On Saturday September 27th, I decided to leave a little early from Lakeland Farmers and Flea Market to attend the Obama Rally and Voter Registration Drive at Lake Bonny Park in Lakeland Florida where Forest Whitaker was the celebrity guest speaker. In addition to displaying Obama flyers on the issues and providing useful information regarding early voting etc for local residents, I have been doing fundraising for Obama for America on saturdays at the market by requesting donations for my crocheted Obama hats, caps and other handmade creations.
Last Saturday September 20th, I also decided to leave the market a little earlier than normal and teamed up with another person to do three hours of door to door canvassing of unregistered voters in Lakeland. That allowed me to reach another group of people in another proactive way.
Similarly, attending the Obama Rally and Voter Registration Drive also gave me the opportunity to reach another segment of the population. By attending this event I was able to observe a younger and energetic crowd! The weather was beautiful and the youths were fired up. They were very enthusiastic!
Before heading to the stage where he made a significant but brief speech, Forest Whitaker stopped by the table where I had some of my handmade crocheted Obama hats and caps displayed. He commented that he liked them and had not seen any other hats or caps like those elsewhere. In a quick response, I mentioned that they are my own creations and I do them for fundraising for Obama for America. After leaving the rally, a young man who came to the event and was walking alongside Mr Whitaker in the entourage returned from the parking lot to the table and stated Forest Whitaker wanted to purchase one of the hats, but did not have time to do so earlier. I did not have any large sizes left, so the young man picked a small medium size crocheted Obama cap for Forest Whitaker.
I tip my hat to Forest Whitaker for all his great accomplishments on and off screen and for taking the time out to speak to the youths. They are the future.
Below is a link to an article from the Lakeland Ledger about the event. It is encouraging to see young people are interested and involved in this campaign.
Forest Whitaker Draws Crowd for Political Rally in Lakeland http://www.theledger.com/article/20080927/NEWS/809270251#
Delores Black Designers Crafters and Artists for Obama http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/BlackDesignersCraftersandArtistsforObama
Fundraising Pagehttp://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/Afri
LABOR FOR CHANGE - HATS ON FOR OBAMA! http://www.flickr.com/photos/africreations/sets/72157607156508831/show
BACK 2 SCHOOL 4 OBAMAhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/africreations/sets/72157607071326855/show
HANDMADE FOR OBAMAhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/africreations/sets/72157607151767328/show
Elections will be in less than 100 days! To help me reach my fundraising goals I am supplementing my online fundraising for Obama for America with offline activities, most recently at a produce and flea market. Many flea market goers are looking for necessities at the dirt cheap prices.
But I thought it was still a good idea to get out and set up a table at rustic Lakeland Farmers & Flea Market to reach more people offline. Customers who made a donation received one of my handmade items created for fundraising.
Flyers (including one in spanish) on Barack Obama's positions on key issues were also placed on the table for customers and those just browsing or passing through. I found the flyers at Barack Obama's website and all I had to do was print them. Here is the link for the flyers: http://www.barackobama.com/downloads
For the table display I included a binder with all the flyers encased in individual plastic covers, so if I ran out of any flyers, a permanent one would be available for customers to read.
To attract attention I wore my very visible Obama '08 tee shirt and covered the weather beaten wooden table with a bright red plastic table cloth.
My Obama Fundraising Table at Lakeland Farmers & Flea Market - Saturday August 2, 2008:
Photo and info: http://www.flickr.com/photos/africreations/sets/72157607151767328
Slide Show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/africreations/sets/72157607151767328/show
Delores,Black Designers Crafters and Artists for Obama Group: http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/BlackDesignersCraftersandArtistsforObama
