When families struggle to keep a roof over their heads, children often experience:
More school absences
Interrupted learning
Higher levels of stress
Lower academic performance
Research consistently shows that housing instability makes it harder for students to thrive in school. Children who experience eviction or frequent moves are more likely to miss school and fall behind academically.
Here in Nevada, families are balancing rent, groceries, utility bills, and back-to-school expenses while housing costs remain out of reach for too many working households.
Housing is not just about where we live. It is about whether children and families have the stability they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
That is why Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada advocates for housing policies that help Nevada families remain safely housed.
Extreme heat is not just a weather issue. It is an education issue, a public-health issue, and an environmental-justice issue.
A new study highlighted by KNPR finds that when classroom temperatures rise above 73°F, students complete cognitive tasks more slowly and less accurately. Heat can also contribute to absenteeism and make it harder for children to learn.
But the burden is not shared equally. Students in under-resourced communities are more likely to attend schools with aging buildings, limited shade, and inadequate cooling. Many also return home to housing without reliable air conditioning.
In Nevada, extreme heat is no longer an occasional disruption. Our schools need plans that protect students and staff: monitoring classroom and bus temperatures, creating safe protocols for recess and athletics, investing in cooling and shade, and communicating clearly with families.
Every child deserves a safe place to learn. A student’s ZIP code should not determine whether their classroom is healthy, cool, and ready for learning.
September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide invitation to learn about hunger, support our neighbors, and work toward a future in which everyone has enough nutritious food.
Here in Nevada, hunger is present in every community—rural and urban, northern and southern. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada reports that one in five Nevada children faces hunger, and it serves approximately 150,000 neighbors each month through its network of partner programs. In Southern Nevada, Three Square Food Bank continues to mobilize the community around food insecurity and access to healthy food.
Food banks and pantries are responding with extraordinary care. But charitable food alone cannot end hunger. Hunger Action Month calls us to offer immediate help while also asking why so many households must choose between groceries, rent, utilities, health care, and other basic needs.
For Lutherans, this work is rooted in faith. We pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” not only for ourselves, but for all God’s people. ELCA World Hunger reminds us that hunger is connected to poverty, wages, housing, health care, discrimination, and public policy. Feeding our neighbors and advocating for just systems are both expressions of our baptismal call to “strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”
Ways to take action in Nevada this September
Make hunger part of “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday
The ELCA’s annual “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday is September 13. It is a perfect opportunity to connect service with hunger ministry.
Congregations might:
Volunteer together at a food bank, pantry, community garden, or meal program.
Collect the specific foods requested by a local pantry.
Assemble emergency food boxes or weekend food bags for students.
Organize a noisy offering or special collection for ELCA World Hunger or a local hunger ministry.
Invite a food-bank representative, school nutrition worker, or SNAP outreach specialist to speak.
Deliver thank-you notes and treats to school cafeteria workers, pantry volunteers, or food-distribution staff.
Before planning a food drive, ask the receiving organization what it needs most. Often, a financial gift enables a food bank to purchase more food—and exactly the right food—than an individual shopper can provide for the same amount.
Find food or volunteer opportunities near you
Food Bank of Northern Nevada: Serving Northern Nevada and the eastern Sierra through partner pantries, mobile distributions, and community programs.
Three Square Food Bank: Serving Southern Nevada, with food-distribution, volunteer, fundraising, and advocacy opportunities.
Nevada 211: A statewide directory for food pantries, meal sites, housing support, utility assistance, and more. Call 211 or 1-866-535-5654, or text your ZIP code to 898211.
Food banks need dependable volunteers after September, too. Consider making hunger ministry a monthly or quarterly commitment rather than a one-time event.
Make your congregation a hunger-resource hub
People experiencing hunger are already present in our congregations and neighborhoods, although we may not know who they are. Shame, complicated applications, transportation barriers, and lack of information can keep people from seeking help.
Place discreet, current information in newsletters, restrooms, gathering spaces, and online about:
Nearby food pantries and meal sites
SNAP application assistance
School breakfast and lunch programs
WIC support for pregnant people, infants, and young children
Summer meals and SUN Bucks
Nutrition assistance for older adults
Share Nevada 211 widely, and make it clear: seeking help is not a failure. Food is a human need, and receiving support in a difficult season is part of living in community.
