign on to the joint letter in support of a strong nutrition title of the Farm Bill circulated by FRAC and America's Second Harvest—The Nation's Food Bank Network. (Click here for the letter text and for the list of organizations already signed on; to sign on, contact Etienne Melcher at FRAC: emelcher@frac.org or Eleanor Thompson at America's Second Harvest: ethompson@secondharvest.org.)WHY Now? Breaking DevelopmentsHouse Agriculture Committee leaders are expected to put a Farm Bill proposal on the table in a meeting of Senate and House Farm Bill conferees on February 13th, according to an open letter from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). The letter was posted on the House Agriculture Committee Web site on February 10th. Key decisions about the amount of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) funding for the Food Stamp Program and TEFAP improvements may be on a very fast track. What is at Stake More than 35.5 million people in the U.S. live in households that face a constant struggle against hunger. Food stamp benefits average a mere $1 a person a meal; the minimum monthly food stamp benefit has been stuck at $10 for three decades. Many food bank shelves are empty. The pending Farm Bill nutrition title would make significant investments in both the Food Stamp Program and TEFAP.
Feedback and Technical AssistanceFor feedback, suggestions and/or technical assistance on the Farm Bill, contact evollinger@frac.org or eteller@frac.org


Hello RESULTS members,

The weekly global newsletter offered the following arrangement for us to ave letters hand delivered to our members of Congress. What a great guaranteed way to assure that they would at east have them in their "hands" (maybe it will be their staffers!). If you are concerned about domestic or global issues please take a few minutes to write.


Send your hand-written letters to DC. Eloise Sutherland, activist extraordinaire, will be in D.C. until March 1 and offered to hand-deliver your hand-written letters to your member of Congress. Just mail them to the RESULTS office, ATTN: Eloise, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington, D.C. 200023.

Leslee