With so many events—large and small—adjusted, postponed, or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nuns on the Bus, an annual social justice bus tour sponsored by the Catholic advocacy group NETWORK, had to adapt as well. Prior to the coming national presidential election, NETWORK has organized a virtual bus tour to address issues that are part of the Catholic social justice agenda.

“Since Nuns on the Bus could not go on the road, they asked organizations like Emmaus to share how federal policies can affect the people it serves both for better and for the worse,” said Breanna Mekuly, Emmaus staff member. Emmaus submitted a video for the tour explaining policies important to its ministry in the city of Erie: support for food assistance programs like SNAP, the FEED Act which helps farmers get their food to the hungry without waste, expansion of the Affordable Care Act, and a call for a “housing first” approach to ending homelessness. “Each person and each family we meet at Emmaus is unique, but they all are harmed by policies that punish the poor. We call on the federal government to prioritize bills and laws that will allow for all, especially those most marginalized and forgotten in our society, to obtain their basic needs,” Sister Valerie Luckey, Emmaus staff member, shared in the video. (NOTE: Archive photos, pre-COVID-19, used in video.)

Emmaus Ministries (Erie) from Paul Marchione on Vimeo.