Twin Cities CRS chapter joins national effort to influence lawmakers

The seeds of Mike Haasl’s advocacy were planted decades ago. In 1980-1981, he volunteered in a small village in Kenya, helping start community self-help programs ranging from agriculture to health care and road building. He lived without electricity — except when a generator ran for about an hour at night for meetings.

Life was simple, he said, but he also remembers very good, hard-working people.

Haasl, a member of St. Gerard Majella, Brooklyn Park, said the experience “turned his life upside down.” Living and working with young, local Kenyans profoundly affected how he viewed the world, he said, including an acute awareness of how many people worldwide struggle each day for bare essentials.

He and his family later worked as Maryknoll lay missioners in a poor Venezuelan barrio. Then, his work with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for Mission from 2003-2018 took him to Kitui, Kenya, where the archdiocese has an inter-diocesan global solidarity partnership.

Those experiences motivated his advocacy for dignity and hope for similarly vulnerable adults and children around the world, he said.

But advocacy doesn’t have to involve international travel.

Today, Haasl is trying to effect change from his home in the Twin Cities, through the newly established Twin Cities Chapter of Catholic Relief Services.

Last fall, Baltimore-based CRS, which works in 100 countries to alleviate hunger and poverty, began a national program to engage parishioners to advocate with legislators for policies addressing international poverty and injustice. Its Twin Cities Chapter, which started in February, is doing just that. Chapter members call U.S. House and Senate offices to introduce themselves, talk with staff and advocate for legislation that helps improve lives of people living in poverty.

Minnesota is one of 15 states with CRS chapters, and there are 25 chapters nationwide. Currently, the Twin Cities chapter is the only one in the state.

Jessica Howell, director of the CRS Midwest Regional Office in Chicago, conducted training for local chapter members in February and March about effective advocacy. It included tips on writing letters to members of Congress and letters to the editor in newspapers, scripts for making calls to legislative offices, and tips for in-person meetings.

The training has already paid off. With more legislative advocacy to come, the chapter has advocated for passage of the Global Child Thrive Act, introduced by Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, which requires the U.S. Agency for International Development to direct agencies to incorporate early childhood development into current programs and promote inclusive early childhood development in partner countries.

The bill does not require any extra federal funding at this time, Haasl said. It does require all future child-focused funding for international assistance to include an early childhood development component. Through the chapter’s advocacy, Haasl said, three Twin Cities-area U.S. representatives — Democrats Angie Craig, Betty McCollum and Dean Phillips — have signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in December and has been referred to the full House. An identical bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Early childhood education makes a big difference in terms of cognitive development, brain development in the very early years,” Haasl said. Even reading to children, engaging them in interactive play or with colorful objects really helps, he said, and doesn’t cost a lot of money.

Chris Wolohan of Our Lady of Grace in Edina, a retired nurse and co-leader of the Twin Cities CRS chapter, has seen the impact of CRS’ work during CRS-sponsored trips to Haiti, Rwanda and Zambia. She said early childhood education could take place, for example, when an aid organization visits homes for childhood immunizations.

“They may say, ‘Do you have a book for your child, or do you sing and play with your child?’” The group would not receive extra money to discuss these topics, but could integrate them during interaction with families and the community, she said.

The benefit to every child who receives early childhood education is significant, added Esther van Stam, the chapter’s other co-leader and a member of St. Frances Cabrini in Minneapolis. Stimulation and security sets them up for not just living, but thriving, she said.

Wolohan sees her work today with CRS as being a vehicle, a mirror for Christ to reflect the truth that all people have dignity, she said.

“We have respect for you, we’re in solidarity with you, we understand, we want to help,” she said, “and this is a really great way to do that.”

People become stronger and better together, she added. “For me, this helps me be stronger in my faith,” Wolohan said. “It helps you on your journey. And they’re our brothers and sisters.”

For more information about CRS’ Twin Cities chapter, email [email protected]. 

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INVITATION TO INVOLVEMENT

• Join the Twin Cities Chapter’s advocacy team. Training, resources and support provided. Email [email protected]

• Learn how the Catholic faith calls us to global solidarity:

— U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops’ Called to Global Solidarity: International Challenges for U.S. Parishes (www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/global-issues/called-to-global-solidarity-international-challenges-for-u-s-parishes.cfm)

— Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel (www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html)

— Key issues facing countries around the world and how CRS is responding: crs.org

• Donating to CRS (https://support.crs.org/donate/give)