Posts By: Leslie Woods

Help Avoid Hunger Disaster in Puerto Rico

Starting next month, 1.4 million Puerto Ricans on the island will struggle to put food on the table if Congress fails to approve an additional $600 million for the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP). Disaster NAP has served as a critical lifeline for Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Puerto Rico’s poverty… Read more »

Universal Day of Prayer for Students and Gun Violence Prevention

A Message from Presbyterian Peace Fellowship on addressing crisis of gun violence– Dear Friends in Christ, On February 14, 2018, a former student entered the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida with an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon. In 7 minutes, he killed 17 students and adults. In February of 1893, Presbyterians first participated in… Read more »

Avert Second Shutdown

Urge Congress to Avert a Second Shutdown and Protect the Dignity of Migrants and Border Communities What’s at stake? After the longest shutdown in government history, Congress has until February 15, to figure out how to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Without a lasting agreement to keep the government funded, departments funded by the… Read more »

Call-in Day to End the Shutdown

*UPDATE: The Senate failed to advance either of the proposals outlined below. On January, 24, the Shelby proposal that including the President’s $5.7 billion for a border wall failed in the Senate by a vote of 50-47. The Schumer proposal, the clean CR, failed by a vote of 52-44. Both bills needed 60 votes to… Read more »

the government is failing all of us when it’s not working

As the partial government shutdown drags well into its third week, the human cost of the shutdown is coming into sharp focus. On Wednesday, Jan. 9, PC(USA) Office of Public Witness Director, the Reverend Jimmie Hawkins, said, “It is time for the Senate to take up the House spending bills and send them to President… Read more »

Washington Report to Presbyterians, Winter 2018

If you receive our paper mail, you should have received the Washington Report to Presbyterians, Winter 2018 edition, in your mailbox the week before Christmas. It is now available online in PDF and here on our blog. Each article is linked individually below. Articles with timely information that has changed have been updated as of… Read more »

Our Christmas Prayer for 2018

By Jimmie Hawkins   So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will… Read more »

In Support of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018

In June 2018, the 223rdGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) “expressed profound concern about the destructive effects of climate change on all God’s creation, including a disproportionate impact on those living in poverty and in the least developed countries, the elderly and children, and those least responsible for the emissions of greenhouse gases.” The… Read more »

When the Holy Family Seeks Asylum

Now after [the wise men] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up,… Read more »

The crisis in Yemen

The human-made crisis in Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Currently, 22.2 million people require humanitarian assistance and almost 18 million people require emergency food assistance. Nearly 14 million will be at risk of famine by the end of 2018 and over one million pregnant women and 400,000 children are suffering from… Read more »