Florida Outreach Touches Candidates, Inspires New Cosponsor
By M. Michelle McGrath, South Florida Department of Peace Campaign Volunteer

For me, to say that it has been an AMAZING week for the South Florida Department of Peace group would be an understatement! The whirlwind of events that have taken place over the last several days cannot be described as anything short of examples of the Divine universe working right alongside our little grassroots group!

The week prior was basically an average week like any other, until we got word that Barack Obama would be coming to town the following week! We knew we had to jump right on this little window of opportunity headed our way and form some type of action plan. We wanted to place the Department of Peace bill in every Presidential Candidate's hands. Sort of like planting seeds of peace for the future.

There were just a few questions to be answered first. Number one, where exactly was he going to be? There were no confirmed venues announced yet, but it wasn't long before we found out that there was to be a fundraiser on May 22 in Hollywood, Florida. "Great, let's go!" we said. That is until we found out that it was going to cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 just to get in the door!

This brought along the other, more challenging, questions of "How in the world do we get in there and what do we do to bring our message of peace directly to him?" Well the last question seemed to answer itself, in that it started to turn into a matter of (without sounding like a cliche athletic shoe ad) JUST DO IT!!!!

To no avail, over the next few days, myself, Elena Brodskaya and our State Coordinator Ana Campos, surfed the net for more information, called and e-mailed anyone and everyone we could think of that might be able to help us get into the fundraiser. We decided we would just show up there and see what happened. Well, I'll tell you what happened, and here's where the whole Divine intervention thing comes into play. Yes, I'm a firm believer that that is exactly what happened!

On Monday it was announced that a second venue was added as one of the stops that Barack Obama would be making here in South Florida. That venue was none other than Temple B'nai Torah in Boca Raton, which is located just around the corner from Elena's house!! He would be holding a Town Hall style meeting. This seemed promising, but then we were told that it was an invitation only event. In between more phone calls and net surfing we found out that not only would Senator Obama be in town, but that Senator Hillary Clinton would be passing through as well.

On Wednesday night May 21st, Ana and Elena, determined to give Senator Clinton a 'Peace packet' which included a copy of the HR 808 bill, etc., drove to her rally in Miami at the University of Miami. Once again, Elena handed her the packet and Senator Clinton began to autograph it! Elena had to stop her and say "No! This is for you keep!" This is the second time Elena has gotten a peace packet to Hillary--the last time was in October.

Finally, Thursday morning, May 22nd arrived. We still hadn't heard back about getting tickets or an invitation into Temple B'nai Torah to hear Barack Obama speak but Elena and I were determined to be there. Because of the close proximity of the location, it was almost like we had a knowing that we had to be there to tell everyone about The Peace Alliance no matter what. We donned our HR 808 T-shirts and along with our friend Terra arrived at B'nai Torah around 9:00 a.m. not knowing what to expect.

A security guard seated in a golf cart at the entrance of the parking lot told us that the 10:30 engagement that we were there for had been postponed and might even be cancelled. We thought perhaps this was just a ploy to keep the crowd down or something. As it turns out we were told that Senator Obama had flown back to Washington D.C. to vote on an Iraq appropriations bill that was taking place that morning. We were also told that if we wanted to wait, that there was pretty good chance there would be extra tickets for us, since many people might not be able to make it at the postponed time.

Things were looking up and of course we were determined to wait it out. For several hours while we waited for the doors to open, we gave out Peace Alliance and Department of Peace information to the slowly gathering crowd outside of the Temple. This included talking with press, making new contacts with other organizations like Rock the Vote and members of the Obama'08 campaign in Florida.

Eventually we were all told to form two lines, one for ticket holders and one for those without tickets. By now the crowd had more than tripled. At Approximately 2:00 p.m., the doors opened and those with tickets were permitted to enter first. We made sure to hand a Department of Peace flyer to nearly everyone in that line as they processed past us.

