An anecdote -- Obama leads Americans to BE the change

[dalaigh lllama]

I have been wanting to get involved in the volunteer work that Obama has spoken about, so last week I went to his website: www.usaservice.org and looked at various volunteer programs he already had up for my area. I signed up for the adult literacy tutoring program, and just got back from my first session.

Let me just preface this: I am in Kane County, Illinois. For decades this has been solid Republican country (Denny Hastert was our rep), until we put Bill Foster in the House last March and again in November. One cannot swing a cat without hitting a Republican.

So the first thing we do is have a tete a tete with the person next to us, and then we go around the circle of 20 people and introduce our seatmate to the group. I hadn't mentioned how I had found the group, but one of the first couples speaking did. One woman said she found it fascinating that her seatmate had found the group via Obama's website, at which point several other people piped up and said that's how THEY had found the volunteer group, too. The instructor said that not only had several of us joined up from Obama's site, but that the group was unusually large for a daytime training session. Then one of the other volunteers made some comments on how Obama is encouraging Americans to volunteer and how she thought this was good for all of us. Somewhere in her comments she said something about how Obama was parenting America, and the gal next to me mentioned she thought that was an apropos verb to use to describe what Obama is doing for us.

All in all, quite the eye opening session. We ARE the change we've been waiting for. :-)

[grantcart]

1. thank you for volunteering and for the anecdote.

[dalaigh lllama]

3. Hi there, grant

You might remember me as TheDoorbellRang. I had changed to that username back in 2007 because I wasn't patient enough to wait for the amnesty period. But I wanted my DU "seniority," so I changed from my original username from 2005.

Volunteering is great -- it gives one a good feeling while one is actually being selfish, as it's a great way to meet interesting people and do something useful, too. It'll be interesting to see how much volunteerism increases these next few years, not only because of Obama's encouragement but because he offers practical ways to find out where volunteering is needed.

[murielm99]

2. I used to work with an adult literacy group.

I did that for about fifteen years. It was a very rewarding experience.

You might also consider getting involved with the Kane County Democratic Central Committee. The organization is more vital than it was after the Obama and Foster elections. They still need precinct committeemen, election judges and foot soldiers. It is amazing how much one learns about government by volunteering for a central committee.

Give it some thought.

[dalaigh lllama]

5. Thanks, I will

I've just been back in Illinois since 2007 and am still familiarizing myself with the Illinois gov't goings-on. It's...colorful.:D

[murielm99]

6. It's colorful all right.

Some of us working at the local and state levels are trying to do something about cleanup. The corrupt people at the higher levels are so entrenched that it is difficult.

The best way, I think, is to eliminate some of the money men like Rezko and Cellini. We could also work on awareness that the people who have the biggest election or reelection war chests are not necessarily the best people for office. Many were afraid to challenge Blago's reelection because he was the incumbent and he had a lot of money. They despised him but voted for him anyway.

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Excellent. Thank you for sharing that. :) n/t