After
getting used to church floors, we were able to finally catch some much needed
sleep. Despite the restful night, the morning turned quite disadvantageous for
me at least. My poor timing in securing a shower at the Y rendered the water as
completely freezing cold. Perhaps I should do more camping.
We
were all excited to wear our Alternative Break shirts for the first day that we
would be volunteering. Unfortunately, disaster struck there as well when I
spilled on my shirt, causing an unmistakable yellow stain. Frantically
attacking my shirt with a borrowed Clorox bleach pen and then later a hair
dryer, I managed to successfully remove the stain in time for us to be uniform
for our meeting with Billy from Rainbow Health Initiative.
We
also made it to the grocery store to buy more than just cereal. It seems like
when our group isn’t frantically tweeting with hashtags, singing along to We
Are Young (our group song), or volunteering of course, we’re eating. I blame it
on the fact that food is not readily available to us; we all just go into “eat
like there’s no tomorrow” apocalyptic mode.
 |
| Amanda, Julie, Shelby (ME AGAIN!), Kaitlyn, Leigh, and Adam, all stoked to finally be at RHI |
 |
| Flat Jay gets a chance to make a phone call |
After
a quick introduction to Rainbow Health Initiative, Billy gave us some
information on what we would be doing the rest of the week. We were being put
to use in a variety of ways, branching out into other organizations. At the end
of the week, we would be proud volunteers for seven different organizations. We
left Rainbow Health Initiative feeling excited and eager for the new activities
each day had in store.
Two
quick stops and 30 minutes of goof-off time later, we were in the van again
headed to volunteer at a phone bank with Minnesotans United for all Families.
We went through training and then were put on the phones to call Minnesotan
voters, asking them to vote no on the proposition that would ban gay marriage
in the Minnesotan constitution. Our script had two main questions in the style
of a survey, but the rest of the text was more of a conversation. We asked them
about what they felt, what their concerns were, what their stories were. In
some cases we shared personal stories. One of my best friends still in high
school is gay, and I shared with two voters how much I want to see him be able
to marry the man of his dreams.
We
were taught about the concept of a ‘moved’ voter. A moved voter did not always
switch extremes. For example, there would almost never be a case of switching
from 100% Support to 100% Oppose. Rather, a moved voter was something we had to
intuit. Even if the person started undecided and remained undecided, if
something we said or something we asked them caused them to rethink the issue
in a different light and possibly give it more thought, then we had a moved
voter. We were told about half of us would experience moving a voter. I was a
little nervous, and very hopeful that I would get to have such an experience. You
can imagine my delight when I moved not one, but two voters.
I
was lucky to not have very bad experiences. Those who fully supported the
proposal were polite to me. Some in our group were not so lucky, and spoke with
people who used abusive language and tones. The fact that there is still so
much anger and ignorance on this issue is disappointing, but progress is being
made. By the end of the evening, we had had almost 150 conversations with
voters, and 75 of those had fully opposed the proposal! At the start of the
week, I was a bit unsure as to the impact I would be making. I loved phone
banking because I felt like it was quite possible that I was actually making a
difference. What if the outcome only comes down to a few votes? What if one of
those few votes was someone I called and made aware or even moved? It’s a
tantalizing thought, and one that everyone in our group felt as we drove back
to meet our dear church floor for another night.
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