picking on our most vulnerable

Today is World Food Day. I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about hunger in this country, and ask for your help with Monte's March.

On November 25th & 26th, radio personality Monte Belmonte will be leading his annual march against hunger through the Pioneer Valley. For two days, Monte and I will push a shopping cart 43-miles from Springfield to Greenfield to raise awareness and funds for food insecurity in our region.

Supporters are encouraged to join us on Monte's March or make a donation.

Last year, the event raised more than $294,000 for The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Each dollar donated supplies three meals to a neighbor in need.

About the same time as the 2018 Monte's March, my Republican colleagues were attacking the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as food stamps) by cutting off assistance to people who can't find work. It was a disgusting and cynical attack on people struggling with poverty, designed to paint them as undeserving of help while making it even harder to survive and escape poverty.

It would have disproportionately impacted: veterans, teenagers aging out of foster care, children utilizing free school lunches, adults over the age of 50, folks dealing with mental health issues, those suffering from chronic houselessness, and ex-offenders with nowhere else to turn.

I cannot fathom anyone seeking to further marginalize those populations in good conscious. Thankfully, we've been able to stop this disastrous attack on people struggling with hunger from moving forward – so far.

We have everything it takes to solve hunger in the U.S.

We have the food.

We have the resources.

We have the infrastructure. We know what it takes.

We have everything we need to end hunger now – everything except the political will.

We should be moving forward, not throwing more people into hunger and poverty.