Addressing a critical need
This week, it will be an honor for me to take part in the kickoff of the 2014 Summer Servings program.
Summer Servings, which is available in Marion County as part of the USDA Summer Food Service Program, provides nutritious meals and snacks to children during the summer months. Meals are provided at no cost to all children ages 18 and younger.
The program is designed to fill the nutrition gap during the summer to ensure that children get the meals they need when school is not in session.
You may not realize it, but hunger is an enormous and often silent issue facing our community. More than one million Hoosiers are food insecure, and one-third of those are children.
That incredible need is why I'm asking for your help spreading the word that Summer Servings meals are available starting this week. Please share this information with your family and friends, as well as in your neighborhood.
You can find more information about the program, including an interactive map with meal location sites, by visiting www.summerservings.org.
Sincerely,
André
Inside Scoop
Update on VA Accountability
On Friday, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki offered his resignation to President Obama following the public disclosure of mismanagement at VA medical facilities and ongoing concerns about the services provided to our veterans.
I want to make sure you saw my statement in response to the announcement:
"I want to commend Secretary Shinseki for his lifelong service to our nation, our service members and our veterans. But despite his honorable service, I believe his resignation is appropriate. We need to clear the air and move toward long-term solutions to the systemic problems within the VA that have resulted in substandard service for the men and women who have served our country in uniform.
"I hope this change in leadership will bring about a new era for the VA. I look forward to working with officials there and my colleagues in Congress to drastically improve the delivery of health care and benefits for veterans and to make sure that these problems never occur again."
A Visit to Eli Lilly's Insulin Manufacturing Facility
I strongly support the life sciences and investment in the research it takes to keep our state and nation healthy. It was a privilege this week to take a hard hat tour of Eli Lilly's insulin manufacturing facility, which is under construction to expand the company's global production of the drug used to treat diabetes, a disease with a growing international footprint. Here's a photo from my tour of the facility:
Contribute to Our New Website!
We're in the process of giving our website a more modern look, and we want you to help us populate it with photos of our great city. We'll feature submitted constituent photos on the front page of our new site once it launches. Got a picture you want to share? Send it tojennifer.wagner@mail.house.gov with your name and the location where you took the photo, and you could see your work on our website! (Please make sure your submissions are less than 1MB in size.)
Voting: Our Privilege and Responsibility
One of the greatest privileges of being an American citizen is the opportunity to voice your opinion through the electoral process. The 2014 primary election took place last week, and voter registration for the November election begins soon.
Below are important dates for Indiana voters:
October 6, 2014 – Voter Registration Ends
November 4, 2014 – General Election Day