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U.S.
Department of Peace INSIDE:
Dear [[First_Name]], Greetings from our Washington, D.C., Office! On Friday, May 11, over 200 pies were delivered all over the country to Congressional offices! Our first D.C. "mirror action" took place on the same day. At the same time as pies were being delivered to offices around the country, volunteers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia were delivering pies to their Members of Congress on Capitol Hill as well as to all 65 co-sponsors of the bill. State and Regional Coordinators all over the country donated and/or raised the funds to make the pie deliveries to co-sponsors on Capitol Hill possible. It is this passion, depth of commitment and willingness to fundraise and "do whatever it takes” that has catapulted our campaign into its next phase. In his book Doing Democracy, Bill Moyer writes about the eight stages of a social movement. (This is not Bill Moyers of PBS fame. Bill Moyer was an organizer, writer, educator and trainer in nonviolent social movements in a dozen countries for 40 years. He was on staff for Dr. Martin Luther King.) He writes about there being ripe conditions after the failure of official institutions to address a particular problem and then there is a take-off that can ebb and flow before the opinion is shared by a majority of the public that a new way, set of beliefs or institution is needed to correct or change the path we are on. In a take-off phase there is a lot of buzz that helps move us to that tipping point that lends toward shifting public opinion. We have some very creative grassroots volunteers in our campaign that help create this buzz and I’d like to share one heartwarming and humorous pie delivery story that happened after our May 11 action. Some states were determined that all of their members of Congress would receive pies in their D.C. offices and hired an outside delivery service to assist. What happens when a white van is driving all around Capitol Hill after a recent pizza delivery threat in New Jersey? See the "Local Spotlight" article below to learn more. In closing, each and every one of us on this campaign, high-five! We just completed the 3rd Annual Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie, with numbers double what we did last year and our actions are getting bolder and more creative and our members asking deeper, more thoughtful questions than ever before. We are taking off to a new level, creating community and buzz and generating more flow than ebb! Hang on for the ride into the future world we all dream of!
A Piece of the Pie story from Ana Campos in Florida Today was P-day in D.C., and it was chock full of excitement! I had such a funny conversation with the pie-delivery guy tonight (May 15) and thought you might get a kick out of the day's events. As some of you know, I work in a doctor's office, and we have a strict no cell phone policy. So I left my cell phone out on silent in the event I needed to run outside and take a quick pie call. Well – the calls happened, and then some. It all began when I saw the Washington D.C. 202 area code flashing on my caller ID and thought it was our pie delivery guy. In a panic, I quickly grabbed my phone and took the call at my desk not knowing what to expect. To my shock, it was one of the Senate offices calling me! The woman on the other end of the line said, “I know this might sound like a weird question, but by any chance do you know about an apple pie being delivered to us today?” I couldn't help myself and started laughing. She went on, “We got a phone call from a delivery guy to come get our apple pie but we can't find him anywhere. Our staff is outside running around looking for him. Do you know where he is or what his vehicle looks like?” Laughing, she said, "We really want our pie!” Assuring the staff member, I promised to locate the pie-man and make it happen. Not really knowing what to do, I ran outside my office and hid in the stairwell where a flurry of phone calls then took place. As a result, Ed the pie guy called me from outside the Hart building to say he finally located the Senator’s staff member and two other Senators’ staff members. Thank goodness – three pies down and only 30 to go!! Oh, and I say 30 because our Department of Peace friends in Alaska and Utah joined forces with us last week! They were thrilled by the idea, so they also ordered pies for their Reps and Senators too. It was now a “Piece of the Pie” trifecta. As I was on the phone with Ed – the pie man – he was painting a picture for me of the situation on Capitol Hill today. Due to the “pizza delivery guy” terrorist threat in New Jersey last week, there were barricades around every building, and security was tripled, with the police, secret service, FBI and military everywhere. Ed was only allowed to park for about a minute-and-a-half one block away, and then he had to circle the block again. Needless to say, he did this for hours, and driving a white delivery van loaded with apple pies for Congress was making him just a little nervous. Because of the heightened security, Ed could no longer park at the docking station, which was the original agreement. Now, he had to call 30 more offices and ask that they come down to him. As a precaution, Dan Kahn, Rick Gutierrez, Becky Pujals-Jones and I called all 25 Congressional offices in D.C. and gave them a heads up yesterday. We also emailed and faxed all the offices with a written statement advising them to expect an apple pie call and delivery. Our statement was from the Florida Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Not only did we mention that the pie was on behalf of Florida constituents but also