Letter Writing to Encourage Voting
LiftGen Writes Letters to Encourage Dem Votes in 2020!
Thank you to those who came out last week to help us write letters to encourage likely democrat voters in super states to vote! We had a great time learning from board member Laura how to use the Vote Forward system. Thank you Laura! And thank you, Kim, for hosting us. We enjoyed yummy snacks, wine, and drinks as we wrote our encouragement, labelled and sealed envelopes, and stuck fun stamps on our work! Vote Forward makes it so easy - even printing and filling in each recipient's voter registration form that we include with the letter! Wow! I think we made a big difference for 2020! The best part is you can continue this letter writing at home. If you want to dig in, check Vote Forward out here! If you'd rather learn how to do it with us, keep an eye out for an October date when we will get together again to write letters and orient newbies to the process!
Yours in ReSisterhood,
Trish
Join Us to Flip the White House, the Senate, and Statehouse BLUE
One of the most powerful ways to get someone to vote is a handwritten letter! Just one voter can vote Trump out of the White House, flip a Senate seat to a Democrat and stop Republican gerrymandering through flipping a statehouse. Join us on Thursday, September 5th anytime between 6 and 8 PM. Just bring your laptop or phone and your reading glasses. We'll do the rest. Let's have fun together while we pave a path to a wonderful 2020! Contact Trish or another board member for the address in La Jolla.
AmericaLovesAllChildren
#AmericaLovesAllChildren
#GetYourShitTogetherCongress
#SendCongressDiapers
Send a diaper to Congress and tell them to Treat migrants humanely!
Need your congressperson's address? Type your zipcode in here: https://www.contactingcongress.org/
Roundtable Recap
Immigrant Roundtable Recap
A heartfelt thank you to those of you who were able to join us for our Immigrant Roundtable on Saturday evening. We were able to collect $1,140 for the Migrant Shelter in San Diego! The shelter also gained new volunteers!
Our three expert speakers gave us great insight into the complex but clearly "manufactured humanitarian crisis" at our border as Becca Taylor, Lead Coordinator of San Diego Migrant Shelter, reframed the current immigration situation. Throughout the talk, there was a focus on reframing language to humanize immigrants. We were reminded that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native born general population and are being detained when they are here to work and make a better life. There are 11 million undocumented immigrants that have been living and working in the U.S. for many years contributing to our nation who need a clear path to citizenship. Leah Hurwitz, recently retired immigration attorney, explained that new restrictive interpretations of US asylum laws, tremendous processing delays, and the new policy of making asylum seekers wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard in the US are pressing issues. Lilian Serrano, Chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, shared part of their work is to help families who are impacted by raids with legal assistance, and detained asylum-seeking immigrants who are waiting for hearing dates to pay unreachable bond amounts averaging $4000 per person. Ms. Serrano explained that immigrant communities and farmworker families in San Diego County, even those with documentation, are experiencing heightened fear such that they are afraid to go to the doctor or allow their children to access free school lunches because they think they may be deported if they access services that are rightfully theirs.
There is so much to do to support immigrants in our communities and our little community is doing this work with big hearts open to our newest neighbors! I want immigrants to bring their kids to the doctor if they are sick. If you agree, take a few minutes to make a call to your CA representative supporting a law that would give Medi-Cal access to undocumented immigrants (see the number and calling script below).
Call to Action for Immigrants
760-891-CALI
Clothing Drive for Migrants
After a group of us at LiftGen volunteered at the Migrant Shelter on St. Patrick's Day, we asked you to help with clothing donations for migrant children and their families and you really came through! In just 72 hours our porch was overflowing with bags upon bags of gently used clothing for the families seeking asylum at the shelter run by the San Diego Rapid Response Network. One evening during those busy 72 hours, my partner answered the door and there stood a Bird Rock dad with huge cardboard boxes of packed with hundreds of brand new socks and t-shirts! The generosity and outpouring of love for migrants seeking asylum in our country is heartening.
