Do you have 4 hours to help Maine keep doing better!

September 20, 2011

Would like to gain some new skills & experience in advocating for yourself & others who need help?
Can you commit to 2 hours of training + 2 hours of advocacy between November 2011 and April 2012?

NOW IS THE TIME to plan for action during the 2nd session of the 125th Maine Legislature.

We will start trainings in late Fall and be ready for action starting in the Winter and for the duration of the 125th Legislature.

For all of LePage’s threats to heap all of the state’s economic & budget woes upon the backs of Maine’s poorest & most vulnerable and turn us loose into the desert like scapegoats carrying away the sins of the people, and, despite the most aggressive efforts of those poor souls whose anger & frustration exceed their reason & compassion, we are truly blessed with the good fortune of good Maine people pulling together so that cooler heads & warmer hearts prevail, at least for now

However, even as the session was drawing to a close with well more than two-thirds of the Maine Legislature voting to adopt a reasonably fair biennial state budget, the threats – nay, vows – resumed even more loudly than before to make “good” on the promises of deep, deep, deep cuts to social programs comprising Maine’s safety net. Then came the downward-revised revenue estimates adding weight to blows against social programs. This was followed by the recent release of the undercover video of a right-wing national political operative posing as a drug dealer posing as a Maine lobsterman seeking to fraudulently collect benefits from a worker at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Failing in entrapment and needing to satisfy their blood-thirsty mob with heads on pikes, they fired four more DHHS program directors in mid-August.

So, the next session of this legislature is shaping up to be an even more dangerous place for children, seniors, disabled persons, low-income folks, and all of our fellow Mainers who need help now more than ever. Not surprisingly, those who start with a disadvantage and then must spend all of their time, energy, resourcefulness, and money just trying to survive, also find themselves at a severe disadvantage when it comes to political representation and advocacy. There are those of us who have made it a priority to find the time and resourcefulness to gain the skills to advocate for ourselves and other low-income & otherwise disadvantaged people. We Who Care, which began in 1972, is Maine’s oldest low-income advocacy organization promoting law, policy, and economic human rights benefiting all Mainers. We happily share our advocacy skills. However, even though we are all very skilled at operating on a shoestring, it does require some resources to copy training materials and to get up to Augusta and back, again.

Thanks to the generosity of the Falmouth Congregational Church : United Church of Christ, We Who Care will be able to afford training materials, advocacy kits, and transportation of 10-12 citizen advocates to travel to Augusta during the next session of the legislature to effectively communicate with legislators and policymakers on behalf of Maine’s most vulnerable populations who now find themselves under the most vicious attacks they have experienced in decades. People in Augusta hear the least from those who need the most. When they do, it always leaves a lasting impression. When real people stand up and share from their hearts what their lives are like, how many others there are just like them, and how much more expensive it will be for taxpayers if basic assistance is not maintained, only the hardest of heads and the coldest of hearts fail to feel the good sense of maintaining our wise investments in Maine’s humanity.

WE WHO CARE