that it asked for their support of HR 808 and included the bill highlights. An opportunity is an opportunity, and we took it – pie or no pie. (Hee Hee.) At the end of the day, Ed called me with the piece-by-piece details of the pie distribution in the midst of barricades, bomb sniffing dogs and heavy security. He said at one point, at the Longworth building, he had a dozen or more Representative staff members in front of his van all saying, "We're here for our pie. Where's our pie?" Ed said, "You couldn't imagine it. You just had to see the scene around me and in front of me. It was phenomenal and hysterical! They were all hungry and clamoring for their apple pie." So he pulled out his building list and started calling out Rep names. He said all the staff members were excited, chatting, laughing and bonding with each other over our pies and having a wonderful break. Before he gave them their peace pies he said, "You need to take a postcard so you know who it's from and then you get your pie." They absolutely loved it. One of the office staff members asked Ed if they could take a pie for another office because that office couldn’t make it downstairs. Of course, he let them. Then, he moved on to the Cannon building, where he witnessed the exact same bonding moment among the various staff members and another enthusiastic response. Ed said he never saw such excitement over apple pies or had a day like this before. I told him "Well get ready, Ed. You have the Rayburn building tomorrow.” At the end of the day, there was a lot of laughter, some chaos, and a lot of pie talk generated. I think we announced ourselves as a united front and introduced HR 808 to a lot of folks today and built community and good will in the process!! Yay! ********** Do you have a local event or action you'd like
us to highlight? Write a 500-word story and send it to us! We'll consider
it for inclusion in our monthly E-newsletter and on our website. Stories
must be received by the second Friday of the month. All stories are
subject to editing for length and clarity.
Below is a brief update and celebration of Department of Peace campaign media coverage numbers reported to The Peace Alliance for 2007. It is quite possible that these numbers are low, so if you see anything we’ve missed, please feel free to let me know by emailing me at: pattyk (at) thepeacealliance.org. I. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Goal for 2007: 150 published National is aware of 24 Letters to the Editor (LTE) that have been published in 18 states, and 1 published in a recent issue of Yoga Journal that did not list a state. The state-by-state breakdown: AZ - 1, ID - 1, MD - 3, NH - 1, TX - 2, CA - 1, IL - 1, According to our numbers, we’re one-sixth of the way to our goal. Given the efforts of grassroots supporters and the number of LTEs that have been written, however, this number is likely higher. If you’ve had a letter published, please let me know – and provide the date, name of the paper and state, of course, where you live. I’ll provide updated numbers in an upcoming newsletter. Keep on writing! II. RADIO INTERVIEWS: Goal for 2007: 50 radio interviews; 1 show on NPR We’re currently at 17 radio interviews or shows on the Department of Peace legislation, and we met our NPR goal last March, with Daniel Zwerdling’s story, “Peace Department Rattles Small Town,” after which we received a bonus with Wisconsin Public Radio’s hour-long follow-up piece, “Is Peace a Dirty Word?” Marianne Williamson appeared on the Thom Hartmann Show on May 11th in connection with our Peace of the Pie campaign, and we continue to book radio interviews on a fairly regular basis. In short, we are one-third of our way to this goal – keep up the great work! III. ARTICLES: Goal for 2007: Placement of 2 op-eds by congressional supporters; op-eds by supporters; articles in major papers, including the NY Times and Washington Post; and generate as many positive articles as possible. A. OP-EDS - We have had 1 op-ed by Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA-7th) published in the Seattle Times. We are looking for another co-sponsor to step up to the plate and write an op-ed. Please consider approaching co-sponsors in your state to see if they would be willing to write an op-ed on HR 808. We just need one more to meet this goal! We are aware of 3 op-eds by supporters that have been published:
If your name should be listed above, please contact me. And even though we’ve met our goal of having op-eds written by supporters published, we would love to see many, many more! No paper is too small for an op-ed, and sometimes, those papers are easier to target. If you think you may be interested in writing one and want any assistance, just contact me. And tremendous gratitude to Linda, Claire and Christine for their op-eds – thank you! B. ARTICLES – We’re at 44! The best place to start is always your hometown paper. If you want to talk about ideas on how to get a story on HR 808 and your campaign into a paper, please contact me. If you've missed any of these stories, check for them in the Press Clippings section of our website. Media coverage continues to grow at a much faster rate than last year. Please consider recruiting a Media Coordinator for your state or district if you don’t already have one. You are all doing terrific work – thanks for helping to put this legislation and the campaign in the news! Patty Kuderer
“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
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$10 for Peace Thanks to all of you who generously responded to our recent request for a $10 investment in peace. You are making a difference! If you have not had a chance to contribute please click here.
