THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
As I was trying to come up with something to say this month, I thought about the AT&T. This was my fifth year volunteering at the AT&T, and part of what makes it so rewarding to me is knowing I'm helping raise money for local charities. This year the 2,000 volunteers expect to raise $5,000,000, more than any other year. The gorgeous weather certainly helped!
Now, we don't have 2,000 volunteers for LWV on the Monterey Peninsula, and we don't raise money for charity. But what makes volunteering my time to the LWV so rewarding for me is knowing I'm helping to educate voters and community leaders about issues of importance, which in many ways is just as important as raising money for charity.
- It's gratifying each time there's an election to get many calls asking that we host a candidates forum or moderate one for another organization, or calls asking us to provide copies of our Pros and Cons and/or speak on them.
- It's gratifying to have a letter we write influence the decision of a local agency or governing body. Recently, at the request of a League member who is on the Water Management Agency, we sent a letter of support for a citizens advisory committee. She later reported that the other Water Management Agency Board members had come to their meeting prepared to vote no on such a committee. Our letter was what persuaded them there was interest in such a committee, so that they voted yes.
- It's gratifying when non-Leaguers come to our luncheon meetings because we are presenting an issue of importance, such as our speaker on health care at our February luncheon.
- It's gratifying when our speakers ask to be invited back again because our members ask pertinent and intelligent questions, which is what happened after our January meeting.
I could go on, but the point is none of this could happen without our League volunteers. Thank you to those who work on committees, who prepare and mail the Voter, who prepare for and lead the studies, who keep us informed on clean money campaigns, who write campaign finance ordinances and try to persuade city councils to adopt them, who organize and lead candidates forums and other election education gatherings, who staff the polls on election day to earn money for our League, who write letters to the editor and public officials for the president's signature, who coordinate the luncheons and remind those who wish the reminder so they don't forget to come, who let us know when action is needed on our part, who provide publicity so the public knows what we are doing, who serve on the board, who ... again, I could probably go on; I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. But we wouldn't be an effective League, or one with any purpose, without our dozens, if not scores, of volunteers.
Thank you, both to those of you who volunteer your time as you are able and to those of you who aren't able to volunteer your time but do volunteer your membership dollars so we can do what the League does so well: educate voters and advocate for public policy decisions.
Marilyn Maxner, President
