Advocacy Update: Call TODAY to Urge Comprehensive COVID-19 Relief

Today is a national call-in day for advocates across Washington and the United States to tell Congress this simple but critical message: it is absolutely unacceptable for Congress to adjourn until they pass a robust COVID relief package.

Why is inaction absolutely unacceptable?

• 22 million people live in households that don’t have enough to eat.
• At least 14% of households are behind on the rent.
• 45% of adults live in households that have lost income from work. This is even worse for people of color as nearly 6 in 10 Latinx households and more than half of Black households have lost income.
• 76 million adults or one-third of all American households have said that they found it somewhat or very difficult to pay their household bills in just this past week alone.

Here in Washington, the recently completed WA State Food Security Survey found that over half of respondents from lower income households and households with children reported being food insecure. And according to Northwest Harvest’s own study released in June, these last few months of the year could see drastic increases in food insecurity if Congress fails to take action and we see a resurgence in unemployment: as many as 1 in 4 Washingtonians could struggle with hunger; the number of food insecure people in our state would increase by over 500,000 or roughly the combined populations of Spokane, Olympia, and Tacoma.
Families are hurting. Lives should not be held at stake because of partisan rancor. Congress must get to work and pass comprehensive relief, including a 15% boost to SNAP benefits and extending the Pandemic EBT program which helps families buy groceries to help make up for missed school meals. Call our Senators and your Member of Congress TODAY.

What You Can Do