Look Back: National Health Care Day of Service
The group Organizing for America is headquartered only two blocks from the Capitol, but when horse-trading over healthcare legislation intensified there this week, Barack Obama’s grass-roots advocacy operation turned its attention away from Washington. [Last weekend], the group recruited thousands of its volunteer members to gather in farmers’ markets, rehab clinics, parks, and libraries nationwide as part of a National Health Care Day of Service." – Boston Globe
While families across the country enjoy this 4th of July weekend, we wanted to take time to look back at the events of last weekend, when supporters across the country took place in a National Health Care Day of Service. Here are just a few of the reports we’ve gotten back from hosts of last weekend’s events:
It was truly fantastic. People came to our booth with food they had picked from their home garden, and others came to the market specifically to shop for the Healthy Food Drive. We ended up with a full pick-up load of fresh food — vegetables, fruit, and assorted pasta, bread, hand-made tortillas, etc. It’s difficult to estimate amount, but some thought we had at least 200 pounds of food. When we showed up at the Food Bank with our load of food, they were awestruck. What I noticed is that throughout the day, the faces and the voices of both volunteers and donors were lit up, both in the giving and the receiving. Some folks, donors and volunteers, asked, "When are we doing this again?" — Saoirse C-G, Golden, CO
I had a healthy food drive outside of ShopRite. As people walked into the grocery store, we handed them ideas of healthy foods they may want to buy and then at the exit we had a table with baskets to collect food in, information about the Children’s Health Insurance Program, information about President Obama’s health care plan, and health care declarations to sign…I will definitely host another event like this. It felt great to collect food for people in need in the area. All of my volunteers were super excited and really want to get involved again, so I will definitely get in touch with them and see if I can plan something else. — Linda M, Warminster, PA
In an email to thousands of event attendees, OFA Deputy Director Jeremy Bird explained:
Last weekend, you were part of something big.
Americans like you came together across the country — in community health centers, outside of supermarkets, in local schools — to serve together and improve health care in your community.
While serving your neighborhoods, you raised your voice and built momentum to finally fix this broken health care system. Thank you for your work.
We can’t — and we won’t — stop now. We’ve got more work to do to achieve our goal of real health care reform this year, and you’ll be an integral part of this effort at every step of the way.
The group Organizing for America is headquartered only two blocks from the Capitol, but when horse-trading over healthcare legislation intensified there this week, Barack Obama’s grass-roots advocacy operation turned its attention away from Washington. [Last weekend], the group recruited thousands of its volunteer members to gather in farmers’ markets, rehab clinics, parks, and libraries nationwide as part of a National Health Care Day of Service." – Boston Globe
While families across the country enjoy this 4th of July weekend, we wanted to take time to look back at the events of last weekend, when supporters across the country took place in a National Health Care Day of Service. Here are just a few of the reports we’ve gotten back from hosts of last weekend’s events:
It was truly fantastic. People came to our booth with food they had picked from their home garden, and others came to the market specifically to shop for the Healthy Food Drive. We ended up with a full pick-up load of fresh food — vegetables, fruit, and assorted pasta, bread, hand-made tortillas, etc. It’s difficult to estimate amount, but some thought we had at least 200 pounds of food. When we showed up at the Food Bank with our load of food, they were awestruck. What I noticed is that throughout the day, the faces and the voices of both volunteers and donors were lit up, both in the giving and the receiving. Some folks, donors and volunteers, asked, "When are we doing this again?" — Saoirse C-G, Golden, CO
I had a healthy food drive outside of ShopRite. As people walked into the grocery store, we handed them ideas of healthy foods they may want to buy and then at the exit we had a table with baskets to collect food in, information about the Children’s Health Insurance Program, information about President Obama’s health care plan, and health care declarations to sign…I will definitely host another event like this. It felt great to collect food for people in need in the area. All of my volunteers were super excited and really want to get involved again, so I will definitely get in touch with them and see if I can plan something else. — Linda M, Warminster, PA
In an email to thousands of event attendees, OFA Deputy Director Jeremy Bird explained:
Last weekend, you were part of something big.
Americans like you came together across the country — in community health centers, outside of supermarkets, in local schools — to serve together and improve health care in your community.
While serving your neighborhoods, you raised your voice and built momentum to finally fix this broken health care system. Thank you for your work.
We can’t — and we won’t — stop now. We’ve got more work to do to achieve our goal of real health care reform this year, and you’ll be an integral part of this effort at every step of the way.