Advocacy

ADVOCACY:

"PLEADING FOR THE CAUSE OF ANOTHER"

Advocacy is important at Feed My People because many people are working hard and still coming up short. If conditions were better--then everyone who worked would be able to feed their families. Despite what many people think-–poverty is not limited to the lazy and unemployed. It includes many people who work full-time minimum wage jobs, or 2 or 3 part-time jobs. You would think anyone willing to work hard could make it, but that’s just not reality.

As you may know, Feed My People gives a hand up, not and hand out. This requires that we look beyond temporary solutions for Missouri families, and work on a grassroots level to change and improve the very policies that will keep families in poverty conditions so that there is a fighting chance that they will do more than survive, but can overcome poverty. Isn’t that what we all want? We all want people to get on their feet, and the majority of our clients only come to us temporarily. But then there are those who disabled or elderly and these individuals may not ever be able to become self-sufficient. Government benefits do not offer benefits comparable to a living wage so some people are stuck with no options if they are on disability or social security.

To look past temporary solutions we must look at the big picture, which is larger then just all of us. It involves the entire community, all economic classes and our legislators, too. That’s why we need you to keep our legislators aware of social welfare conditions and suggest ways we could improve upon them. We need you to keep them informed and hold them accountable. The poor need a “voice” because they are so consumed with survival that they often do not have the time or energy to speak for themselves. However, to engage the clients in advocacy remains a goal for Feed My People and one we will continue to work on. One example of how we do this is to encourage our clients to register to vote, make voter registration cards available to them at our facilities, and try to inform them of upcoming issues which affect them most directly. This is a good start and we will continue to do more. Right now we are learning some new money management techniques and plan to share them with our clients in the very near future.

Come advocate with us. You can contact Robyn Sympson, in-office advocacy coordinator, at (314) 631-4900 or e-mail at fmpdir@earthlink.net or you can e-mail advocacy coordinator Bob Kemper at fmpadv@earthlink.net