Turns out we were lucky enough to snag some of the leftover tickets, and went inside. Surprisingly there were still a number of seats available in the front row, so I hurried up the aisle. Then I saw that the media was positioned off to the right of the podium, which meant to have a chance at getting our HR 808 shirts seen that would mean sitting to the left of the podium. However a sign posted said that particular section was for "blue" ticket holders. No one ever said anything about the special blue tickets. I had to make a split second decision and chose to chance it in the blue ticket section--the deciding factor being that there were more empty seats there than in the front row for us to sit together.

I walked (seemingly unnoticed) past the usher and took a seat. When I looked back, I saw that the same usher was now trying to prevent Elena and Terra from sitting in that section. They started to turn away, but I motioned for them to walk over to the side and come up and around to where I was sitting. It worked! There we sat only about four rows away from the podium and just a few feet away from where Senator Obama was to enter and exit!!!

We listened intently while he spoke and he seemed to turn to our section a lot. Afterward he took questions from the audience. We raised our hands several times and even had people sitting around us shouting to him to call on us! He never did, but the magic moment came as he was leaving.

He made sure to shake hands, sign autographs, etc., as he worked his way through the exit walkway surrounded by secret service men . When he stopped in front of us we handed him the packet containing the bill, he actually asked us, "What exactly is that printed on your shirts? What's 808?"

We excitedly responded, "The bill number for a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence! Peace Alliance - Peace Alliance!" He gave a nod and was whisked away.

Tired out from the day, and because of the weather we decided to forgo trying our luck later that night at the exclusive fundraiser in Hollywood. Also we wanted to be well rested and stocked up with Department of Peace literature for the (harps sounding) PUBLIC RALLY at the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale. Yet another Barack Obama stop, first come first serve event! It was as if he was being handed right to us!

Anticipating the numbers that would be turning out there, we had thoughts of camping out overnight outside the arena! Instead, Elena and I arrived there early that morning by about 10:30 a.m. Doors were to open at 2:30 p.m. and he was to speak around 4:00 p.m.. We took a spot in a line and were among just a handful of people. Ana Campos met up with us as did Nicola, another Peace Alliance volunteer. Again we managed to keep a spot held in line while we passed out flyers, scoped out press and media, etc. Many people inquisitively approached us and some actually thought we were handing out programs for the event!

After a couple hours of this, we decided to get back in line, mainly to get out of the scorching Florida heat! It was in the high 90's!

At 2:00 p.m. they opened the doors. We made a bee-line to the floor of the arena to be front and center of Obama. We wanted him and the media to see our HR 808 T-shirts. We decided to pair up to cover different photographer angles. Ana cleverly used her "Campaign for a U.S Department of Peace" tote bag as a banner, which she continuously held in the air for the world to see. In fact, a very powerful photo was taken by the Associated Press of her and the PEACE bag.

It was a full house. Barack delivered another amazing speech. Since we were just a few feet from the podium, when he made his way along the edge of the crowd afterward, Ana was able to give another "Peace packet with the Bill, HR 808" to a member of his staff and Nicola shook his hand. Elena and I also shook his hand. I said to him "It's great to see you again Senator!"

The next few seconds, I will never forget as long as I live. There amidst a crowd of nearly 20 THOUSAND people, he looked us both in the eye, glanced at our HR 808 shirts and said, "Yes, I remember you two from yesterday," !!!!

Exhausted from the week and figuring it futile to try to get back stage, we made our way back to our cars. Later during the drive back, I got a call from Ana asking what I was doing. "Well, driving," I replied. "Good you're sitting down. When you hear what I'm about to tell you, you won't believe it!" she said.

"Congressman Robert Wexler (19th district in South Florida, who ALSO spoke at both Obama events we'd just attended) had just become the 70th co-sponsor of the bill!" As part of the National Peace Alliance "Piece of the Pie" action on May 9th, we had made an appointment with his office and brought along a peach, peace pie!

Moral of the story....DO NOT GIVE UP ON THIS MOVEMENT!!
Persistence truly does pay off, and we are in a pivotal moment in history to push this forward! I encourage everyone involved in this movement to keep up all the hard work you've been doing thus far. People DO hear us, and they are paying attention.

Our photo album with more photos and video from this event and our Peace of the Pie efforts
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