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PICO Launches Media and Grassroots Health Care Campaign - Radio Ad 1

May 21, 2009  |  Download Audio File

As Congress begins crafting health care reform legislation, PICO clergy joined with faith leaders from across the country today in launching a combined media and grassroots campaign to encourage Members of Congress to move reform forward and make quality health care truly affordable for every American family.

In a series of radio ads that will air beginning today on Christian and mainstream radio in swing districts and states of Representatives and Senators who may well determine the fate of health reform, local pastors remind listeners that "every person, created in the image of God, is of limitless value" and urge them to contact their Member of Congress.

The campaign also includes hundreds of grassroots events in congregations across the country, including public meetings with Members of Congress, and other local and national lobbying efforts - all focused on the goal of enacting reform that makes quality health care choices affordable for all families.

"Religious congregations across the country are organizing," said Rev. Dr. Cory Sparks, a PICO clergy member and pastor of Faith Community United Methodist Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. "We are making it clear to our Members of Congress that the majority of Americans want them to support health reform legislation that lowers costs for families and covers everyone."

"We want to remind our Members of Congress that health care is about real people, the people in my pews," said Rev. Rayfield Burns, a PICO clergy member from Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, who is active with PICO affiliate Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO). "Nobody should have to rely on an emergency room for their health care or delay treatment because they lack insurance or have been denied coverage. This just isn't right."
 

Today's activity marked an unprecedented degree of collaboration between faith-based community organizing networks and national religious groups, including PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Faithful America, Sojourners, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

For more information, visit www.coverallfamilies.org