Many hands and hearts have been working to bring to you some meaningful ways of celebrating Catholic Sisters Week, March 8-14, 2021. We are among many communities of women religious across the U.S. who are choosing to use this week to call our friends and co-workers to join us in Feeding the Hungry, in responding to the dire needs of food insecurity in our country and abroad.
You might share your time, talent or treasure in any number of ways in addressing this need, regardless of where you live
We also invite you to consider the following three actions:
1. Donate:
Consider donating needed food items or your time. No matter where you live, there are people in need near you.
- Many food pantries are in desperate need of specific food items.
- Soup kitchens are often looking for volunteers, especially in the spring and summer. Many people only volunteer during holidays, even though the need is often great at all times of the year.
Consider researching what is needed at your local facilities and make a plan to donate or volunteer today.
2. Write or call your congressional delegations.
UPDATE: Thank you for your work to help pass the COVID-19 relief package! Please continue to advocate for nutritional programs and other ways to fight systemic food insecurity in our nation and world.
Ask them to give relief to those in urgent need of nourishment, but also to stem the tide of systemic food insecurity.
You may contact your Federal Elected Officials through these links:
- Locate your U.S. senators’ contact information.
- Find your U.S. representative’s website and contact information.
We have provided wording which you can use below:
CSJ Letter to Congress on Food Insecurity
Today, we are facing a worldwide pandemic, causing a growing food insecurity for many people and families. As a constituent and a person of faith I’m asking you, as my Representative, to support policies that protect those who are most vulnerable and those who are lacking the necessary means to provide for their families by passing the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that:
- Adequately addresses peoples’ needs in our country during this time of great hardship.
- Ensures at least $20 billion in international assistance and an increase in funding for ongoing international poverty-reducing development and humanitarian programs in future appropriations.
- Sufficiently invests in nutritional programs, such as SNAP, WIC, TEFAP and CSFP, which will ensure that children and those in greatest needs will have adequate income for food and other needs.
3. Pray with us daily.
In what Pope Francis has declared the Year of Joseph, we have created a prayer card to remind us to pray and act that the hungry might be fed.
“Which one of you would hand
your child a stone when s(he) asks
for a loaf of bread, or a snake
when asked for a fish?” Mt 7:9-10
Joseph, tender protector,
We long that all God’s children be fed.
Help us to open our eyes and hearts
to the needs of others
so all who are hungry may be fed.
And, may we know the same joy
in sharing with others
that we have in feeding our loved ones.
Together, we pray and act
for an end to hunger.
(Art: Joseph & Jesus by Sister Richard Mehren, CSJ, 1913-1990)
Through the actions you take to feed the hungry and do justice by them, you are honoring the Sisters of St. Joseph during Catholic Sisters Week 2021. Thank you for your prayers and other actions!
