May 5 Outreach Presentation

Compassion and Empowerment

What is RESULTS? RESULTS is a non-profit, nonpartisan citizens grassroots network which exists to create the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS works on hunger and poverty in the US in its domestic campaigns, and on hunger and poverty in the world in its global campaigns. The Cedar Rapids Area RESULTS group is unique among RESULTS groups in that we work on both global and domestic issues.

I. Personal Story
Let me start tonight by telling you my own story. I am originally from Cedar Rapids. Went to Jefferson High School and then Wartburg College; worked at KHAK Radio and St. Luke’s Hospital. I grew up a Lutheran, and about 13 years ago converted to the Episcopal Church. I am very happily single and celibate, and I have a cat, Epiphany Jeanne Louise. I work on two Episcopal Church websites, I’m a member of the Board of the Inter-Religious Council and I do the website and newsletter for the local League of Women Voters. I enjoy working at the polls during elections because I get to reinforce voters for the decision they made to come in and vote.

a. LTEs and letters to members of Congress
For many years I used to write Letters to the Editor about issues that concerned me. Some of them got published and others did not. I used to email members of Congress relentlessly and very seldom got a response.

b. Feelings of powerlessness
All this left me feeling alone and powerless. I quit watching the news because it just depressed me to see the suffering and to know I was powerless to change anyone’s life. And then I lost my job and didn’t work for two years waiting to go on disability for bipolar disorder. During those two years I went to the welfare office once a month to get rent money and a $20 stipend for non-food products. And I fed myself with food stamps –I could afford potatoes, bread, macaroni and cheese and peanut butter. But no meat, no fruit and no vegetables. These didn’t fit into the one dollar per meal food stamp allotment.

c. And then RESULTS happened
And then I attended Churches United’s Zero Poverty Symposium in 2006 and my life changed. I heard a presentation on RESULTS and knew I had to be part of it. And it changed my outlook. And it changed my life.

II. Compassion and RESULTS
One word I want you to remember about RESULTS is compassion. Let me read you what Marcus J. Borg says about compassion in his book Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: In terms of feeling, compassion means “to feel with,” as even the etymology of the English word suggests: -passion comes from the Latin word that means “to feel,” and the prefix com- means “with.” Compassion thus means feeling the feelings of somebody else in a visceral way, at a level somewhere below the level of the head; most commonly compassion is associated with feeling the suffering of somebody else and being moved by that suffering to do something. That is, the feeling of compassion leads to being compassionate.
The DVD you’re about to see takes about 12 minutes, is a few years old, but what hasn’t aged is the compassion you’ll see and hear from people connected to RESULTS.
(Show DVD)

a. Compassion for those in poverty and hunger
RESULTS is all about having compassion for those living in poverty and hunger. It’s about having compassion for the nine million children in the US who have no health insurance. It’s about lobbying Congress on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), or what we in Iowa know as Hawk-I.

RESULTS is about compassion for those on food stamps whose minimum benefit hasn’t been raised in over 10 years and lobbying Congress on the Farm Bill. The Farm Lobby spent $80m lobbying Congress on the Farm Bill, and had it not been for RESULTS and its allies, the Nutrition Title, which includes food stamps and emergency food aid, would not have come out of the conference committee with $10.2b in new funding over 10 years.

RESULTS is about compassion for healthcare for all by 2010, and lobbying Congressional candidates to put healthcare for all on top of their priority lists for the 2008 campaign.

RESULTS is about compassion for the 26,000 children who die each day from preventable causes, and lobbying Congress on the Child Survival Act which will provide easy-to-administer, affordable healthcare solutions that could save the lives of two-thirds of the children at risk of death.

b. Members of Congress have the same compassion
In each case I’ve just mentioned, there is legislation in Congress which indicates to me that our Representatives and Senators have the same compassion for those living in hunger and poverty that I do. What RESULTS has given me are the tools and opportunities to do something positive with my compassion.

III. Empowerment and RESULTS
Which leads me to the second word about RESULTS I want you to remember: empowerment. To talk about how she’s been empowered, I’d like to introduce you to Judy McDowell, another of our Cedar Rapids Area RESULTS activists. Judy?

a. Judy’s testimonial

b. Tools
Thank you, Judy. That was moving. RESULTS will teach you how to speak to a member of Congress, to a Congressional aide, to a newspaper editor, about the legislation which will end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS taught me how to write an effective letter to the editor, and I got help from RESULTS in preparing the op-ed that led me to speak to you tonight. RESULTS also taught me the most effective means of written communication with a member of Congress, the hand-written letter faxed to their Washington office. And tonight I’m going to share with you how to write an effective letter and I’ll take your letters and fax them for you so tomorrow morning they’ll be on the desk of a Congressional aide and they will be shared with your member of Congress.

c. Opportunities
RESULTS has also provided me with opportunities to focus my compassion. Our Cedar Rapids RESULTS group meets once a month for 60 to 90 minutes, to put our compassion to work, to be empowered to make changes in the lives of people who live in hunger and poverty.

IV. Conclusion
And now it’s time for you to put your compassion to work. Tonight, I want you to write a letter to Senator Tom Harkin about the need for Healthcare for All by 2010.

a. Letters to members of Congress: how to write
First, I want you to write on one side of the sheet only. A single-page letter is highly effective. Next, I want you to start your letter with your aim: that Senator Harkin make healthcare for all by 2010 a top priority in his campaign for reelection. Now, if you have a personal story, I want you to take about three sentences to tell that story. Maybe you’re without healthcare. Maybe you, like me, have healthcare now but you’ve been without it in the past. Maybe a friend or relative is without health insurance. Often, the personal story you relate will get read on the floor of the House or Senate in debate and end up in the Congressional Record. It’s real stories of real people that make your letter highly effective. Finally, I want you to print your name and mailing address very clearly at the bottom of your letter. It may take a while, but you should get a response from Senator Harkin. When you’re done, bring me your letter and I’ll fax it to Washington for you. With the anthrax screening of mail, it takes two to three weeks for a letter to get through to a Washington office, so we’ll be faxing your letters.

b. How to become a RESULTS activist and volunteer
Finally, becoming a RESULTS activist is easy. It requires having compassion and being willing to be empowered with the proper tools and education on specific legislation so that you can take the steps necessary to help change people’s lives. The training involves an hour every two weeks for six weeks. Then, if you’d like to become an activist, you agree to attend our meetings on the third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church. And lastly, there is a financial commitment of $35 every year (or $15 for students and those on fixed incomes). If you cannot afford to contribute, you will not be excluded from RESULTS activities.

Questions?

I have really enjoyed being here with you tonight and I look forward to a richer Cedar Rapids RESULTS Group because of your decision to join us. Thank you.