MN group meeting for the Peace of Pie campaign in 2005

Many of us are all too aware of the lack of attention and resources that serious conflict resolution programs and efforts receive in our nation. It’s time for that to change. Your participation in this Mother's Day inspired campaign is a great way for us to get out the word on the Department of Peace.

To start off, it is a good idea to identify one or two others who will work with you to help organize around the actions below. Meet to create a timeline for action. If it will be primarily just you who is organizing, you may choose to do an abbreviated version of the items below. If you can't do all these items, participating on May 12th is the most important part to engage in.

HOUSE PARTY
A good way to start will be to hold a House Party sometime in April or early May to educate others on our campaign and to drum up support for attending the Congressional visits on May 12th.

At the house party you can show our DVD with Walter Cronkite, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Marianne Williamson talking about why the legislation is so needed. Share about your local efforts and enroll people in joining you on May 12th. The house party can be a simple affair at your home, or you can make it a bigger public outreach event elsewhere. Some of you will choose to make this a fundraising event as well.  click here for a comprehensive House Party guide 160.45 Kb.

CONGRESSIONAL VISITS
We suggest lunchtime to visit your local offices as it is easier for those who need to get off of work. You can visit your Members of the House of Representatives, as well as your two Senators offices. If necessary, the group could break up to assure each office is visited. Let the offices know that people all over the country are taking part in this campaign.

You might choose to make and bring a banner; “On behalf of Mothers Everywhere, Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie!” as well as a downloaded  national budget pie chart showing the tiny slice that represents the portion of the U.S. federal budget requested for the Department of Peace (along with background info on the campaign). You don't need to set up a meeting, just pop by and leave your materials and pies. It is a good idea to call ahead and let them know you are coming. A few offices may not accept pies because of concerns about accepting gifts, bring anyway (for media) and then tell them you are donating them to a local shelter in their name.

For both your house party and congressional office visits, invite friends and family of course, but also be creative about getting people behind this initiative. Invite employees of local domestic violence shelters, gang prevention groups, clergy, police and anyone who understands the impact of violence on our communities and is willing to stand with you. Bringing in a broad coalition of people will help to get the attention of your members of congress, and make it a more appealing story for the media to cover. They are always looking for a good angle to cover holiday stories. What better angle than the possibility of an initiative that could help drastically reduce violence against mothers and children.

MEDIA
Getting media to cover your efforts is an important way to both educate your community and to help your congressmembers know that this is an issue that is important to your community.  To maximize the possibility of getting media to one of your events, your media outreach should ideally begin 6 weeks before the event with an initial press release.  Follow up with calls to your local newspapers, radio and television stations, inviting them to cover the event.  As the event draws nearer, send updated press releases and again follow up with phone calls, reminding them of the peace of the pie event.  Give as many accurate details as you can - the number of people who will be delivering pies (the higher the number, the more likely it will get covered), describe your banners, talk about the motivation behind the event, including your own personal story about why this is important to you.  On the day of the event, bring your children and make it fun and festive!  This is a great way to get attention for a very important endeavor.
 
If you are going to split your group up to make office visits, you may want to hold a rally before or after the visits with the entire group for the media.

Click here to learn more about how to run an effective media campaign and to download our press release.

SIGN-UP
Please let us know you are planning on participating in this particular campaign by https://www.securedservers.net/renaiss/pie.html (copy and paste the link)

Be creative, have fun!

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