Enlist Children in Wish for the Holidays Letter Campaign
Greetings! As Advent and the holidays approach, we want to invite United Methodist Women to engage children and youth in a letter-writing campaign, “A Wish for the Holidays: That All Families Be Able to Stay Together.” We are joining with the “We Belong Together” coalition to raise concerns about the separation of families due to US immigration policy. This coalition focuses on the needs of immigrant women and children.
A new study has found that between January and June of 2011, the United States carried out more than 46,000 deportations of the parents of U.S.-citizen children [see: http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/11/shocking_data_on_parents_deported_with_citizen_children.html] This means children left without at least one of their parents; loss of income; fear and emotional burdens for families, especially children.
Join us! Young people and children all over the country are writing letters to express A Wish for the Holidays: that all families be able to stay together. To view a video about the campaign, see: http://www.webelongtogether.org/wish?src=gi_list
Get involved, and help us send a clear message that immigration enforcement policies are having a devastating effect on all families and communities. Our goal is to collect over 5,000 letters by December 5, and to deliver these to our nation’s decision-makers in time for the holidays, and International Human Rights Day (December 10).
For information about the campaign, go to: http://www.webelongtogether.org/wish?src=gi_list
Tendrémos los materiales en español pronto.
How to Participate [From We Belong Together]
Letter-writing for A Wish for the Holidays can happen in classrooms, after-school programs, youth groups, homes—anywhere where young people, children and adults are able to discuss these issues and take action together. Getting involved is easy. Here’s what adults can do:
- Sign up and pledge to collect letters
- Review background information to familiarize yourself with the issues.
- Read through our educational materials for Activity Guides designed for a range of ages, and for additional resources that will help you address these issues with young people and children.
- Coordinate the process of letter-writing with the young people and children in your life. Letters should be handwritten, and can include words, drawings or both. Please include letter writers’ first names and ages on all of the letters. Please add “United Methodist Women” or “United Methodist Church” to a picture if it is from a UMC group.
- Mail in your letters by November 30 to:
A Wish for the Holidays
c/o NAPAWF
1322 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
c/o NAPAWF
1322 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
We must receive your letters by December 5 in order for them to be included in the packet we will deliver to decision-makers on the days leading up to International Human Rights Day. Please include a return mailing address for your letters, so that we know your Congressional District. To protect the identities of letter-writers, multiple letters can be bundled and sent under one return address.
- Get a report-back from us about how many letters we collected, who received them, and how you can continue to be involved with We Belong Together.
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