Thanks to everyone who worked on and participated in the GRN Florida Summer Outreach Campaign! While folks are still knocking on doors in Louisiana, the Tampa canvass office wound down last week. Our intrepid canvassers pounded the pavement from Tampa to Sarasota to Tallahassee to launch GRN’s “Defend Florida’s Gulf Coast” campaign and build the GRN member base in Florida. With over 25,000 face-to-face conversations, the outreach efforts raised visibility and name recognition for GRN and helped further our priority campaigns in Florida.Canvassers and new members helped build the public call for Governor Crist to use his position to ensure that environmental laws are being enforced by the state, to support legislation safeguarding healthy and flowing waters, and to oppose oil drilling off Florida’s coast. Over 170 handwritten action letters and a meeting with the Governor’s staff brought our message of a healthy Gulf directly to Mr. Crist.The Tampa canvass office recruited over 1,000 new GRN members in Florida and raised over $82,000 for the coast! We greatly appreciate everyone who took time from their day to get an update from a GRN representative about Gulf-specific issues affecting their community and then joined the fight for the coast by signing up. All of that public support, especially the reliable and on-going support of our Gulf Sustainers, will be incredibly valuable to GRN’s future work in Florida.There are too many folks to specifically appreciate here, but I would like to list a few. Special thanks to Jay Palermo, Canvass Director, and Kendra Kelley, Assistant Canvass Director, for the countless hours spent leading the way for the canvass crew. Jacob Lewis was an incredible canvasser, Field Manager, and presence in the office, and he will be leading Campus Organizing efforts at USF-Tampa this coming school year. Matt Butner and Jessica Konecnik were Campaign Leaders who worked hard to engage canvassers and the public in Save Our Cypress rallies and other campaign efforts. Many thanks to Gianna Chao, Liz Shirley, Cale Coffman, and Lauren DeVore for their commitment and leadership.Dan Favre is the GRN Campaign Organizer.