Pair generosity with advocacy
Donations meet today’s need. Advocacy helps change the conditions that cause the need.
During Hunger Action Month, contact your elected officials and urge them to:
Protect and strengthen SNAP rather than creating barriers that cause eligible people to lose assistance.
Support healthy, accessible school meals for Nevada children.
Protect nutrition programs for older adults, veterans, people with disabilities, and families with children.
Invest in food-bank infrastructure and reliable access to nutritious food in rural and urban communities.
Address the high costs of housing, health care, and utilities that force families to choose between food and other necessities.
Wear orange. Share reliable information. Give. Volunteer. Advocate. Check on an older neighbor. Thank a school nutrition worker. Ask your congregation to make hunger a year-round ministry priority.
No single action will end hunger. But every faithful action matters—and together, we can build a Nevada in which all our neighbors have the daily bread they need.
Hunger Action Day—also known as Orange Day—is September 29, 2026.
Concerns around the November Elections are valid, and misinformation circulating online is suggesting that voters should not return their ballots by mail this election season. Some posts urge voters to use drop boxes instead. Others imply that voting by mail may not be safe, may not count, or may be affected by court action.
Here is what Nevada voters need to know: make your voting plan now. Do not wait for rumors, memes, or a court headline to tell you how to participate. MAKE A PLAN NOW!
Nevada voters can still vote by mail. Active registered voters receive a mail ballot unless they have opted out. You may also vote early in person, use an official ballot drop box, or vote at a polling location on Election Day.
The practical guidance is simple: receive your ballot, vote it, sign the return envelope, return it early, and track it.
Nevada law allows a mailed ballot that is postmarked by Election Day to be counted if it arrives within the state’s permitted post-election window. But mailing early is still the best choice. If Election Day is approaching, use an official ballot drop box, county elections office, early-voting site, or polling location rather than risking a late return.
So, should voters use the mail or a drop box?
Use the official return method that fits your timing.
If you receive your ballot early and can mail it back promptly, voting by mail remains a secure and valid option. If the deadline is close, an official drop box or voting location may give you greater peace of mind. Either way, make a plan early and use trusted election information.
This is where people of faith can be trusted messengers.
Election misinformation spreads quickly, especially in anxious seasons. Sometimes it is intentionally false. Sometimes it is shared by people who are confused or worried. Either way, it can cause real harm when eligible voters delay, give up, or make decisions based on fear rather than facts.
LEAN encourages congregations and community leaders to share calm, accurate, nonpartisan guidance:
Nevada voters can vote by mail, at an official drop box, during early voting, or in person on Election Day.
Return mail ballots early.
Sign your ballot return envelope.
Use official drop boxes or voting locations when the deadline is near.
Track your ballot through Nevada’s official ballot-tracking tool.
Check information with the Nevada Secretary of State or your county elections office.
Do not forward voting instructions from memes, screenshots, or anonymous social-media posts.
Faithful civic engagement is not about telling people how to vote. It is about helping every eligible neighbor participate freely, safely, confidently, and with accurate information.
Our Lutheran public witness calls us to care about truth, neighbor well-being, and the common good. This election season, that means resisting panic, correcting misinformation gently, and helping one another make a clear voting plan.
Make your plan. Vote early. Return your ballot on time. Track it. And help a neighbor do the same.
Nevada Medicaid is preparing for major federal changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with new rules beginning January 1, 2027.
For some Medicaid members ages 19–64, coverage will require documenting 80 hours each month of work, school, job training, volunteering, or a combination of these activities. Medicaid renewals will also move from once a year to every six months.
Many Nevadans will be excluded or exempt, including pregnant people, seniors, people with disabilities, and parents of children age 13 and younger. Nevada also plans hardship exemptions for circumstances such as hospitalization, natural disasters, long travel for medical care, and living in a high-unemployment county.
Still, even when people qualify, more frequent paperwork and eligibility checks can create barriers to care. A missed notice, a confusing form, or difficulty documenting work should never mean losing access to a doctor, medication, mental-health treatment, or preventive care.
Nevada Medicaid serves more than 759,000 people. This is about more than a government program—it is about whether children, families, neighbors with disabilities, and people facing illness can get the care they need.
LEAN will continue to follow implementation, advocate for accessible exemptions and clear communication, and urge policymakers to protect health care for all Nevadans.
Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada 