A few weeks back I posted a diary titled How Can I Be a Better Volunteer for the Obama Campaign?, where I asked for advice on how to deal with my overall shyness and inexperience when it came to volunteering. I received many great responses, and the support of the community was inspiring and empowering.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally got up the gumption to volunteer, participating in a community canvass on a Sunday afternoon. I initially worried that I'd be sent out into some neighborhood alone, not knowing what the hell I was doing. But that was hardly the case.
I met my local organizer at a private home near my home, where I was welcomed and immediately made to feel important. Six or seven other volunteers arrived shortly after, and we all chatted before the organizer started our training session. We were given our packets and instructions during the brief training session, and I came out of it feeling a little better about everything.
Lucky for me I didn't have to go out into the neighborhood alone. I was partnered with a new friend, Elaine, an ecologist who had some experience canvassing. Elaine and I drove to our first neighborhood, and apartment complex in the middle of town. You could see that it had once been a nice place, but the chipped paint and broken outdoor light fixtures showed its current neglect.
We started knocking on doors that Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. We knocked on probably 30-40 doors in the matter of a couple of hours. Almost every person in the community smiled when we said we were with the Obama campaign, showing enthusiasm I have never seen in a candidate before. They took our campaign literature and listened as we explained early-voting. I even got to whip out my printout comparing Obama and McCain's tax policies to one undecided voter.
So we finished up that day, and after deciding that we were a good team, decided to go out the next day, and then the next, and so on. We're going out now 4-5 times a week, knocking on doors and spreading the word.
I had wrote earlier that one of my biggest fears was that we would lose and would have done nothing to help us win. I no longer feel that way. I know we're going to win, and I'm going to be a part of it. I'm a part every time I register a voter. I'm a part every time I talk to an independent. I'm a part every time I tell someone how to early vote. I'm a part every time I slip some campaign literature under the door. I'm a part every time someone sees me with campaign buttons on my messenger bag, because they know that if some stranger cares enough about Obama to come and walk a strange neighborhood after a long day's work, then Obama might not be such a bad guy.
This is a great way to be a part of victory. And I encourage any of you who haven't gone out and knocked on your neighbor's doors to do so. Its a wonderful experience.