Dear Kentucky Bread for the World Friends-- Happy new year to you! It's that time of year when we pull out our 2009 calendars and make sure we have some key dates on them. Our annual Kentucky Bread for the World Offering of Letters advocacy training workshops are now taking shape. For the first time we'll have one in Richmond and in Owensboro! Here's the list: * The Eastern and Central Kentucky workshop will be Saturday, February 28, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, 1285 Barnes Mill Road in Richmond, KY. * The Louisville and Central Kentucky workshop will be Sunday afternoon, March 1, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 p.m. at a place still to be determined. * The Western Kentucky workshop will be Saturday afternoon, April 25, at Third Baptist Church, 527 Allen Street in Owensboro. This workshop follows immediately after the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship's spring gathering at the same church. Watch for more details on the timing for this workshop. You'll get more details in an upcoming email from me. You can use Bread's Calendar of Events (www.bread.org/events) to register, learn more, and get directions. With new faces and energy in Washington, DC, now is the key time for Congress to consider ways to improve U.S. foreign assistance. In 2009, Bread for the World churches, campuses, and groups will urge Congress to refocus and streamline our nation's aid and eliminate long-standing inefficiencies to make that aid more effective in relieving global poverty. To help kick off this exciting campaign, I hope you'll come and bring your friends to one of these important training workshops. Contact me with any questions or suggestions. We expect the Offering of Letters Kit and other materials to be on www.bread.org/OL2009 in January and in printed form in early February. By the way--for background on ways to improve foreign assistance, check out the Bread for the World Institute 2009 Hunger Report, "Global Development: Charting a New Course," at http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-reports/. Blessings, Larry Hollar North Central Senior Regional Organizer Bread for the World HAVE FAITH. END HUNGER. North Central Regional Office 601 West Riverview Avenue Dayton, OH 45406-5543 Phone 937.227.9450 or toll free 1.800.619.9BFW (9239) Fax 937.227.9446 Email lhollar@bread.org www.bread.org