By Nancy Upham
Do you find yourself saying, “I have to do something, take some action, but there are so many choices in front of me, and I have all these questions. What can I do to help the most? How do I connect with a trusted organization to volunteer my time with? What am I capable of and comfortable doing?” Well, a few weeks ago I was in the same boat!
I found myself in a whirlwind of indecision. There were just too many choices! But I kept remembering what President Obama said about the upcoming election: “Whatever it is you’re doing, it’s not enough.” Each of us needs to do more! Here’s what helped me – coming up with a plan and then going for it. Please give this a try and choose at least one thing that you can do to help.
These are crazy times, and this is an election year like no other. We are exhausted from the chaos of this administration, which is of course exactly where Trump wants us to be – so exhausted and fed up that we just give up…never! It is our democracy, with its more than 200-year-old system of checks and balances, that is at stake.
Many of these elections are going to be close and getting people to the polls or to vote by mail is critical. If the people at the receiving end of your postcards or texts or phone calls vote, they will make a difference. You will have made a difference.
Everybody running for office will tell you that it is super challenging to not be able to go door-to-door talking with people or meeting people at informal “meet and greets” or rallies. They will tell you the next best thing is as many personal contacts by phone as possible. Phone banking not for you? There are other options!
A Few Questions To Ask Yourself
- How much time do I want to devote to the election? How many hours a day or a week? Remember we can always catch up on sleep after November 3rd!
- What’s most important to me? Working to stop voter suppression? Flipping the Senate? Dumping Trump? Other Congressional seats? Board of Supervisors? City Council? School Board?
- What organizations are doing the work I’d like to support? Check out our resource list.
- What ways do I want to volunteer? Writing postcards to voters? Letters? Text banking? Phone banking?
- Where is my money best spent? Who needs it the most?
Time is truly of the essence. Perhaps you have very little time to give right now. You’re trying to work and homeschool and keep your family safe, but can you spare a few hours a week? Maybe you are retired and can take on an hour or more a day to contact voters and get them to the polls. Whatever it is, please make the decision to take some action now, as if our lives and our planet depended on this election – because you know that they do! The whole world is watching what we do with this election.
If you’ve never written campaign postcards, text banked or phone banked before – no worries. Although it can be daunting at first to get signed up and get going, once you’ve jumped in you will find none of it is that hard, and it is rewarding. There are also some of us who can help you out.
For more info or moral support or an extra nudge toward action, call or text me at 760-937-8081.
Just do it today! You’ll be glad you did! Click here for a list of places to start.
