The Witness of Women Who Will
Leave No Child Behind
by Marian Wright Edelman
I am haunted
by a pair of homeless children who peered back at me from a newspaper
photograph I saw more than a year ago.
The accompanying article described how the children wearily
shuffled from shelter to shelter, kept awake much too late at
night as they waited for a place to stay and awakened much too
early the next morning when it was time to leave the shelter.
Physically and emotionally exhausted, the children sometimes
slept on the benches in the intake center at night and even more
often in school. Describing the long wait for a meal in the shelter
one night, nine-year-old Paris said simply, "They forgot
we were there."
I am heartsick and outraged that hundreds of thousands of
children in our rich nation do not know where they will sleep
at night and don't know when they will be able to fill their
empty stomachs. After reading about this family, I went to the
intake center to see what could be done to fix this situation.
I left asking, "Why can't we get every pastor, church member,
mother, grandmother and person concerned to visit a shelter,
see what is going on and then visit the offices of city officials,
legislators and newspaper editors, demanding a solution?"
Imagine what a difference it would make if every Presbyterian
woman began to advocate for poor and homeless children, demanding
that we leave no child behind. There is no limit to what determined
women of faith can accomplish.
Here's What You Can Do
The Act to Leave No Child Behind® has Republican, Democrat
and Independent cosponsors in Congress. (It is not to be confused
with the single issue, underfunded Bush education bill, the No
Child Left Behind Act.) Visit the Children's Defense Fund Web
site, www.childrensdefense.org, to see if your senator and representative
have signed on as sponsors yet. If they have, please write them
a note or an email thanking them for their leadership on behalf
of children. If they have not, please contact them and urge them
to stand for children by cosponsoring this bipartisan bill.
Be brief but specific. Ask them to cosponsor the Act to Leave
No Child Behind® and describe in your own words why the legislation
matters to you and to children.
Ask for a reply and include your name and address on your
letter so your legislator can reply.
For more information about the Act to Leave No Child Behind®
or how to contact your elected officials, visit www.childrensdefense.org.
Celebrate Children's Sabbath Weekend by joining thousands
of congregations of all faiths on the third weekend of October
to celebrate the gift of children. For more information, call
the 202/662-3589 or visit www.childrensdefense.org
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