On Tuesday November 4th, Neighborhood Teams from Longmont to Carbondale met to celebrate our work over the past year and plan next steps on organizing for health insurance reform. The event in Grand Junction had 90 attendees. At the Capitol Hill event in Denver, volunteer Venita Currie signed-in more than 80 people.
West Denver Regional Field Director, Alfredo Fletes, and Community Organizer Pat Salazar-Vine were very happy with how many people came to their event. Pat has been working for health insurance reform with Organizing for America for months, and this was a wonderful confirmation of her hard work.
I loved the event. It gave me a renewed sense of optimism about the President and being an advocate of his legislative agenda. It was great to connect with some folks from the Obama campaign, and even more so, to say that I'm an active and involved part of what will eventually change the country.
Neighborhood Team Leader Laura Avant helped attendees sign-up to volunteer for “Finish Line” phone banks. Everyone was eager to take part in these events because they will send a strong message to our members of Congress when they need to hear from us the most – right before the votes!
Volunteers also shared stories from election night 2008, remembering how wonderful it felt to see our hard work culminate in real change by electing President Barack Obama. Everyone agreed that these memories are an important source of motivation as we move forward and continue to fight for change. Send a quick e-mail to OFAColorado@dnc.org to join up with the Neighborhood Team active in your area.
Update: Health Insurance Reform passes the House of Representatives!
Join us for a thank you event this Thursday, November 9th.
Last week Organizing for America volunteers across Colorado accomplished something incredible. In just one day, we motivated thousands of our neighbors to play an active role in the shaping of health insurance reform. In Denver, we started the day watching our east coast friends heat up “the thermometer” – a graphic on BarackObama.com that tracked our progress towards the goal of 100,000 calls to congress. You could feel the anticipation.
Regional Field Director Anand Singh got the day started by training health reformers on how to make the most out of our phone calls. Before long the office was bustling.
Out on the Western Slope, the Day of Action coincided with OFA Grand Junction’s weekly “Women 2 Women” phone bank. The women cheered and chanted "Get A Mop, Get A Mop!" along with live webcast to OFA volunteers referencing President Obama’s call to help clean up the health care system. At one point during the webcast, Neighborhood Team Leader Kathi Roy shouted:
We love you Mr. President, but you're cutting into our call time! We have over 700 women in Western Colorado to call, and we need to call through the entire list tonight, so please wrap this up!
Back on the Front Range, “Women 2 Women” had some competition from “Students 2 Students.” Nicole Shook and Emily McKenzie from East High School coordinated their own phone bank of high school volunteers. Nicole and Emily are committed to getting other students involved and their hard work paid off.
It was an inspiring day all across Colorado. We watched as that thermometer smashed our goal of 100,000 reaching more than 300,000! That work was possible because Coloradans like you decided that it was time for congress to deliver on health insurance reform. We want you to be a part of it too! Send a quick e-mail to OFAColorado@dnc.org to be put in contact with your local team.
