This past weekend, OFA Iowa hosted a training for our Community Organizers from across Iowa in Des Moines. Our Community Organizers are volunteer leaders that have been helping with health reform events, and other OFA events since April. Whether it was phone banks, attending public events, or hosting their own trai. You can always sign up online to attend OFA activities near you.
During our all day training, we had sections on volunteer recruitment, the basics of organizing, and work groups on how OFA will organize here in Iowa the rest of the year. These leaders were able to discuss experiences organizing their communities and hosting activities, and sit down with staff to plan what OFA should do next.
We are very lucky to have such a great group of committed leaders.Whether it is Laura, who came in all the way to Riceville, or Susan who made the drive from Council Bluffs, it is clear that health reform organizing in Iowa couldn't be in better hands.
In the first in our series of community organizer profiles, we are going to profile Gary Goldstein from Cedar Rapids, one of our newest Community Organizers. Organizing for America in Iowa is lucky to have some of the best volunteer leaders in the country. Community Organizers are popping up all over the state who are ready to take the lead organizing their local communities.Gary Goldstein has been actively volunteering with Democratic organizations for the last four years. Gary has always had an interest in politics, as a high school history teacher one of the things Gary would teach his students is about the political process. Gary has been volunteering for President Obama since 2007 after attending an event in Cedar Rapids. Shortly after that event Gary signed up to volunteer and was a precinct captain and team leader for the campaign during Caucus and General Election.
Gary believes that volunteering with OFA is a way to help make a difference, and can help create accountable government, just like he taught his students. “In order to achieve a better government we need to work for it” Gary says. By volunteering with OFA, Gary has found the opportunity to add his voice to the debate.
Gary recently became a Community Organizer on the east side of Cedar Rapids and looks forward to helping continue to build support for health insurance reform.
Last week OFA Iowa hosted a “Week of Action”. We had over 40 events across the state, all designed to let our Members of Congress know the support behind President Obama’s plan for real health insurance reform. We want to thank our Neighborhood Team Leaders and Community Organizers that held potlucks, phone banks, canvasses, coffees, discussions, phone booths, and other events.
With every event we host, we aim to learn about reform, plan next steps, and most importantly get supporters to commit to contacting their members of congress through a phone call, letter, or visiting their local office.
Our next series of events will be on October 20th. Sign up for your local event.
OFA Iowa has had a great start to our Week of Action. Across the state we have seen volunteers host events at their homes, local libraries, on campus, or at local businesses all in an effort to contact members of Congress and let them know that the time for reform is now.
Thank you to those that have participated so far. There is still time to sign up for our remaining events this week!
This week OFA Iowa will be organizing a “Week of Action” all across Iowa to show support for health insurance reform. Each community in the state will have letter writing parties, reunion events, phone banks, and other events that will show Congress the support that President Obama has here in Iowa. Sign up for your local events
Last week in Iowa we had organizing workshops in Sioux City, Marion, Dubuque, Bettendorf, and Des Moines and our volunteers are organized and motivated to help finally pass real reform and to plan our “Week of Action”. The picture below is from our Des Moines Workshop last weekend:
Most illnesses develop gradually over time. If you declare a pre-existing condition, health insurers will not cover you. If you do not declare a pre-existing condition, insurers will take your money and then try to prove that the condition was pre-existing when you submit a claim. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
In theory, insurance is the sharing of risks. Add a profit making company to the mix and insurance becomes an effort to pay as little as possible to maximize profit and to justify the enormous salaries insurance CEO's receive. I recently saw a list of some insurance company top executive salaries and the one that stuck in my mind was $17 million per year. Some were higher and some lower. To put that in perspective, $17 million is $8500.00 per hour. The President of the US makes $200 per hour and say you make $20 per hour.
It looks like this:
$8500.00 insurance CEO
$200.00 President of US
$20.00 you or I
If questioned about the huge salary, I am sure the insurance CEO would justify it by saying if he were not paid so much, he would not have kept insurance rates as low as they are and benefits would have been less. I neither accept nor believe that explanation. Do you believe it?
Hello MYBO family,
I just want to let people know about my new business.
www.greenteastop.com
come visit me and see what I have.
Mark
I am tired of getting the stupid McCain robo calls. I mean every night around 9:00 the phone rings, I jump to get it, and it is a stupid robo call. So far I have had Hockey mom, Tom Ridge, and tonight some other dumb robo.
Get these jerks off of my ILLINOIS phone lines.
Howard Dean the Chairman of the Democratic and a pioneer of internet campaigning is going to be in Davenport Iowa Wed. morning at St. Ambrose University 10:30 - 11:30 A.M.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/earlyvotingevent/gs5glr
