11-08 Meeting Request Sample Letter

www.results.org Your name and contact information here

The Honorable ______U.S. Senate (or) House of Representatives Washington DC 20510 (or) 20515 Attention: ______, Scheduler Attention: ______, Legislative Assistant

Subject: Request for Meeting Date: xxx

Dear Senator/Representative ______:

Volunteers with the ______chapter of RESULTS are requesting the opportunity to meet with you in your state/district office in December. As you may know, RESULTS is a 30-year-old, international citizen’s advocacy organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. Our chapters also work with other organizations in our community that care about the same issues. Our chapter in ______has been active for many years, and we have many other allies around the state. We have approximately 100 chapters around the U.S.

Over twenty years ago it was estimated that 40,000 children died daily of poverty related sicknesses. Now, the estimate is 25,000. While this is progress, it is still not nearly enough. Also over twenty years ago, microcredit and Muhammad Yunus (a RESULTS Board member) were little known to our members of Congress. Because RESULTS introduced Dr. Yunus to Congress, the U.S. is a microcredit leader and supporter. And thanks in part to work of RESULTS Educational Fund’s Microcredit Summit Campaign, small loans now reach over 106 million of the world’s poorest.

At least 1.4 billion people still live on less than $1.25 per day and 33 million people currently live with HIV, a disease of poverty that killed 2 million people in 2008. At least 25 million have died from HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis, one of the biggest infectious killers of young women and those with HIV/AIDS, took the lives of 1.7 million people in 2009 despite being completely curable. Now new, deadly strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis are emerging, putting U.S. health security in jeopardy. Malaria kills around 1 million people each year, most of them women and small children. Sixty-nine million school-age children do not have access to a basic education when we know that education is key to stability and economic advancement.

Over time we have become very familiar with some of the best solutions to alleviating poverty. Microcredit enables the very poor to access the loans and financial services they need to lift themselves out of poverty, and $20 worth of tuberculosis medication can save the life of someone who would otherwise live only weeks. A better approach to global education through a global education fund will give more children an opportunity to succeed.

When we meet with you we would like to discuss . . . .

We are also very interested to hear your views on ending hunger and poverty and finding ways we can work together, as well as ways that we can serve as a resource and support to you.

Thank you for considering our request. We will follow up with your office to set up the meeting. We also would like to receive information about your town meetings and other planned public appearances in our area. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

______, RESULTS Group Leader, Group Name ______, RESULTS Group Member, Group Name

RESULTS www.results.org