Thank you to everyone who attended this past Sunday's Summer of Action Kick-Off Meeting (scroll down for pics)! We had a big variety of volunteers present, some who'd been volunteering for years, and some who were getting involved with Oxfam for the very first time. But it was clear after introductions, that every single person had something very valuable to contribute.
During the meeting we were able to identify some key strengths within the group through discussing the many ways one can volunteer with the Action Corps. From tabling at concerts and festivals, to lobby visits and calling your legislators, these areas of action can be categorized as such:
- Communications (Letters to the Editor, letters to your representatives, contributing to the OAC blog or Facebook)
- Legislation (Lobby visits, bill research, Senate phone calls/emails, town hall meetings)
- Concerts/Festivals (Tabling outreach, petition signing, volunteer and materials coordination)
- Events and Promotion (Event oversight/planning/promotion, phone banking, social networking)
- Allies and Community Outreach (Networking with partner orgs, finding new allies, adding OAC events to community calendars, making connections)If your day job, area of expertise, or general interest lies in one of these categories and you would like to be specifically considered when volunteer opportunities arise, please write to us at sanfrancisco@oxfamactioncorps.org and let us know!
Lastly, I have to mention that by the end of the meeting, we had collectively hand-written 15 letters to our CA Senators about the pros and cons of the American Power Act (namely that while Adaptation funding is indeed included in the bill, it is not nearly enough and will be delayed for almost a decade). These letters will be hand-delivered during lobby visits next week! Letter writing is an easy, yet invaluable way of flexing your constituent muscle. Let us know if you'd like to write one, and we can send you talking points.
Stay tuned for info on next quarter's volunteer meeting, to be set early August.
