New Year's Letter Writing Party

Wondering how to bring in the New Year?
How about by asking for New Year's commitments from your representatives on issues that matter to you? Hold a letter writing party!

Why letters?
When you send a letter to government representatives, they count it as more than one voter's opinion, because so few people take the time to actually write letters, so your letter is having a bigger impact than you might expect! For instance your letter to the federal government might be counted as if as many as 50 people felt the way you do! That's pretty effective if you ask me!
Why New Years?
You and your family and friends probably have some time off school and work, are in a good and giving mood, and might even be sick of sitting around doing not much that active. Plus you can make your letters a bit more interesting by asking representatives to make a new year's resolution to make the change you're asking for, or talking about starting 2008 off on the right foot.

How? It's Simple:
1. Find a Place and Time
-part of your New Year's eve party? Something to do on New Years Day in the afternoon? Sometime in the few days before chool starts up again?
-your living room? Church? Community hall? All your really need is tables or clipboards/books for people to write on

2. Invite Friends and Family to start the New Year off right-send emails, invite people when wishing them a happy new year,-offer snacks (simple things like cookies and chips) and music (recorded, or ask a guitar player to play a few tunes)

3. Gather a few supplies
-Print off some fact sheets on a variety of issues you think are interesting and important - several ideas are available here(another page on the blog): http://continentalsac.blogspot.com/2007/12/fact-sheets-for-letter-writing.html
-Print off some tips on effective letter writing: http://www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/toolkit/letters.asp
-get a package of lined paper, some envelopes, a few pens, and some stamps (if you're concerned about how much you're spending on stamps and supplies, put out a basket for contributions toward postage at the party)
-Find out who your representatives (federal, state/provincial, and municipal) are and how to reach them, and print that off as well. Also consider the head of state of other countries as well, as many issues are international (particularly Canada/US).
- http://www.house.gov/writerep/ (US federal representatives)
- http://www.house.gov/house/orgs_pub_hse_ldr_www.shtml (US leadership offices)
- http://canada.gc.ca/directories-repertoires/direct-eng.html (Canada - Government and
Members of Parliament)
- http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/premiers/a/writepremiers.htm (Canada - Premiers of
the provinces and territories)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_Governors (list of US state Governors, can google their names to get addresses)

4. Follow-up-after the event send the information you collected (fact sheets, addresses for your representatives, and any tips you found) to everyone who did and did not attend, so people have the opportunity to do more, or to participate even if they couldn't make it to your party

Other tips:
Keep it Simple - have fun with it, but don't stress yourself out about it - go with the flow
Don't Stress - even if you don't have the turn out you would have liked, if you send one letter it was worth it! Plus, you'll have put the idea of letter writing in your friend's heads
Make it sound fun - consider watching a movie (either on the issue or just a fun movie) before or after, don't make it sound labour-intensive
Invite others to bring snacks, movies, music etc to take some of the load off yourself

Have fun!If you have any questions, send me an email - continentalsac@gmail.com

Add a comment to let me know if you held one of these parties, and let me know how it went! It's important to share our successes!

Fact Sheets for Letter Writing

Here are some fact sheets on a variety of topics/issues that you might consider writing letters on. Of course you can write a letter about any issue that matters to you, but the more facts you have, the stronger your letter will be.

These sheets are organized by topic/issue, and under the title of each fact sheet, the organization the information is from is listed in brackets.


Housing

MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT PUBLIC HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS
(Defend New Orleans Public Housing)
http://www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org/facts.html

Human Rights

Amnesty International’s page of Urgent Appeals (each one has fact sheet)
http://www.amnesty.org/en/how-you-can-help


Support Immigrant Families—Stop the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Raids (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)

Stop U.S. Sponsored Torture—A Religious Call to Action (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)

Women's Rights and Equality

Several actions to put equality back on track in Canada
http://www.womensequality.ca/action.html

Social Support for the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)

Poverty

Sample Letters about living up to Aid Committments - one for each country
(Poverty.com, same people that run Freerice.com)
http://www.poverty.com/printletter.html

More and Better Aid
(Make Poverty History Canada)
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/aim3.html
more detail:
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/resources/political-action/general-briefing-note.pdf


