The Cherry on the Sundae

Bread for the World members at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Albuquerque decided to "shake up" their offering of letters.   Instead of the usual "vanilla ice cream," they decided to make the letter-writing exercise into a "sundae."

In past years, the social justice committee at the church had set up tables after Mass and had parishioners write letters. 

This year, the letter-writing effort took place within the context of a social justice ministry fair that included booths related to fair trade, a woman's cooperative in Ciudad Juarez (Centro Santa Catalina), Bread for the World and other ministries. (Picture above shows Bread member Virginia Pitts as she staffs fair trade table. Below is the Centro Santa Catalina table, staffed by Pat McIntire).

Instead of writing their letters on paper, participants put down their thoughts about the EITC on post cards. The Norbertine Community, which staffs the parish, also wrote letters separately.

Our bulletin announcement encouraged our parishioners to enjoy the Fair Trade coffee and a scone while writing their post cards said Bread member Ellen Buelow, who helped organize the fair. 

Parishioners at Holy Rosary wrote a total of 97 post card/letters, 33 of which went to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, 32 to Sen. Tom Udall, 31 to Rep. Martin Heinrich, and one to Rep. Ben Ray Lujan.  

But the "cherry" on top of the sundae is that the church's social justice committee took the opportunity to organize visits to the local congressional offices in relation to the Offering of Letters.  Ellen and her husband delivered the correspondence.  They plan to visit with the legislative staff in Washington in June.

Below is Ellen's account of the visit to Sen. Bingaman's office. (In the above picture, she poses with Sen. Bingman's staffer Jessica Perez).

Larry and I went to Senator Bingaman's office today here in Albuquerque. His staffer, Jessica Perez, accepted our post cards from Offering of Letters of the Most Holy Rosary. I gave her the information about Bread for the World that she is holding in her hand. Jessica gave us the name of the D.C. staffer whom we will visit at the Hart Senate Building in several weeks. 

In addition to the post cards/letters, Ellen gave Ms. Perez information about Bread for the World.  Sen. Bingaman's staffer was very appreciative it gave her an opportunity to learn more about our organization.