I was canvassing in Wapakeneton, Ohio, and ran in to a teacher. I gave him my rap and he was very excited that I had stopped by his doorstep. He was having trouble paying his medical bills so he became a member and he jumped up for joy as I assured him we’re joining together to fight for affordable health care, and we plan to win. Then he paid the voluntary dues and I thanked him for his support and contribution. He thanked me. I told him it was my pleasure to inform him about what’s going on in the world.
A member signed up with us because she was fed up with the health care system. She was fighting cancer and was on chemotherapy. Not only was she dealing with her cancer, but was fighting a failing health care system. She was only too happy to sign up with us. I was very happy to add her as a member and get her support. I told her that it was for people like her that we go out each day and fight to improve a system that is failing the people.
knocked on a woman’s door and she invited me in. We sat and talked as she signed up as a member because of her concern about health care. She had surgery and needed medications which cost $500.00.
She had Medicare to pay for it, but her pharmacy sent it to the wrong address and has to pay $150.00 to get a replacement prescription. By the time we talked she had been without her medications for two weeks and it will be another week before she was likely to get them.
It was my second day at my second real job in my life. The day was brisk, a foreshadow of work to come. After a knock and a ring, the door was opened by a middle-aged woman. The rap went well, and I had the pleasure of an audience with her son front row. As she was flipping through my clipboard, the son handed me a folded note, saying “here, this is for you.” Inside I found a drawing of a cartoon character—hair all aflame with a teen angst look about him. I said “is this me?” All he could respond with was a smile, then he ran off. His mother noticed. She took my pen and signed up, saying “we need more people like you out here.”
While I was out canvassing, I met an older man who lost his job to outsourcing. He had tears in his eyes as he told me about the steel mill that he had loved and lost. I told him how we were fighting back and his face list up with excitement. He jumped at the chance to do anything he could to help. It made me feel good to know that I had made his day. As I left he asked to shake my hand and he told me to “keep up the good work!”
Recently, while canvassing in Forks Township, I knocked on a gentlemen’s door and told him we were fighting to keep our jobs from being outsourced. “Yeah, my job’s being outsourced,” he said. He said he worked for a company designing dyes and tools and that in August, his job is going to Mexico and China!
I spoke with one older woman who answered the door in scrubs. As soon as I mentioned that health care costs are rising five times faster than inflation, she started shaking he heard emphatically. She told me that she worked at the hospital as a secretary. The doctors and nurses told her and the other secretaries that they were shocked that they even worked at the hospital because the copays on their health care plan were so horrible they weren’t affordable for the pay they made.
As I was canvassing in Allentown, Pennsylvania this evening, I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who was very passionate about the mission of our organization. Although her schedule does not allow her to volunteer for us, she signed up and gave me her last five dollars to support our cause.
I was deeply moved and impressed by her willingness to give me all the money she had. We need many more like her with such generosity.
Recently, while canvassing in Forks Township, I knocked on a gentlemen’s door and told him we were fighting to keep our jobs from being outsourced. “Yeah, my job’s being outsourced,” he said. He said he worked for a company designing dyes and tools and that in August, his job is going to Mexico and China!
As I was canvassing in Allentown, Pennsylvania this evening, I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who was very passionate about the mission of our organization. Although her schedule does not allow her to volunteer for us, she signed up and gave me her last five dollars to support our cause.
