Advocacy Success!!

New Journeyans who have signed letters in support of school meals funding, please take note of this item from the July 1, 2025 Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-Arizona (LAMAz.org) newsletter:

“Arizona’s Fiscal Year 2026 state budget passed on Friday, June 27 and was signed by Governor Hobbs on Saturday, June 28, and… it includes $3.8 million for Reduced Price school meals and a one-time, $2 million appropriation for Double Up Food Bucks! The funding was included as a one-time item—i.e., not ongoing, as we’d hoped—but this is still cause for celebration – and it only happened because of all of you and your hard work! It was a particularly demanding legislative session, especially the budget negotiations, so seeing funding for school meals receive bipartisan support is a big accomplishment.”

Thank you also to June 29th Fifth Sunday letter-signers. All letters, with 14-17 signatures each, were mailed the morning of July 1. The letter to Representative Schweikert regarding H.R. 1 – the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – was faxed to his D.C. office directly, in time for the House of Representatives’ final consideration of the bill on its return from the Senate. The letter to the National Governors’ Association was also sent by email in advance of the July 7 NGA meeting. Thanks, too, to Liz Peterson for shepherding the letter signing.