I mentioned the other day that we really ramped up our phonebanking efforts in the past few couple of weeks in New York.
Today we held a Mega-phonebank in a bar in Times Square. The enthusiasm and energy of the volunteers was incredible. It felt like election eve all over again.
Follow me below the fold my photodiary (including photos of some Kossacks who came) and action links.
Sign courtesy of mindoca
We reserved a private room at McGee's, an extremely hospitable place with friendly staff and great pub food.
As you can see, we used every square inch of the space.
It was beautiful outside today -- 75 degrees and sunny -- yet 90 people chose to spend their afternoon indoors making calls for health care reform.
Several kossacks came, including madcow, brooklynweaver and Debojgm, and mindoca and ericlewis0, pictured here.
It was hard to keep up with the volunteers. They finished call sheets and came back for more.
Some stayed for the entire four hours. Others stopped by to call for an hour or two on their way somewhere else.
McGee's arranged to have CSPAN on the TVs for us. When the President came on, most people stopped calling to listen to his speech (though some wanted to stay on the phones). It was really special watching this historic moment with a group of dedicated volunteers, all anxious to do everything they can to make health care reform a reality.
We closed down the phonebank at 6:00, and sorted through our tallies. We made 4,384 calls!
We're closer than we've ever been, but we're not there yet!
Please, take action tonight and tomorrow
Go to an OFA Phonebank or Final March Event Near You.
Yes, there will be phonebanks tomorrow. You can search for nearby events here: OFA Final March Events.
If you can't find one near you, and you know your OFA staff or Community Organizers for your area, contact them and ask how you can help.
Call Your Member of Congress. If they are planing to vote yes, call and tell them "Thank you" and let them know you appreciate their vote. If they are voting no, give them hell. If they are undecided, tell them that they are supposed to represent you and that you expect them to vote for this historic bill.
Remember that the other side is calling; our representatives they need to hear from HCR supporters too.
You can get contact information and talking points about how reform affects your district here: OFA Call Congress Tool
Line busy? Try the District Office, or there's an email tool here:
OFA Letter Writing Tool - Email Your Member of Congress Here
And mention that you've tried to get through on the phone.
Reach out to friends and family in key districts and spread the word.
If you know people who live in key districts email them the link to the calling tool and encourage them to make their voices heard.
Here's a great scorecard from the NYT to help identify who might need a few extra phone calls to get us over the finish line.