In summing up the City Soup journey we hope you will help policymakers understand that hunger is a problem the faith community cannot solve on our own, no matter how hard we try.  While our charity work will continue, we cannot be satisfied helping only those whose names we know.  The gaps are too deep and too wide.

Please use as much of the language below that is helpful to you as you attempt to sum up your journey.  While we hope you will write again, particularly when anti-hunger organizations let you know that your communication is crucial, this is your chance to sum up all that you have learned and experienced through City Soup.  Reflect on your journey and make your letter as personal as possible.

Contact info for elected officials can be found here.


Dear  ______________________


For the past six weeks I have gathered with friends and colleagues to study the complex issue of hunger in Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and the country as a whole.  Along the way I have written to you and other officials, urging your support for a comprehensive plan to bring about an end to the public health crisis that hunger and poor nutrition has caused.

While I will continue to support the feeding ministries of my congregation and make regular donations to charities – I now see every person who receives food from our food cupboards as a failure of government policy. 

No policy is perfect, and communities of faith will always be around to help fill in the gaps.  However, the four hundred thousand people who *regularly* rely on cupboards in Philadelphia do not represent a gap – they are a canyon.  This is nearly a quarter of the population, and clearly something no one group can fix on its own.

I look forward to our continued discussions on this issue.

Sincerely,



Name, a member of _________________ (name of Congregation), journeying with others in the region to study hunger as a part of City Soup Philadelphia    www.hungercoalition.org/citysoup

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