Hunger is rising, and children are at risk.

But together, we can do something about it.

Join Bread for the World President and CEO Rev. Eugene Cho and staff, as well as hundreds of advocates across the country for the online launch of the 2026 Offering of Letters on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 8 p.m. ET.

During our time together, you’ll learn how you and your community can join this nationwide letter writing movement asking Congress to recommit to ending hunger.

In the last year we saw setbacks in programs and policies that support families facing food insecurity, both in the U.S. and around the world.

Yet these challenges galvanized our network to speak up. And together, our voices made a difference. Over the past year, the advocacy of Bread members like you led to meaningful policy changes that benefit children and families, including but not limited to:

• an increase in the per child benefit in the Child Tax Credit,
• Congress fully funding WIC at $7.6 billion for FY2025 with no cuts to the Cash Value Benefit,
• Meaningful funding for programs like Food for Peace and Feed the Future, which some proposals suggested entirely eliminating.

We know this advocacy must continue.

By joining us online for the 2026 Offering of Letters launch event, you’ll hear about the most pressing hunger related issues in Congress right now, learn tactics we can use together to speak up on these issues, and commit together to advocating through the 2026 Offering of Letters campaign.

We hope you’ll join us. It’s an honor to partner with you as we pursue a world without hunger.

LEAN will continue to update the website with resources, and ways to engage.

We are people of the cross, praying for hearts to be transformed.
We are disciples of Jesus who show up, who flip tables, who refuse to mistake comfort for faithfulness.
We are resurrection people—surrounded by death—and we will not be quiet about it.

We follow the witness of the prophetic theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who called the Church into costly discipleship: a discipleship that moves beyond temporary concern into real presence, real risk, and real action on behalf of our neighbors. Costly discipleship does not wait for permission. It responds when harm is at the door.

Now is the time for our communities to prepare for versions of Operation Metro Surge. This is not a conscience-based response, nor will it be an isolated incident. Escalation must become a catalyst—calling communities of faith across this country to be ready: to know our rights, to strengthen our networks, and to ensure that no neighbor faces what comes next alone.

As people of faith, we must ask ourselves:

• Do you know your neighbors’ names?
• When was the last time you connected with them—truly connected?
• If you haven’t, what is your plan to begin?
• How are you showing solidarity with your neighbors right now?
• And how might that solidarity grow and sustain itself if your community were to experience federal occupation or intensified enforcement?

Faithfulness in this moment is not abstract. It is relational. It is prepared. And it is rooted in the promise that resurrection is stronger than fear.

Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada (LEAN) stands in solidarity with the community of Minneapolis and the family of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen and ICU nurse who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

This murder marks the second fatal shooting involving federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis in less than three weeks, following the murder of Renée Nicole Good on January 7, 2026.

“This is the second murder in less than three weeks, and it is unacceptable and heartbreaking,” said Rev. Paul M. Larson, Advocacy Director with Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada. “We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms. A U.S. citizen, an ICU nurse, a neighbor, was killed on the streets of Minneapolis in broad daylight. We stand with the community demanding transparency, accountability, and justice.”

Reports from Minneapolis, along with bystander accounts and video evidence, have raised serious concerns about the use of force and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Pretti’s death. Community members, local leaders, and advocates are calling for independent investigations and full accountability.

Across the country, communities are reporting increasingly aggressive and militarized enforcement tactics that endanger immigrants, U.S. citizens, legal observers, and bystanders alike. No one should live in fear of violence.

As people of faith, Lutherans affirm the sacred worth and dignity of every person. Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada remains committed to advocating for policies rooted in dignity, safety, and justice, and to standing with communities harmed by state violence.

LEAN calls for transparency, independent investigation, and meaningful accountability to ensure that such tragedies do not continue.

esterday, following the execution of Alex Pretti, Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto announced their intention to oppose extensions of ICE funding.

This is what accountability looks like. Advocacy matters. Your voices are being heard.

Let us continue showing up, speaking out, and holding our elected officials accountable.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement on the government funding bills the Senate will consider this week:

“The Trump Administration and Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability. They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement. This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it’s brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants. I will not support the current Homeland Security funding bill. 

“We have bipartisan agreement on 96% of the budget. We’ve already passed six funding bills. Let’s pass the remaining five bipartisan bills and fund essential agencies while we continue to fight for a Department of Homeland Security that respects Americans’ constitutional rights and preserves federal law enforcement’s essential role to keep us safe.”  

Read Here.https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cortez-masto-statement-opposing-current-department-of-homeland-security-funding-bill/