Dear MoveOn member,
What's happening this week in Washington is a travesty for our democracy.
Republicans are trying every procedural trick and gimmick they can muster to try to take away health care from millions of people. As of the sending of this email, we still don't know if they'll succeed or fail.
They haven't held any hearings. Or heard from any health care experts. They have stopped holding town halls and listening to their constituents. So we're listening for them.
MoveOn members across the country have organized hundreds of health care listening canvasses this weekend. They'll be out in their communities, knocking on doors, and having in-depth conversations with neighbors about health care in this country, the real solutions we need to fix it, and giving people ways to take action during the upcoming August recess.
And there's an event near you! Here are the details:
Flushing Health Care Canvass
Sunday, July 30, 1:00 PM
Flushing, NY
Click for more details and to RSVP.
These health care canvasses have been going on for the past few weeks and are being anchored by local MoveOn Mobilizers—grassroots leaders MoveOn has been training for months as part of our Resistance Summer program. They'll make canvassing easy—with scripts you can use and a team of fellow MoveOn members and neighbors to encourage each other through the day. Whether you've canvassed in elections before or this is your first time, it's a great next step to engage with your neighbors and start critical conversations that can lead to change down the road.
Here's how EveeJ, a MoveOn Mobilizer in Illinois, described her experience organizing a health care listening canvass:
Last week, I led my first Neighborhood Listening Project canvass. It had been a very long time since I'd done something like this, and I'd never canvassed with the single purpose of shedding light on a particular issue—in this case, health care and listening to my community members.
The event was so powerful that I have decided to lead one more group canvass this Sunday. And the timing couldn't be more important, with Republicans inching closer to taking away health care from millions of people, but with time still to save the day.One woman I spoke with was 100% pro-Affordable Care Act. She is a lung transplant survivor. I had planned and practiced to use the script, but then I got into conversation with the lady, and it just flowed! We talked for a bit, and I invited her to our next Indivisible meeting last weekend. Basically ... it worked! This is my reality: This canvassing event is changing me from the inside out. I actually have been given the opportunity to use my voice to help others!
Kelly in Florida generated a lot of discussion outside her local libraries:
We set up outside at the two libraries in town, and I had shifts at each location between 10 and 4 on Saturday. We had 20 volunteers for the day.
We had a total of 128 conversations!! The best part is, it truly did open a community conversation about health care. People wanted to talk about it, some people did not understand it, some people were heartily in favor of the ACA, some were heartily for the new bill, but they all participated in the discussion. The majority however, are NOT in favor of the new bill. I am overwhelmed and stunned at the success.
At the Vero location, a local restaurant brought food for the table, and volunteers said the place was 'humming' with discussion.
Christine canvassed her conservative neighborhood in Ohio and found a lot of unexpected common ground:
We knocked on 40 doors in my fairly conservative neighborhood, and we spoke to about 11 people, listening to their views about the Republican health care bill and about a single-payer option. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how many were against the Republican bill. The streets surrounding mine were lined with Trump signs before the election. I was a little nervous about this too since I have never canvassed, but I felt like I learned a lot about my neighbors and who they are.
One of the most powerful quotes for me was when a neighbor stated, "No one should die because they can't afford health care." This kind woman explained that she was unable to buy insulin because it was too costly. Another neighbor's granddaughter translated my words to him since his English was limited and he speaks primarily Spanish. He wants to help! Even my neighbors who disagreed with my own view were courteous. This was a very positive and eye-opening event. I firmly believe that more of this needs to happen in the future to build a feeling of true cooperation and brotherhood, even among those with opposing views.
So if you want to get out from in front of the screen this weekend, have some real, heartfelt conversations about how to really fix our nation's health care system with people in your community, and give people ways they can take action this August, click here to sign up for the event nearest you in Flushing.
Or click here to search for other nearby health care canvassing events this weekend.
Thanks for all you do.
–Victoria, Mark, Nick, Katie, and the rest of the team
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON
This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on July 28th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment