From pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org Fri Jul 6 22:28:26 2007 From: pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org (Paul Nijjar) Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 22:28:26 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [fvc-wat-announce] Information Night Tuesday (and meetings!) Message-ID: Well, it's almost the second Tuesday in July, and that means it's time for some education. And boy do we need it. An Environics poll released last month reported that 51 percent of those polled had not even heard of the upcoming referendum, and another 19 percent were unfamiliar with it. That makes 70 percent of people who don't know what's going on! See http://erg.environics.net/media_room/default.asp?aID=637 for more information. Are you still fuzzy on the details? Are your friends and family members ready to make informed choices this October 10? Don't wait to get informed: come out now and beat the rush! Co-chair Angela Yenssen will cover the MMP proposal and assorted referendum issues, and take all the questions you can ask. The information session begins at 7:00pm, at the Faculty of Social Work building (120 Duke St W, behind Kitchener City Hall). There are also a number of meetings happening. By sheer coincidence, they are all happening next Tuesday as well: - Before the Information night we are holding a chapter volunteer meeting. We have been doing good outreach to local organizations and municipal politicians, and we could definitely use some additional help with outreach. You certainly don't need to be an expert on the referendum to help out! This meeting will begin at 6pm, also at the Faculty of Social Work building. - Graham Engel is starting a Fair Voting group at Wilfrid Laurier University. His group is holding its initial planning meeting at 1pm on Tuesday, in room NC 1056. Contact Graham at synesthesia507 at hotmail for more info. - A group of students at the University of Waterloo is also starting a Fair Voting group. They usually hold their meetings Tuesday afternoons, but the location of the next meeting has not yet been announced. Contact Peter MacDonald at bigmacd24 at hotmail for more info. Finally, we are looking to be present at a few more events this summer. Look for us at the Afro Festival (July 28), Kiwanis Dragon Boat Festival (July 14) and Hillside (July 28-29). - Paul -- Paul Nijjar - http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion Next electoral reform info night: Tuesday July 10, 7pm From pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org Sat Jul 21 12:23:01 2007 From: pnijjar at sdf.lonestar.org (Paul Nijjar) Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:23:01 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [fvc-wat-announce] Volunteer opportunities/Meeting Tuesday Message-ID: The clock is ticking. We have less than three months to spread the word about MMP, and there is a lot to do. Currently there are not enough active volunteers to keep up with all the available outreach possibilities, so this is a good time to get involved with the campaign. Here are some tasks that are coming up in the next little while. If you can help with these things, you can either contact me or attend our volunteer meeting this Tuesday (details below). Staffing Displays ----------------- We are arranging to be present at several more events this summer. Taking a few shifts at a display is an excellent way to practice explaining the referendum and MMP to others. You do not need to be an MMP expert to participate; we attempt to have two people staffing each booth at all times, and we learn as we go along. Staffing opportunities that are coming up include: - Tuesday July 24 9:30am-5pm: campus display at the University of Waterloo. - Saturday July 28, 12pm-6pm: Afro Fest at Waterloo Park - July 28,29, 10am-6pm: Hillside festival at Guelph Lake - Friday Aug 3, 7:30pm: Artswork at the Button Factory, Waterloo We are looking into other possibilities as well, including the Mill Race Festival in Cambridge (Aug 3-5) and Music and Movie nights at Waterloo Park. You can also sign up to be on our display staffing booth, and we will contact you whenever an opportunity comes up. Organizing Outreach ------------------- There is a huge amount of event organizing to be done. This is an area where we could use volunteers the most. We are looking at: - Setting up panel discussions - Approaching organizations to arrange speakers - Setting up our presence at local universities and colleges (our college presence is pretty weak now) - Arranging to set up our displays at local events - Finding out about upcoming all-candidates meetings and arranging to be present at them Organizing events is not always fun, but if lots of people take on one or two tasks we can keep the workload managable. Displays and Materials ---------------------- There are quite a few display materials we would like to put together over the next few weeks. If you like being creative then this is a job for you! Some projects we would like to work on include: - Setting up a second display board (in the next week, if possible) - Creating a largish canvas banner to announce our presence - Designing and ordering buttons and T-shirts Office Space ------------ We are looking for some cheap/free office space in a good location to use as our campaign headquarters. (Any leads would be appreciated!) We could use some volunteer labour to help investigate places. Fundraising and Donations ------------------------- Although we have been keeping our campaigning frugal, office space, vendor booths and display materials all cost money. If you can help raise some cash then we could use your help. We can also take donations -- contact us for more information. Brochures/Booklets ------------------ We have lots of brochures and booklets available. If you can distribute some in your workplace and neighbourhood, we would love to get some material to you. You might leave material at doctors offices, local shops, community meeting places, and other places where people gather. You can also take some material to distribute to family and friends. Meetings -------- We will be discussing these items and more at our meeting this Tuesday. The volunteer meeting will start at 7:00pm, and will be held at the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work Building, 120 Duke St. West just behind Kitchener City Hall. The Laurier chapter is having their next meeting on August 9. For more information, contact fvclaurier at gmail.com The University of Waterloo chapter usually has meetings on Tuesdays. Contact exec at fairvote.uwaterloo.ca for more information. - Paul -- Paul Nijjar - http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion Next electoral reform info night: Tuesday August 14, 7pm