As the year comes to a close, please consider a making a donation to support the valuable work of the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action (EDC).

The EDC is recognized by decision makers as the eating disorder experts on Capitol Hill. We provide a full-time presence in Washington, D.C. Every week, we work with elected officials, federal administrators, and the media to focus attention on eating disorders. Often, they call us about emerging stories, proposed legislation, and how a new policy will impact people with eating disorders, therapists, and researchers.

Since 2000, the EDC has hosted Lobby Days and Congressional Briefings. We have met with hundreds of elected and appointed officials and visited every Congressional office many times– all 535 of them. We have distributed thousands of brochures and packets explaining why eating disorders matter. In 2004 and 2005, the EDC hosted two national conferences to look at the policies and related issues that prevent people with eating disorders from getting effective treatment. We also looked at how federal funding could be expanded for research on effective treatment and prevention strategies and on educational programs that can prevent eating disorders in healthy people. The result of these conferences has led to the creation of the new Eating Disorders Dream Bill, model legislation that we are now working to get introduced into Congress in early 2006.

Because of the dream bill, it is critically important that you support the work of the EDC and help make this dream come true.

The EDC is already a positive force at the Capitol. This summer, the EDC was successful in getting extensive improvements in a major piece of legislation. The final bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate, included an expanded definition of eating disorders and an expanded scope of proposed prevention activities. The new bill also has extensive support from Republicans and Democrats.

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In the last four years, the EDC has been responsible for the
introduction of four substantive eating disorder bills in Congress.

We work with our peers in the mental health community. When national groups in Washington wanted a new letter of support for mental health parity, the EDC led the charge, offering the support of over two dozen EDC member organizations. In the end, 250 groups joined us with letters to Congressional leaders. EDC members accounted for 10 percent of the supporting organizations! No one could deny the importance of mental health parity to people with eating disorders.

The EDC educates the media about discriminatory policies and practices. When speaking with the national media about eating disorders, we focus attention on the lack of a federal response to the growing number of people seeking treatment. We also describe how a majority of people who
have insurance still can’t get treatment without paying out-of-pocket for life-saving health care. The EDC takes positions in publications such as Roll Call and USA Today, and we speak on national television programs and documentaries.

Now, as the dream bill nears introduction in Congress, we must do more and we need your support.

While we run on a shoestring budget, our opponents don’t. They spend millions each year to prevent our issues from moving forward, but they can’t rally a hundred people whose lives have been changed by eating disorders. They can’t compete with the diversity of our membership. And they can’t go to the media with a bereaved parent or spouse who has lost someone to an eating disorder, or someone who has had to lose everything in order to cover the expense of treatment.

That’s why we need to launch the Eating Disorders Dream Bill with as much strength and unity as possible, and that’s why we’re asking for your year-end donation to the Eating Disorders Coalition.

Your individual support will enable the EDC to:

• increase staff time at the Capitol to focus attention on the dream bill
• place ads in the newspapers that are read by members of Congress
• talk to more federal administrators who control discretionary budgets
• reach out to more policymakers and media with phone calls, press releases, and fact sheets
• publicize stories about discrimination and access to care
• enlist the support of more advocacy groups in Washington to the cause of eating disorders.

The Eating Disorders Coalition is growing, adding new member organizations every year. Our Family & Friends Action Council, which is made up of people like you, has expanded to nearly 1,000 households nationwide. But we need everyone onboard. Time is of the essence for many whose lives hang in the balance between life and death.

Your donation to the EDC will help to strengthen our voice in Washington, D.C.

Please give what you can today. Click on the link at the top of this page to make a secure online donation by credit card, or mail a check to the address below.
 

Wishing you a safe and happy New Year,

Samuel E. Menaged
President
Eating Disorders Coalition
611 Pennsylvania Avenue SE #423
Washington, DC 20003-4303