Dear Peace Corps Friends and Colleagues,
The White House is beginning to hear our voices!
Today, we received the attached letter from the White House Director of Presidential Correspondence who hand picks the letters which reach the president's eyes. Heartened by this epistle, I am urging 100 personalized, hand-written letters by Friday, April 24 to President Obama urging robust funding to Peace Corps in 2010.
You may have seen this article in today's NY Times about Mr. Kelleher who selects 10 letters from tens of thousands to bring to the President's attention. As luck would have it, Mr. Kelleher is an RPCV that served in Sierra Leone in the 1980's.
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Said Mr. Kelleher, Obama's "mailman," in the NY Times article today, “We pick messages that are compelling, things people say that, when you read it, you get a chill,” said Mr. Kelleher, 47. “I send him letters that are uncomfortable messages.”
This time I'm urging you to take action in a different way - no form letter. Please hand-write your letter and tell your story (and if you can, please scan and send me a copy at rajeev@morepeacecorps.org or simply let me know that you took action). Tell the story of who you are and what the Peace Corps did for your life. Who did you meet in your village or town and how did that person influence your life? Be personal. The only thing we ask is that you include the request for $450 million to Peace Corps in the President's FY 2010 budget. If you can mention the 15,000 and growing supporters of the MorePeaceCorps campaign, that would also help.
Mr. Kelleher is yet another example of the profound legacy of Peace Corps volunteers. Lets get the attention of this natural ally. If you can send me a copy, it would help. My address is: rajeev goyal, morepeacecorps c/o M+R Strategic Services, 80 Broad Street, Suite 1700, New York NY 10004
I want to thank RPCVs Judy Figi, Collier Perry, Elisabeth Therrien, Mary-Anne Tirone Smith, Anna Whitcomb, Paul Thompson, Dan Kane, Jocelyn Sese, Linda Piso, and Joel Neuberg for volunteering in various states and districts! I also wish to thank Jill and Bernard Jacquot who wrote me from Paris and Colin O'Hara who is serving in Macedonia and conducting outreach to Jim Langevin's office. You are inspirational.
Here is the address for our President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Best Wishes,
Rajeev
Thanks everyone for your support on this, we really need to work together to champion this cause. Would also like to thank Amy again for the final PC globe talk of the semester on Eastern Europe that she had last week. Anyway its earth day so I think I am going put in a phish cd and plant a tree in a pair of hemp sandals... joking about the phish part =)
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