With 3 weeks to go until the election, here are some ways to get involved:
Week 3 – Make sure everyone knows that early voting has started; encourage friends and family to vote and to vote early. Put out a lawn sign, write a letter to the editor, and brag to your friends and families about your efforts. Go to ActBlue and contribute to one or more candidates. As little as $5 helps! https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/rutland
And attend these events:
Tuesday October 16th at 5 pm “The Work” at the Poultney Public Library, 205 Main St. STE 1, Poultney, VT – The public is welcome to join the Rutland-area branch of the NAACP and the Vermont ACLU for a free screening of “The Work,” a moving documentary about three troubled non-inmates participating in four days of intense group therapy with a group of maximum-security convicts. The film will be followed by a community discussion. This film includes explicit language and intense emotional content that may not be appropriate for children under 13 years old.
Wednesday October 17
• 2-4 pm Honk & Wave for Democratic/Progressive Senate Candidates at corner of Columbiana Ave and 4, Rutland City
• 5-8 pm Canvass for Rep. Candidate Logan Nicoll – Contact acarroll@vtdemocrats.org for location and other details.
• 7pm NAACP Book Club at the College of St. Joseph Library – reading White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. The book is now available at Rutland City’s Phoenix Book Store.
Thursday, October 18
• 2-4 pm Honk & Wave for Democratic/Progressive Senate Candidates at corner of Allen St. and 7, Rutland City
• 4-5:30 pm Meet and Greet Senate Candidate Scott Garren – The Foundry, Killington
• 5-8pm Phonebank for Rep. Candidate Logan Nicoll at Castle Hill Resort and Spa in Proctorsville
Friday October 19
• Canvassing for candidates Dave Potter & Ken Fredette – Contact Asha Carroll at acarroll@vtdemocrats.org for times, location, etc.
• Noon Meet and Greet Senate Candidate Scott Garren at Hop’n Moose, Rutland City
• 2-4 pm Honk & Wave with Honk & Wave for Democratic/Progressive Senate Candidates at corner of Windcrest and 7, Rutland City
• 6 pm MyRVP Training: This is for well-connected volunteers (volunteers who have a lot of contacts in Rutland County who can navigate computers/smart phones. After a training, volunteers will use MyRVP (my Relational Voting Program) to mobilize people they already know and help get-out-the vote. Show up with a computer or smart phone, and be ready to train and work. Bring snacks and dress comfortably. RSVP: Contact hastevenson9@gmail.com Location TBD
• 6:30 pm – Project Drawdown at the Chaffee Art Center, 16 South Main St., Rutland City – To address climate change, we need to make change in all kinds of ways! Project Drawdown is a large-scale, solutions-oriented approach to reverse climate change. Learn more at this screening of a live stream panel discussion by the Drawdown leadership team. Light refreshments and conversation at 6:30, live stream at 7:30. More about Project Drawdown here: https://www.drawdown.org/ This event is free but space is limited. Please RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/275024896553853/
Saturday October 20
• 10:00 am – Get-out-the-vote Canvass with the Rutland area NAACP – meet at the Poultney Public Library at 205 Main St. STE 1, Poultney, VT. This event is non-partisan.
• 1:45 pm Canvass with Tim Guiles – meet at 44 Carver St., Brandon. No experience necessary. Wear comfortable shoes.
• 4:00 pm – Madeleine Kunin, Coming of Age. Unitarian Universalist Church of Rutland, 117 West Street, Rutland. Free and open to all. Many readers are already familiar with Madeleine Kunin, the former three-term governor of Vermont, who served as the deputy secretary of education and ambassador to Switzerland under President Bill Clinton. In her newest book, a memoir entitled Coming of Age: My Journey to the Eighties, the topic is aging, but she looks well beyond the physical tolls and explores the emotional ones as well. And she has had an extraordinary life: governor, ambassador, feminist, wife, mother, professor, poet, and much, much more. https://www.phoenixbooks.biz/event/madeleine-may-kunin-coming-age-0
• 6-8 pm An Evening with Madeleine: A fundraiser for Senate Candidate Cheryl Mazzariello Hooker, Chaffee Art Center, 18 Main Street, Rutland City, VT – Tickets $10, Sponsors $50 or more. http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=ajpwbh7ab&oeidk=a07efr55xf318717c2e
Sunday October 21
• 12-4 pm Cavass for Rep. Candidate William Notte – meet at Speakeasy Café, 67 Center Street, Rutland City
• 3-5 pm Castleton Indivisible Postcarding for the House seat in NY-19 and Stacey Abrams and Sarah Amico running for Governor and Lt. Gov. in Georgia at Leahy Center, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Rutland City
Monday October 22 at 6 pm “The Central Park Five” at the Rutland Free Library, Fox Room, 10 Court Street, Rutland City – The public is welcome to join the Rutland-area branch of the NAACP and the Vermont ACLU for a free screening of The Central Park Five, which tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of attacking a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. Directed and produced by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns, the film chronicles the case from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice. The film will be followed by a community discussion. This movie deals with mature subject matter. It might not be appropriate for children under 13.
Week 2 – Attend the Thursday October 25 Castleton Indivisible postcarding party for local elections; march with the Democrats in the Saturday October 27 Rutland City Halloween Parade.
Week 1 – Encourage friends and family to vote; volunteer to join a candidate at the polls on voting day (even a few minutes of standing on the line can make a world of difference to a tired candidate eager for a little company)
Hope to see you at one or more of these events over the next few weeks!