NRLC Chapters
10 Things Chapters Should Do
Starting Now: The 2004 Countdown
By Holly Smith,
NRLCField Coordinator
It's 2004 already! No, I can't believe it either. After a break for Christmas, it's back to doing everything we can to help unborn children and their mothers.
There is much at stake over the next 11 months. Unlike our opponents, we do not have unlimited funds, which requires that we use our time and resources with maximum efficiency.
Here are some ideas to keep your chapter productive, along with suggestions for your members to undertake as individuals. We have our work cut out for us, so without further ado, I offer the following.
1. Petitions: The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as the "Laci & Conner Peterson Law," is waiting to be acted on in the Senate. President Bush is eager to sign this law, which would recognize unborn children who are injured or killed during the commission of violent federal crimes as crime victims. We're collecting petition signatures supporting this important legislation, so please continue to have the petitions signed and returned to National Right to Life. To order free petitions, please call 202-626-8800, ext. 143.
2. Voter Registration: Do whatever your state allows to help register people to vote. Have voter registration cards available at every booth and with every petition for which you solicit signatures. When people sign the petition, there's a box to check if they are registered to vote. If they are not, help them, either with a motor-voter form, your state's mail-in form, or written directions for registering in your state. Make it as easy as possible. It is vitally important that pro-life people are registered to vote.
3. Be Visible: There are a lot of events on the community calendar this year, including local festivals, county fairs, and church bazaars. Your chapter should have a presence at as many as possible. Staff a booth if it's allowed, or just hand out pro-life balloons. Most importantly, be there! A visible chapter in turn makes the life issue more visible, moving people to think more about the implications of aborting more than one in every four babies conceived. Being visible will help grow your membership as the more people you encounter, the more people you have a shot at recruiting.
4. Host a Speakers Bureau: Chapters should form a "Speaker's Bureau" to provide "expert instructors" for those community organizations and school teachers open to the presentation of the pro-life view. Chapters should focus on local Knights of Columbus, Elks, Kiwanis, VFW and Rotary clubs. High school classes in government, social studies, American history, psychology, philosophy, sociology, biology and health, to name a few, would be very valuable venues at which to present. Coordinate locally with various groups and professionals to address all aspects of the pro-life issue.
5. Letters to the Editor: This section of the newspaper is often carefully read by people who are very attuned and very interested. Appearing there affords you a great opportunity to educate your community. Write a letter updating the community on the progress of pro-life legislation and tell how your congressman voted on the ban on partial-birth abortion which President Bush recently signed, and other pro-life measures. You can find this in the "Legislative Action Center" at www.nrlc.org. If an EMILY's List candidate is running for elective office in your area, write a letter explaining that EMILY's list only endorses Democratic women who support unrestricted access to abortion, including partial-birth abortions and tax-funded abortions.
6. Phone Trees: Your two United States senators, your U.S. House member, and your state elected officials need to hear from your community about the importance of protecting unborn babies and their mothers. Use the names of petition-signers and other lists of pro-life people to develop a phone tree, then activate it to generate as many phone calls as possible to your elected officials.
7. Receive Action Alerts: Be sure that your chapter is receiving time-sensitive information quickly. Confirm that you are receiving action alerts from the state and national offices. If you have e-mail, sign up to receive these action alerts and other pro-life news electronically by going to www.nrlc.org. When you access the page, a pop-up window will appear urging you to submit your e-mail address. E-mail is also a very efficient way to communicate with chapter leaders. If you have an e-mail address for chapter use, please let me know.
8. Hold Regular Meetings: Regular meetings are where new members will turn when they decide to become active. For already active members, this is the best way to keep them on task and working off the same page. With so much to do in 2004, staying organized is critical. Meetings offer an excellent way to accomplish this critically important goal.
9. Subscribe to National Right to Life News. NRL News is THE definitive source for the latest and most accurate information. Call 202-626-8828 and order individual subscriptions or bulk orders to distribute at chapter meetings.
10. Recruit Volunteers: National Right to Life and your state office almost always need volunteers in the fall, so draw up a current list of individuals and families willing to help. Contact your state office for more information.
There you have it: 10 do-able tasks to accomplish this year. Some are harder than others, some require more planning or more volunteers than others. But you are hopefully already working on some of these activities.
All are important ways to effectively advance the pro-life cause at the local, state, and federal levels.
Please feel free to call me at 202-626-8809 or e-mail chapters@nrlc.org for more information or further details on any of the above items.
Above all else, grassroots pro-life activities are uniquely responsible for the success and growth of the right-to-life movement. We need your conscientious and untiring efforts this year to advance the lifesaving efforts on behalf of unborn babies, their mothers, the aging, and the medically vulnerable.