Tireless and determined volunteers aid the campaign

As the seventh week of my internship with Planned Parenthood and the campaign of Representative Barbara McIlvaine Smith is beginning, I am realizing just how much I have learned already. For the past six weeks, Ashley and I have worked on Barb’s campaign with Lani, the campaign manager, and various dedicated and eccentric volunteers. We started working out of Lani’s house for the first two weeks and then opened our campaign office in downtown West Chester, where we feel welcomed and at home. Every day, we make phone calls, enter data, stuff envelopes, come up with new GOTV (Get Out The Vote) ideas, work on Barb’s Facebook and Myspace, write fundraising letters, and try to get to know the district a little bit better.

I have met so many volunteers who are committed to ensuring Barb’s re-election, even if they do not reside in the 156^th district. From Leslie, who stuffs palm cards in doorknob bags while she watches the Phillies games to Richard, affectionately known as Baba, who pokes into the office multiple times a week to give us his fresh, new ideas and engage us in conversation that seems like it never ends, Barb’s volunteers are tireless and determined; they believe that Barb is the best person for the job because of her ethics and her dedication to important and progressive issues. For these same reasons, I have morphed into a huge Barb supporter and find myself talking to Ashley almost every day about how we wish we lived in the district so that we could vote for her in November.

I really feel like I am not only gaining valuable experience for my own benefit this summer, but I am also making a difference by working on the McIlvaine Smith campaign because Barb is an excellent representative. She is dedicated to ethics reform in Harrisburg, an issue that needs to be addressed desperately if our state legislature truly wants to affect positive change for the people of Pennsylvania. Barb is most concerned with three issues besides ethics reform: the environment, education and healthcare. She is pro-choice and very supportive of Planned Parenthood’s issues. Barb is a regular citizen who decided to take a stand for what she believed in for the benefit of her community, district and state. Because I am grateful for her courageous work in an area of the commonwealth that is not always very receptive to democrats holding office and change in the status quo, I am enjoying my internship that much more. In Barb, I have found a leader to learn from, to fight for and most of all, to admire.

- Molly, Southeast PA