Tag Archives: human dignity

Food: a Necessity, Not a Choice

Realizing What Families Are Going Through Should Be Enough to Ensure We Fund SNAP

Leslie Gracia
April 21, 2026

Growing up I remember my family struggling to make ends meet to the point where we almost lost our house. My dad worked in construction but then had an accident where his thumb got cut off due to a brick falling on him while working. After this incident, he struggled to find a job and he was the main household provider. My mom had just given birth to my younger sister, so that meant that a lot of the money went toward baby necessities.

My mom would also take care of the neighbors’ children for free, and I would see how my mom would put food on everybody else’s plates while her plate would be filled with any remaining food. It was not until my parents applied for SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as food stamps) that we would see the refrigerator and pantry full of food.

My family’s experience with food insecurity allows me to see other families struggling with food insecurity as if they were my own. It is so hard to see parents struggling the way mine did to provide food on the table or not eating enough so that they can give more food to their children.

Laurie Carafone and Ralph McCloud at People's Pantry event

NETWORK Executive Director Laurie Carafone and NETWORK Fellow Ralph McCloud protest cuts to human needs programs in the federal budget at the People’s Pantry event in Washington, D.C. in 2025.

I currently attend St. Vincent DePaul University, named for the saint whose mission is to defend against hunger and poverty. St. Vincent would distribute bread and soup to the starving population in France. His mission was based off the Corporal Works of Mercy outlined in the Gospel of Matthew. For I was hungry and you gave me food” (Mt 25:35). In the Catholic Church it is a reminder to feed people who are hungry and take care of those who are impacted by poverty.

St. Nicholas also answered the call to feed the hungry by asking ship captains to donate food to those in need At first the captains rejected St. Nicholas’ pleas, but when St. Nicholas promised the captains that in God’s name their cargo would not lessen, the captains ended up donating. His story inspires me to advocate and organize to provide food to those who need it. Lobbying your representatives, whether that is meeting with them in person, via a video call, a letter, or a phone call, can bring awareness to the need to fund SNAP.

My passion for keeping SNAP funded comes from personal experiences and religious beliefs. Nobody deserves to go on with their day or for several days starving. We all deserve access to food because it is a necessity that can impact every aspect of our lives. For example, food insecurity, can exacerbate or even cause a variety of health issues; which is another problem on its own because health care is already unaffordable.

SNAP supports parents who feel guilty for not being able to provide food for their family, children who struggle to stay awake while in school because they are hungry, and many others. No family should have to go through what my family went through. We know SNAP is an effective way to alleviate hunger while people get back on their feet. It is important that we continue to bring awareness to SNAP and similar programs in order to fix our hunger crisis.

Leslie Gracia is a student at DePaul University and a Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.).

Meeting This Moral Moment

The Stakes for Our Democracy Will Demand What NETWORK Has to Offer

Laurie Carafone
February 27, 2026

Last year was an unimaginably tough year for anyone who loves and cherishes the promise of an inclusive and pluralistic democracy, as the U.S. has at different times aspired to be. We experienced a daily deluge of immoral, racist, and oppressive government actions, unleashed
by an administration whose recklessness and cruel policy agenda are an assault on the values that NETWORK and justice–seekers everywhere hold dear.

We are living history, and the NETWORK community must—and will—meet the moment in 2026. We are clear–eyed and speak the truth of what is happening: the Trump administration is rapidly consolidating authoritarian power to shamelessly enrich themselves and the corporations and billionaires who bend the knee and take from the people.

The three branches of our government are meant to ensure a check on executive power. But Congress and the Supreme Court are allowing unchecked presidential power to drag our
country toward dictatorship. We know there is another way. With a functioning democracy, we can and will have the collective capacity to achieve policies that support ourselves, our
families, and our communities so that everyone can thrive.

NETWORK is reading the signs of the times and knows the stakes. Our north star is—and has been for a half century—our foundresses’ mission to effect federal policy change for the common good. This advocacy can only continue to be effective if we have a functioning democracy, one where lawmakers are responsive to the people—including our community of advocates—rather than to an authoritarian leader.

Our work in 2026 cannot be business as usual. We need to do our part to save democracy with a focus on power building, policy impacts, voter engagement, free and fair elections, and a
peaceful transition of power. If we lose our democracy to dictatorship, we lose the conditions necessary for NETWORK to do our sacred work for good. With all of you, we will meet this
existential moment.