Before this shelter was established a few months ago, migrant families were being dropped with their few belongings on the streets of San Diego to fend for themselves. Almost all of the families who come to the shelter spend just one night getting a shower, meals, a fresh set of clothing, help with travel plans to their sponsors and any requested medical care. The shelter serves about 150-300 new migrants each day, so your donations are very much still needed. If you still have boxes, drawers or bags of clothes you need to move out of your house, you can bring needed items to the shelter's collection center in UTC. Or if you want to pick an amount and hit the store for needed items, go for it!
- Shirts and sweaters (sizes small and medium)
- Pants (sizes 30 x 30 and below or boys XL)and M/S leggings
- Backpacks (used ok), shoelaces, hats & beanies
- Protein bars for travel bags (not granola bars)
- More international calling cards. These can be bought at Rite Aid, CVS, or Walgreens. We are going through these faster than anticipated, so we really appreciate the donations!
- Outdoor toys (no balls please. Tricycles, hula hoops. ask us in advance)
- You can also shop on our AMAZON WISH LIST!
Good Samaritan Episcopal Church- UTC Area
4321 Eastgate Mall, San Diego, CA 92121
Would you like to learn more about the shelter? Here is a news video documenting when Governor Newsom visited recently.
Keep fighting for what you know is right. We're right here alongside you!
Trish
Chair, Lifting Generations
3rd Annual Womens March
The 3rd Annual Women's March, San Diego, proved to be a powerful event yet again. Women raised their voices to contest their oppression and call out the inequality we experience daily. From our re-awakening in 2016, to Me Too!, to the struggles and violence towards migrant women and their families, we showed that we remain outraged, empowered, and activated to demand progress. As we look towards 2020, know that Lifting Generations is a place you can trust to fight for the rights of women, immigrants and minoritized peoples. Our steering committee is meeting in February to plan our work for the coming year. We look forward to engaging you and continuing to bring our community together around our values.
In solidarity,
Trish
Emergency Supplies Needed for Migrants
As the rain comes down today, please think of the children and families that have been through so much and are waiting to apply for asylum at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The living conditions in the sports complex where the migrants are waiting are reported to be very poor. They need emergency supplies and this need has certainly increased as the weather has turned cold and wet.
Thankfully, Border Angels, a San Diego non-profit all volunteer led organization has been supporting migrants at the border since 1986 advocating for socially just policies and practices. Border Angels has opened a Target registry for items the migrants in Tijuana desperately need. The items will be shipped directly to Border Angels who will deliver them to the migrants! Let's buy out the list with the help of friends and family. Let's do this.
https://www.target.com/gift-registry/giftgiver?registryId=34756a86c0874cf0ac91f1fc38fa0306&lnk=registry_custom_url
Thank you to LiftGen member, Chandra Bishop, for kicking off this emergency supply drive!
Thank you and Celebrate
The election results are mostly in and we are so happy that your contributions and two years of hard work have resulted in flipping the US House to Democratic control! Come January, we will have a check on the President and the ability to investigate, subpoena, and direct officials to testify under oath. (Although the Democrats in the House could impeach Trump, Democrats do not have the two-thirds majority in the Senate to be able to convict and remove him, so it may be a better strategy to wait on Mueller's report.) The Democrats in the House will be able to draft legislation and bring it to the floor for votes!
Having control of the House is excellent news and despite some stinging losses, the incredible Democratic wins in typically Republican places is astounding and bodes well for 2020 when many more Republican Senate seats will be up for election! We've won an important battle and our future looks bright for 2020!
How did the candidates that we funded do? Here are the results as of the writing of this email:
Mike Levin CA-49 WINS!
Ann Kirkpatrick AZ-2 WINS!
Donna Shalala FL-27 WINS!
Krysten Sinema AZ-Senate TOO CLOSE TO CALL!
