Hunger in Our Congregations and Communities
October 28, 2025
Saints Simon and Jude
12 The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.’ 13 But he said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’
I write today to all the faithful of our diocese in anticipation of the collapse of our supplemental food programs on November 1. If our Congress does not avert this disaster, the collapse of SNAP in the Commonwealth will have devastating consequences in the lives of real human beings. Some of them are in our pews - hard-working families just making it from month to month, elders, single parents and their children. Others are in our local communities - strangers to us but not to God.
I have been happy to see so many congregations stepping up - calling for food collections this weekend, and coordinating with non-profits in the area. Churches are uniquely positioned to bring relief to a system that will likely be strained to its limit in the coming weeks. With the support and encouragement of our Social Justice Commission, I offer you a few facts and resources below. I pray you will personally and communally discern how you can give them something to eat. My staff and I are exploring ways of freeing up some diocesan resources to add to this effort. God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher
Bishop, Western Massachusetts
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