HAZEL DELL — The First Congregational United Church of Christ teamed up with the Children’s Alliance, a statewide advocacy group, to participate in a rally Feb. 22 in Olympia.
Thirty-seven local residents took a chartered bus to a rally on the steps of the Capitol, and then broke into groups to lobby state Rep. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, and Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama.
Their message: Children should not suffer during hard economic times — and legislators should not cut the State Food Assistance and Apple Health for Kids programs.
“In a time when budget cuts are the order of the day, we want to be a voice that says budgets are about more than numbers. They are about values,” said Brooks Berndt, pastor at the church, which is located on Northeast 68th Street in Hazel Dell.
