Grassroots Legislative Organizer's Blog #8
Sunday, February 28
Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of going on house visits with a new member of our Mobilization Canvas Organizing Internship (MCOI) program, April Billington. We talked to members about the impact of budget cuts on caregivers. One member in particular said that if they had more cuts they’d have to cut back on the basics – food, heat and medicine. It’s heartbreaking. It really is.
On Tuesday, we heard from the House and Senate on their budgets. There are still lots of cuts we’re facing. 9500 seniors and people with disabilities could face significant hours cuts and 1400 could lose home care services. The agencies were hit with a 68 cent an hour cut. The nursing home cuts jeopardize the quality of care for nursing home residents. We all need to call our legislators and tell them to increase revenue to stop these cuts.
I spent the day preparing for Purple Presence on Thursday. We also had our member to member legislative call in the evening. We had our largest group yet. I asked everyone to call five of their family, friends and neighbors to call their senator to stop these cuts. I heard from several saying they were able to make the call. Every call makes difference.
On Wednesday, Linda Lee and I testified before the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing. We testified on bills that would increase revenue. The rest of the time was preparing for Purple Presence.
On Thursday, at 7:30am, Chelsea Stine, Susie Young, Sharon Kitchel-Perdue, Linda Lee, Sheryl Wood, Robbie Wood, Chris Hardin and I stood on Capitol Way holding big posters highlighting caregivers’ stories. People stopped to read the quotes while they were driving, which was a little scary – because the cars behind them were getting upset. People gave us thumbs up and the best was when someone stopped and said thanks for putting a human face on the cuts.
After that we went to the Capitol and continued with Purple Presence. We did legislator visits, delivered letters, and did a quite an action at the sundial, where people stopped and read the posters we had. We also did patch through calls to senators who could help us with the cuts. We also delivered personal pictures to the legislators of the members in the featured in the posters. We really had a very busy day and everyone enjoyed their day and wished it would not stop.
On the home front, my client was in ICU this week. She could not breathe and she was collecting too much fluid and her lungs were filling up. Luckily, she is doing much better now.
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