Father's Day Campaign
From
the For Father's Day, we are asking you to join us in a Letter-to-the-Editor campaign for a cabinet-level Department of Peace (HR 808). Click to learn tips for writing a LTE. As students, we are all too aware that the roots of violence were planted a long time ago and today we bear witness to the impact. We are determined to be part of the solution by calling for a Department of Peace that will address the root causes of violence. And so we are calling for bold action. 1. Join us in writing Letters-to-the-Editor to educate your community on the Department of Peace. In your letter, ask President Bush, a father of two, to give the ultimate gift of peace to all the children of the world and make the Department of Peace his legacy -- if not him, then who? Send copies of your letters to your Members of Congress. 2. Host a letter-writing party between June 1 and June 16. In addition to letters, encourage local students and children to send postcards and drawings to President Bush and your Members of Congress. To borrow from a Chinese proverb, "If we do not change our direction
we are likely to end up where we are headed." We must change our
direction and move from a culture of violence to a culture of peace.
We will not settle for anything less. Student Peace Alliance
Upcoming Nonviolent
Communications These calls are intended to support you in your communication challenges with regards to your work, using the methods of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to enhance the effectiveness of the Dept. of Peace campaign.
Monthly
All Call All active campaigners or anyone interested in learning about what we are doing are encouraged to be on this call. This month we will look at campaign initiatives for the summer and check-in with our network on progress of activities. Please join us for an inspiring hour!
Newcomer
Orientation Call The campaign for a U.S. Dept of Peace continues to gain momentum. As quickly as we are growing, some of you may not have had a chance to connect with anyone yet and/or you may have connected but are not sure of what the next step is for you. We'd like to give you an opportunity to just ask questions, or to explore ways in which you can find your 'best fit' in our work together. Join our Newcomers Orientation call.
FUNdraising
and Event All Call Please join us for our monthly Event/FUNdraising
conference call. All are welcome.
During the call we brainstorm creative fundraising and event ideas, and
answer questions about fundraising protocol and how fundraising relates
to our local and national organizations. Those who have hosted events
are asked to share their experience and give feedback to others. Hope
you can join us for our next call in which we will focus on our new national
campaign "What is
Peace Worth?" and also the upcoming September Walk
for Peace walk-a-thons.
Our team is looking forward to providing tips on fundraising and supporting
your local and national event plans.
Amazon.com Affiliate program Do you Shop Online?
New Promotional DVD
This DVD includes our new 12-minute promotional video,
a 3-minute video interview with Marianne Williamson, as well as two
versions of an interview with Walter Cronkite and Congressman Dennis
Kucinich. They are a wonderful way to share with friends and groups about
our campaign.
Brochures
Convertible Backpack Tote
This versatile bag converts from a roomy tote to a backpack. Campaign info on the back!
Logo Pen
Great clicker style pen with the Department of Peace Logo
Plus:
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