We know we are prepared because of all you have shownup over and over again for justice. Throughout last year’s chaos, you, our NETWORK community, responded with clarity and
resolve. You are a wise, outspoken, and emphatic moral voice with the proven integrity and expertise that so many people in our country rely on and trust. At every turn, you met this moral moment — advocating for policies that protect human dignity, organizing and accompanying members of your community, amplifying our Spirit–filled message, and directly supporting and sustaining us in our work.

There is much to do in this midterm election year, with so much at stake for our issues and our democracy. The poet Mary Oliver, in her poem “The Summer Day,” writes, “Tell me, what else should I have done?… Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

At NETWORK, we are going to make the most of our lives in 2026, together. We will not do anything alone — it will take many people and organizations doing their own part to succeed. But we must do our part with a clear understanding of our gifts and goals. So what is ours to do as NETWORK?

First, we need to reach more Catholics — calling in all who value living in a free society, no matter what other policy positions or beliefs we hold. We need to communicate clearly and effectively, grounding our work in the Catholic Social Justice teaching that undergirds all of NETWORK’s values.

Second, we need to strengthen our advocacy effectiveness to respond to this unique moment. We will need to train and focus our advocates on strategic actions essential to preserving
democracy.

Third, we need to continue our core issues advocacy. It is critical that we keep this going so that we can pressure lawmakers to stave off further harm and prepare the way for gains we can make when we have a functioning three-branch government.

We know that our country needs what NETWORK has to offer—not only our advocacy, but the vision of universal human thriving that our policy agenda offers. These are the gifts we offer now, at this moral moment. Thank you for being an essential part of this community, contributing in whatever way is right for you. We are in this together.

Laurie Carafone is Executive Director of NETWORK. This “Spirited Sisters” column originally appeared in the Quarter 1 2026 issue of NETWORK’s Connection magazine.

Public Comment on Minimum Standards for Nursing Home Staffing

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice Public Comment on HHS’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Proposed Rule Regarding Minimum Standards for Nursing Home Staffing

October 26, 2023

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice believes that all people have inherent dignity and the right to basic life essentials. Guided by the essential principles of Catholic social justice, NETWORK is committed to advancing federal policy that protects our nation’s most vulnerable communities. We submit strong support for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule regarding Minimum Standards for Nursing Home Staffing.

In voicing our support for strong minimum staffing standards for U.S. nursing facilities, we honor that commitment in two fundamental ways. First, nursing home residents are plainly among the most vulnerable of all populations in the U.S. Those who require nursing home services are inherently unable to care for themselves; they are elderly, disabled, seriously ill, or on a difficult path to rehabilitation—and all need 24-hour residential care.

Moreover, our nation must do better for the low-wage workers who provide the basic services that we all depend on for both our well-being and a strong economy, and who overwhelmingly bear the burdens of caring for nursing home residents. No one can deny that they deserve standards that enable them to shoulder those responsibilities under reasonable and humane working conditions.

The nursing home industry receives nearly $100 billion each year in taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid payments. And yet, all too many nursing home residents live in poor and even unsanitary conditions, unable to have some of their most basic needs met by overworked, struggling staff. As numerous studies have shown, the root of these neglectful conditions is widespread understaffing. Strong correlations exist between nursing home staff levels and quality of care, rates of death from COVID-19, findings of abuse and neglect, and failed health inspections.

The lack of strong, science-based standards does not just leave nursing home residents more vulnerable to poor conditions and worse health outcomes. It also threatens the safety and wellbeing of nursing facility workers, creating a harmful cycle of understaffing. The damaging mix of worker injuries and exhaustion, low wages, and resulting burnout from unacceptable workload demands creates and exacerbates chronic understaffing in facilities with deficient staffing levels.

For these reasons, NETWORK strongly supports the rule recently proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to set minimum nursing home staffing levels. The rule’s requirement of a constant Registered Nurse on-site presence, and its minimum requirements for nursing and other care staff based on the actual needs of the facility’s residents, sets a necessary, basic federal staffing floor.

Our shared commitment to human dignity and respect for vulnerable nursing home residents and workers demands nothing less. Thus, NETWORK urges the adoption of CMS’s proposed rule on minimum standards for nursing home staffing. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important initiative.