and
Our 13,000 sq ft warehouse in Lowell provides a safe place for people to donate and volunteer. It is also a convenient spot for caseworkers to find the basic goods their clients need to succeed in improving their lives. Recycling home and baby goods helps the needy to thrive in this failing economy while saving space in our local landfills. Free furniture means a family can succeed in escaping a shelter the first time. Every wish come true means one more bed that is not in a landfill and more space in your attic. We welcome volunteers and also run Service Projects all year long. Service projects including Backpack Attack, Blanket the Valley, Turkey Brigade and the Magic of Christmas – provide more thousands of kids with more than $500,000 in value of goods per year.
Volunteers from Organizing For America – Greater Lowell will support each with a day of service per month. Some volunteers will donate time at the facilities themselves. Others have promised food and goods, in support. These organizations are very grateful to have either. If you would like to contribute in some way, please feel free to contact us or the organizations directly.
Alex Buck, a Regional Coordinator for the state organization Organizing For America – Massachusetts (OFAMA) addressing our meeting.
Some of the points he touched on were:
– Every state is proposed to get at least one paid organizer
– The pillars of OFA: Issue Organizing, Electoral Organizing, Building Organizational Strength, 2-Way Communication, and Community Service
– Larger event planning is underway – we hope to have some large events focused on big issues and/or on moving the organization forward
Above, Betty Twombly discusses a proposal with the group.
The idea is to sponsor a forum covering the President’s proposed education budget and how it potentially relates to UMASS Lowell. The principle question that we would like to address in a public forum is: How can federal funding assist the ongoing efforts of the university to forge strong partnerships with industry and boost economic development in the Merrimack Valley?
We are proposing a discussion on innovations in university level education that are rooted in a mutually beneficial compact between the academic community and industry. We hope, by the end of the event, those attending will have a deeper awareness of how the President’s budget initiatives could have a lasting impact on our local economy.
For more information on the Greater Lowell chapter of Organizing For America or details on our community service efforts, please feel free to contact Jack Mitchell at ofa.greaterlowell@gmail.com
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Look what I just found in the inbox:
If you’re fired up: ofama2009@gmail.com