While many prepare for the holidays by shopping and cooking their favorite recipes, many dedicated activits and community leaders continue to fast in an effort to raise awareness of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. who they believe deserve a path to citizenship.

The pressure on lawmakers for immigration reform didn't end at the National Mall on Tuesday, when activists Cristian Avila of Mi Familia Vota, Dae Joong Yoon of the National Korean American Services Consortium and Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union, completed their 22-day fast - instead they passed the torch onto a new group of fasters such as, Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, among others.

Kennedy, who accepted a small cross from Medina, a longtime immigration rights activist and labor leader, continued his fast until mid-day today and reportedly planned to "pass it on" to others activists.

Medina's fast will also be continued by Rev. Jim Wallis, of Sojourners and activist Rudy Lopez.

"I'm here because of the suffering, pain and death that I've seen in my own family, Lopez wrote on Facebook. "I'm here for those who miss the birth of a child, the burial of a loved one - it's wrong, it's fundamentally wrong." 

"Immigration reform is something that's been important to my family. My uncle was a champion of it when he was in the Senate," Kennedy said in reference to his great uncle, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.),The Washington Post reported. "At this point, we need to get some movement on this bill and whatever we can do to try to break the logjam is important, so I wanted to be a part of it." 

The 33-year-old is a freshman lawmaker who last year won the seat of former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

One of the driving forces for Yoon to participate in the fast was witnessing the suffering when immigrant parents are separated from their children and deported, The Associated Press reported.

"This will create urgency," Yoon said. "Many people will be with us and if we fast and pray together, maybe we can move (House Speaker John) Boehner's heart and soul so he can see and make the right decision for America."

"Boehner refuses to schedule a vote on a comprehensive bill the Senate passed in June but has said the House would consider piecemeal legislation," the AP added. "It's unclear if and when the House will take up the smaller bills."

Some prominent figures in attendance on Tuesday, included: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Labor Secretary Tom Perez, a slate of Democratic House lawmakers, and religious and labor leaders, including Bernice King.

King, who gave a powerful speech, is an American Baptist minister and the second daughter and youngest child of civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She also tweeted out yesterday: @BerniceKing: "If America is to be a first world country, it should have no 2nd class citizens."

According to the AP, Immigration advocates in a handful of cities around the country also announced their own fasts in solidarity with those in D.C. Nearly a dozen activists in central and South Florida embarked on one-day fasts, as did groups in California and Oregon.

In Bakersfield, Calif., activists kicked off "11 days for 11 million" - "a fast referencing the estimated number of people living in the country illegally. In Vista, Calif., immigrant advocates and religious leaders planned a 24-hour fast outside Republican U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's office. Staff at the nonprofit Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles also joined a 24 hours liquid fast."

Activists in Bend, Ore., joined the one-day fast, calling on Republican U.S. Rep Greg Walden to come out in support of a comprehensive immigration bill, the AP added.

"Other new fasters included Rabbi David Saperstein, whom Newsweek called in 2009 the most influential Rabbi in America, as well as Stephan Bauman, the head of World Relief, "according to the AP. "Also fasting, Chicago native Phillip Agnew, a 2008 graduate and university board trustee of Florida A&M University, a historically black school and Rev. Gabriel Salguero, head of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition."