For many of us, summer is the time to kick back and relax. But, hunger and illness do not take a summer vacation.

For me, this summer has begun with multiple meetings with my members of Congress, the personal highlight of which was a meeting with Senator Ed Markey (D-MA). The Together Women Rise Advocacy Group continues to advocate for funding for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria as well as improved funding and policy to prevent and treat global malnutrition. Additionally, some of our members have joined our partners at RESULTS for congressional meetings, and have also advocated for the Child Tax Credit, which has been shown to dramatically reduce child poverty in the US. This is one of many ways in which the experience gained by advocating for global issues can be reflected in actions we can then take at home. Learning to become an effective advocate and building relationships enables us to increase our influence on any issue we care about.

Since I have recently written here about the Global Fund, malnutrition, and tuberculosis, I will not repeat myself. However, with the confluence of a third year of COVID, climate change causing droughts and famine, and the Russian aggression in Ukraine that has devastated global nutrition, the time to speak up — to raise our voices — is now.

Women and children are the most marginalized and the most severely impacted during these difficult times. But, you can make a difference by speaking out to your members of Congress on these issues. Individual constituents do influence their legislators — I can attest to this from actual experience.

So, this summer would you consider writing to your Senators and asking them to co-sponsor the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act of 2021 (Senate 2956)? For starters, you could take this easy online action. If you want to have an even greater impact, you could contact me directly at advocacy@togetherwomenrise.org, and I can assist you in crafting a letter and finding the foreign policy aide in your senator’s office to whom you should send it.

I know that our individual actions make a difference. Imagine if we combined our voice with the voices of the thousands of Together Women Rise members … what an impactful power we could become! Consider taking this action this summer. And, join us if you would like to take the next step.

Our advocacy webinars this summer will take place on July 19 and August 16, both at 8:30 pm ET. If you would like to receive the links to these webinars or learn more about our advocacy efforts, please sign up HERE.