Category: Volunteers
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Read More…"President Obama has been fighting for equality since he took office nearly four years ago: With the repeal of ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell,’ the men and women serving our country no longer have to lie about who they love. When he came out in full support of same-sex marriage back in May, I knew he would continue to fight for equality.
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Pat, a volunteer in Maryland, tells the story of the one call she and her fellow phone-bankers never expected to get:
"A couple weeks ago, my husband, his father, and our youngest son went to a Nationals game. I had to stay behind because I was holding a phone bank at our house.
"My son was getting something from the concession stand when he saw Vice President Biden standing there. My son called my husband, Steve, and said, 'Dad, come down, the Vice President is here!' He came down, and they walked over to say hi to the Vice President and started chatting. My husband said, 'My wife is very involved with the campaign—she's a phone bank coordinator in Rockville.' And the Vice President said, 'Oh, I know Rockville!' My husband went on to say, 'She's holding a phone bank as we speak! It would be great if you could say hello to her.' So the Vice President said, 'Sure!'"
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“The Affordable Care Act is really personal for me because I have a spinal cord injury. I broke my neck six years ago, and I’m paralyzed from my shoulders down. I want to go to law school, and without the Affordable Care Act, getting health insurance with my pre-existing condition and without a consistent, paying job would have been a nightmare. Now I can stay on my parents’ health insurance until I’m 26.
“By volunteering, people have a chance to really make an impact on the future of not only our country, but on people like me who have a lot at stake in the President being re-elected and having the ability to continue carrying out the policies that are best for this country and all of the people in it.”
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“Never underestimate the power that you have. That one conversation that you have, that one new volunteer that you recruit, that could be the one that puts this election over the top. That could be the difference between us waking up on November the 7th and asking ourselves, ‘Could we have done more?’ or feeling the promise of four more years. That’s the difference—the power of one.”
—First Lady Michelle Obama, speaking at Bradley Tech High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the difference one person can make
Supporters in Milwaukee on Thursday took the First Lady’s message to heart. At the event, a few folks shared their stories of how they joined the campaign.
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Name: Twyla Griffin
Campaign role: Neighborhood Team Leader for Redford Rocks for President Barack
Hometown: Davenport, Iowa
Based in: Redford, Michigan
How did you first come to the campaign?
I’m originally from Iowa, so watching Barack Obama win the caucus in my home state was huge. Also, I’m African-American, and my parents were born and raised in Mississippi, so for my family it was very meaningful … the epitome of hope.
So I got involved in Michigan (I couldn’t let Iowa out-organize Michigan!) and it was a bit more informal back then—just me and another lady in Redford trying to get people involved. And I’ve been at it ever since, from the health care debates in 2009, to the congressional races in 2010, to now, where I’m trying to build a full volunteer team by October so that we’re ready to get out the vote all over Redford.
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“My dad was a real blue-collar guy—World War II veteran, didn’t go to college, worked for the telephone company all his life—but he and my mother were able to achieve financial success and stability. These days, kids are in debt at 22 years old, and it makes their lives incredibly hard financially. That’s why these Pell Grants and student loans are so important, and that’s one of the reasons I’m supporting President Obama—because he’s supporting our children’s futures.
“I’m a former high school social studies teacher, so these issues are really important to me. I taught for 35 years and I had a lot of kids who could have been the brightest students in the class, but they didn’t get the opportunity to succeed because of economic reasons. I had inner-city kids who had a hard time getting to school, kids who had to work after school to help pay the bills. These kids have it tough enough—we need to do everything we can to help them. President Obama is doing such great work by helping them get the funding they need for their education. And he understands the importance of teachers.
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With 78 days to go, we’re heading into the homestretch of this election. See what volunteers and supporters were up to this weekend and then join your neighborhood team.
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Like a lot of volunteers, the last four years of progress has meant something tangible for Richard and his family. Richard decided to get involved—and now he’s a Neighborhood Team Leader who runs an online field office through Dashboard.
A few weeks ago, Richard received an email from the campaign about a new site called "Dashboard,” the campaign’s online field office. He decided to take the next step and sign up.
"I've been a supporter of President Obama for years, but for some reason that email is what got me involved with the campaign."
After signing up, Richard got connected with a neighborhood team in his community, and that team's volunteer leader, Karen, contacted him. Karen invited Richard to an event and soon Richard became one of the team's volunteers.
After spending a few weeks registering voters and organizing his community, Richard became a neighborhood team leader and now uses Dashboard to organize his own team.
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Name: Eric Wolf
Campaign role: Canvass Captain/Phone Bank Captain for Team Niceville
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio
Based in: Niceville, Florida
How did you first come to the campaign?
I donated to Barack Obama's campaign in 2008, but I didn't volunteer. I'm a big news and politics junkie, and the radical actions taken by some conservative lawmakers over the past four years convinced me that I couldn't afford to sit on the sidelines this time around. However, I wasn't quite sure when or how to begin doing so until I was called up by an OFA organizer in April. And I haven't looked back since!
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“I’ve always voted as an independent, but as a youngster I really bought the Republican Party line. I tend to be fairly conservative leaning, and you probably hear this all the time, but George W. Bush ruined it for me. That’s why I was so excited by Obama in 2008. On a strictly personal level, I just love President Obama. He’s as fine as they come. These days, any fancy that I ever had for the Republican Party is gone.
“Mitt Romney is a respectable man, but 90% of what Romney says is for political posturing—it’s hard to trust a man like that. If he wins, my wife says she’ll leave the country! I don’t want to be leaving the country—that’s why I’m doing what I can to help President Obama get re-elected.
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