Archive for month: December, 2020

Dear Trotters!

First we thank our Sponsors who led the way for our excellent fund drive. SOMO Village, Traditional Medicinals, Lagunitas, Strauss Organics, Brewsters Beer Garden, Petaluma Market, Athletic Soles, ZFA Structural Engineers and Petaluma Oddfellows.

This virtual event and fundraiser was brought to you by MAD architecture, Aqus Community and the City of Petaluma.

You helped raise $5000 that went directly to the Redwood Empire Food Bank!
The canned food drive at Aqus Cafe was also a huge success bringing in 6 huge bins of food.

From a random online generator, the participating names were entered and multiplied if over $10 donation. The prizes are available for pick up at Aqus Cafe at 189 H Street, Petaluma and open from 8am to 6pm everyday.

Announcing this year’s winners!

Jessica Notheis – Lucy O’conner – Rene Casilli – Mellisa Byrne – Jared Vollmer – Jill White  – Kathleen O’Donnell  – Daniel Mulkey – Jeannette Dow  – Judy Lynch  – Jen Moratta  – Laura Grandcolas  – Cedony Farrar  – Pennylee Christensen  – Carlin Finke  – Marlene Cullen  – Elizabeth Manning  – Candice Aguirre  – Paul Siri

And if you are looking to have more fun please join us for this
year’s carol singing event on the 23rd….just a little different this year:
https://aqus.com/event/petaluma-holiday-carol-in/

love
Mary, Chris, Kevin, Diane & John

Howdy Podsters —  I suspect we are all at the end of our emotional ropes, trying to cope  with all the unknowns and broken routines that continue to frame our existence. That the Republican Enablers continue to challenge the un-contestable result of 2020 election is worrisome, though I think it will ultimately reflect very poorly on them.

But Biden and Harris won, and now we are have the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine: these are the bright spots that glimmer as we try to navigate our daily lives. The holidays will be so different, tinted in shades of  Charlie Brown — but we glimpse the bright flashes of hope and light at the end of the tunnel. And so we hang on.

Then of course, soaking up whatever is left of our brains and energy, there’s the Runoff in Georgia, a scant four weeks away. The best way to help Biden and Harris succeed is to have a Blue Senate that’s on their side.

Not all of us have the bandwidth to write postcards right now, but here a few other ways to help out:

1).  Join this  this dynamite Zoom concert,  Georgia Voices for A BLue Senate, shared with us by Sue Sullivan and the group, 1,000 Grandmas ,-at  5 p.m. PCT, Sunday, Dec 13th join in the songs, sing along with  the chorus, donate what you can to keep fighting in Georgia, This is a joint venture with Stacey Abrams and FairFight.org so the money will be put to good use.  LInks: https://www.1000grandmothers.com/. and here’s the link to the live feed on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/1000GrBA
Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens, our own Maria Muldaur — oh my gosh, it’s gonna be good! 5 p.m. PCT, Sunday, Dec 13th. I imagine you can view it afterwards, if you can’t make the time

2) Join in the phone banking — Julie Sherman writes “another way people can help GOTV for Georgia is phone banking.  …. Check out Indivisible Marin.  https://www.indivisiblemarin.org/phonebanks

3) Or donate to these organizations, even a few shekels can help. Funds are used to support voter-outreach workers, who need PPE. room & board, and purchase billboards. advertising time. The whole ball of wax. Following info is retrieved from Gloria Bealer’s Postcard Sonoma County Newsletter:

• Reverend Warnock’s campaign  http://warnockforgeorgia.com/runoff
• Jon Ossoff’s campaign http://electjon.com
• Black Voters Matter Fund. The group advocates for expanded voting rights and access, and just finished months of intensive voter registration and outreach across the South. Now they’re hitting the streets in the Peach state. Donate here.
• ACLU of Georgia. The civil liberties legal group is intensely involved in protecting Georgians’ voter rights both in courtrooms and at polling stations, complete with an Election Protection Hotline. Donate here.

However, if you are still eager to write postcards, there is time for one last round.   The turn-around is tight- cards need to be mailed by Friday,  Dec 18th — or in one case, by Dec 20th.

• Writers can continue to contact PostcrdstoVoters.org for up to the deadline, quick service online addresses. Text JOIN to Abby The Address Bot at 484-275-2229‬
• Or they can contact Indivisible Marin, which has a campaign for Georgia Voters with an extended deadline of Dec 20h.
• OR if you prefer to work with The Pod, please email me right away  for addresses: lakhan@sonic.net. Let me know if you want to pick up packets on The Porch (cards, stamps, addresses, script) — or if you’d like addresses delivered to you by email. We’ll work to get addresses and cards ready for you by the end of the weekend, either way.

We have no idea what campaigns will come up after the Georgia Runoff. Perhaps there’ll be a slowdown in political activity. a quiet time to rest and rejuvenate. But for sure, at some point, we’ll rev back into action to help secure Democrat wins at the polls in 2021.

This newsletter will be the way we reach out to you when the next campaign comes up. If you no longer want to receive emails, there’s an Unsubscribe button at the very bottom of this newsletter.

Here’s to a Happy Hanukkah, full of light and conversation, even if virtual — and
stay warm, stay writing, light some candles, dance in the rain when we get it and  let’s Flip the Senate BLUE!
Lakin & The Wranglers, Alice, Julie, Nancy and Sue

p.s. if you have any questions or concerns, please reply to this email. ~ LK

p.p.s — if you have any photos to share — of your current writing station or from Before Times at Aqus, send them to me! I’d like to put together an end-of-the-year photo album to share.