Ammar Campa-Najjar CA-50 LOSES :-(
Importantly, this midterm election was an historic win for women, people of color, and minoritized peoples! Together, hundreds of groups just like ours across the country made the the House flip to Democrats and voted in the people whose voices and ideas need to be heard in our government. We thank you from the deepest places in our hearts for your support.
Now, we are ready to strategize for 2020! We know that we can count on you to continue fighting for the rights of women, immigrants, and minoritized peoples. We'll be in touch soon with our next actions, events, educational opportunities, and news!
Trish
Chair, LiftGen
Election Day Letter from Trish
Dear LiftGen,
On this midterm election day, I have three important messages:
First, vote. Today. You know this. Most of you did already. High five! But if for some reason you have not, go anyway. Even if you are not registered, you can go and register today and vote a provisional ballot. Do. It. Tell your friends and family to do it. (By 8 PM in CA.)
Second, I want to send you a heartfelt THANK YOU for supporting LiftGen! Whether you donate to our PAC to flip Congress, work tirelessly on our steering committee, pop in and out to lend your beautiful support, attended an event, protest or rally or stay informed and supportive, THANK YOU! Today is a marker, a new chapter, a pause, a sigh, and a moment for reflection on all we have accomplished over the last two years. There is no denying our little community of women and their families have found a well-spring of undeniable power through breaking down so many doors that were once closed to us. I am PROUD of our work. We have done so well for and have learned so much about supporting women, immigrants, and minoritized peoples. So, please give yourself a hug from me, and partake in a virtual clink of glasses because you deserve it, we deserve it!
Third, and most important today, here’s my thinking on a game-plan for the three possible scenarios when the election results come in tonight (or even over the next weeks if races are tight and more ballots need counting):
Scenario (A)
Republicans maintain their majorities in the House and Senate. Don’t despair. Although unlikely, this sets us up for a more sweeping Democratic victory in 2020. I know, I know..two more years(!) - but LISTEN: In this case, Trump continues to make mistakes and is emboldened to skirt the law and dig his hole deeper providing more evidence for Mueller. He will continue to get nothing done and his voters will finally begin to bear the burden of his policies that hurt them: access to affordable healthcare, tariffs that hurt farmers and manufacturing jobs etc. When 2020 comes around there are many more Republican senators and House reps up for reelection, the blue wave will be ENORMOUS along with a new president and a Congress that can roll back most all the damage done with strong protective and just legislation.
Scenario (B)
Republicans keep their slim majority in the Senate but Dems get a majority in the House. This is what is predicted to happen. Once the Dems have a majority in the house, they will be able to investigate and subpoena. As Dem committee chairs are chosen in the House, they may even be able to subpoena Trump’s tax returns! And, yes, if Dems have a majority in the House, they can “impeach” Trump—BUT remember, impeachment is simply an indictment, an accusation, but does not remove Trump. If the House decides to impeach Trump, the next step is for the Senate to try him. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote to remove him and after tonight, we will not have 66 Dem Senators, so an impeachment trial in the Senate would be largely symbolic. It may make more sense to wait on Mueller’s report to judge if it’s worth it to have a Dem majority in the House vote on articles of impeachment.
Scenario (C)
Dems flip BOTH the House and the Senate to majority Dem control. First of all, hot damn, this would call for champagne and tequila or soda water shots! Celebrate! Then, consider that the situation described in Scenario (B) above still stands—we won’t have a super majority in the Senate (2/3 Dems) so removing Trump is unlikely unless there is hard-core evidence of high crimes. Basically this would be a warning shot to Republicans that the country is not into Trumpism and they need to consider independents and some bi-partisan legislation if they want to get anything done. We wait till 2020 in this scenario, to gain super-majorities and a new president to roll-back the damage from Trump.
So hold tight. We have a plan no matter what happens to grow our power and influence to protect the rights of women, immigrants, and minoritized populations.
With deepest gratitude for our (Re)sisterhood and our families,
Trish
Chair, Lifting Generations
Candlelight Vigil Brings Community Together in Love
