Dear Friends:

Thank you for reading the Lugar Letter and for following my activities in the U.S. Senate on behalf of Indiana.

Highlights of February included a tour of EnerDel’s production facility in Indianapolis and a ride in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) powered by an EnerDel battery.  EnerDel was the first company to successfully integrate a lithium-ion battery into a mass-manufactured HEV, and it is exciting to have an innovator in the development of this critical automotive technology based in Indiana.

On Saturday, February 10, I had the opportunity to visit with College Republicans and Democrats from colleges across the state at the Atherton Union Building on Butler’s campus.  Students from Anderson University, Butler University, Franklin College, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana University, Bloomington, Manchester College, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, and Wabash College attended.  I admired their initiative to learn more about issues facing our country and world as they consider opportunities for their own public service.

Also in February, the Lugar Northeast Indiana Community Service Center welcomed Bruce Brown from the Indiana Department of Education to our office in Fort Wayne to meet with organizations interested in participating in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).  The SFSP provides low-income children with meals when school is not in session and is critical to addressing hunger at a local level.  With the help of its sponsors last year, the SFSP served approximately 2 million free meals and snacks to low-income children 18 and under in Indiana.  Yet this met only 40 percent of the need of Hoosier children, and the program does not currently operate in 41 Indiana counties.  Additional workshops are taking place in March and April for interested sponsors, and I encourage potential sponsors to attend a training workshop.  Please contact Bruce Brown at the Indiana Department of Education at 317-232-0857 or bbrown@doe.in.gov. The last day to register as a summer 2008 sponsor is Monday, April 28, 2008.

This issue of the Lugar Letter also includes information on Nunn-Lugar activities to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, opportunities for federal grants to support Indiana fire departments, legislative updates as well as recent speeches and statements from Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings.
 
We look forward to visits from many Hoosier families and students as they travel to Washington, D.C. for spring break and school trips throughout the month of March.

Sincerely,

Richard G. Lugar United States Senator