End Child Poverty in Canada
(Make Poverty History Canada)
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/aim4.html
more detail:
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/resources/political-action/briefing-note-child-poverty.pdf

Cancel the Debt - How rich countries need to cancel the debt owing to them by poor countries(Make Poverty History Canada)
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/aim2.html

Trade Justice - The importance of fair trade rules between rich and poor countries
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/e/aim1.html


Climate Change

General Climate Change Facts (glossary)
(The Great Warming)
http://www.thegreatwarming.com/pdf/ClimateChangeFactSheet.pdf

Climate Change and Poverty
(Make Poverty History Australia)
http://www.childfund.org.au/static/w/X/40498e0830b4d8d41b9724fe899c87a3.pdf


Wildlife/Wilderness

Stop Port Construction; Save Ridley Sea Turtles / India
(Global Response - Environmental Action and Education)
http://www.globalresponse.org/gra.php?i=current

Andy Russell – I’tai sah kòp (Castle) Park - Creating a new park in southwestern Alberta
(Sierra Club of Canada)
http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/biodiversity/wilderness/campaign.shtml?x=309

Boreal Forest Fact Sheet - info on the importance of and threat to the Canadian Boreal Forest
(Sierra Club of Canada)
http://www.sierraclub.ca/img_upload/af38c14d2c65b43c7910bb4fb3317aa7/boreal_fact_sheet.pdf

Democracy

This is Democracy? - Explanation of the need for electoral reform in Canada
(Fair Vote Canada)
http://www.fairvotecanada.org/files/Make%20Every%20Vote%20Count%20-%20Pt%201%20-%20jan%2005.pdf

Sexual Health/GBLTQ issues

-comprehensive sex ed in the States http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/socialjustice/statements/31604.shtml (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)

-Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)

-Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act with Transgender Inclusion and Protection (link to UUA's action of immediate witness on this issue)


Other topics to write letters on
(I don't have fact sheets for these, use your own knowledge and passion!)

-more and better transit systems in your community (a race, class, poverty and environmental issue)

-more comprehensive recycling and composting programs in your community

-real action on climate change from all levels of government
-clean energy sources (wind, solar, geo-thermal, wave technology, etc)
-emissions caps on industry, vehicles, etc
-more incentives for retrofitting of buildings to meet high energy standards
-stop subsidizing fossil fuel industries

-living wages – a minimum wage that is actually enough to survive on, and be above the poverty line

-racism (choose an instance of institutionalized racism and write about that, or check your town’s papers for particular instances you can refer to or write a letter to the editor about)

-representation of women and visible minorities in government positions (specifically that parties choose to nominate these individuals to run, and to run in ridings/constituencies where they are likely to win)



*Remember, you can also send email about any of these things, but letters count more!*

Also, some letters you can sign and send online - not as effective as hand-written and mailed letters, but still better than nothing! You could have a computer connected to the internet at your event so that people can send these letters too:

Americans - find out how your Senators and Reps voted on Key Energy Ammendments, and send them a note:
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/VoteCenter?page=voteList

Help save the Polar Bear
https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr012=ohd0zu5fh2.app20a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=221

Tell President Bush: Take Plan B to the UN
(Save Darfur)
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/planb_petition/ies6uus9a65d7ek?


Help Stop the Genocide in Darfur - Tell President Bush and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to take immediate steps to stop the killing in Darfur.
(Save Darfur)
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/savedarfurcoalition

Petitions Galore!

Here are some petitions on important issues you can sign. It's quick and easy and they work when lots of people sign them!

The Petition Site - tons of petitions on a variety of issues!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/

Here are some of the petitions on the Petition site that I've picked out and signed:

Stop Rape and Other Violence Against Women in War-torn Democratic Republic of Congo
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/681212377

End China's Human Rights Abuses in Tibet Before the 2008 Olympics
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/313171490

Support the PAW Act - End Alaska's Aerial Hunting Program!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/477616584

Stop Deceptive Labeling of "Natural" Meat
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/954533337

Give Darfur Kids Stability Through Education
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/677384362

Restore Affordable Birth Control
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/286534868


There are so many more petitions that are worthy of your signature, so check them out! Search for issues that matter to you! Or even write a petition yourself!

~Chris