We will hold our first food drive of 2010 at Glen’s Market in Boyne City on Saturday, January 16.  The drive will benefit the NEW Boyne Falls Pantry, as well as the Boyne City Community Pantry and the Boyne Area Free Clinic.  We have heard that January is the most difficult month for food pantries, so we decided to wait until then to do our next drive.  Several other organizations hold events around the holidays and then the pantries are forgotten.  We need volunteers to work in two-hour shifts, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Please call Barb at 582-0416 to volunteer or email us at charlevoixdems@aim.com.

We have held four food drives in 2009, collecting nearly 50 cartloads of food for four area food pantries and supplies for the Boyne Area Free Clinic, as well as $2000 in cash and checks.   The drives were held twice in Boyne City and once each in Charlevoix and East Jordan.  

We hand out slips of paper at the door with lists of the items the pantries or free clinic need and ask that the shopper leave the item with us on the way out.  Many people really want to help out the less fortunate in the county, but don’t know how to do it.  They appreciate how easy we make it for them to donate.  If you want to help, but are unable to volunteer at the drives, you can mail a check, made out to the pantry, to us at:  Charlevoix County Democratic Party, P. O. Box 651, Boyne City, MI  49712.

If you would like to volunteer in future food drives, please contact us at charlevoixdems@aim.com or call Barb at 582-0416.  Those of us who have done it have found it a very rewarding experience.

There are several important issues facing Congress and President Obama at this time – healthcare reform, clean energy policy, war funding, gay and lesbian rights, just to name a few.  It is important to contact your legislators about your opinions, EVEN IF THEY SEEM TO AGREE WITH YOU.  Our senators and representatives hear from both sides of every issue and need to know where their constituents stand.  Here is contact information for Levin, Stabenow and Stupak:

Carl Levin:  Phone:  (202) 224-6221, e-mail http://levin.senate.gov/contact/
Debbie Stabenow:  (202) 224-4822, e-mail http://stabenow.senate.gov/contact.htm
Bart Stupak: (202) 225-4735, e-mail http://www.house.gov/stupak/IMA/issue2.htm

Writing letters is less effective, due to security measures that hold mail up to six weeks.  E-mails are more effective if written in your own words, rather than those of a form letter from an organization.  Your contact will also be more effective if you are polite and rational in outlining your reasons for supporting or opposing a measure.   Name-calling and rants are less likely to be taken into account.

Call or e-mail today!

All campaign filings due for 2008 have been completed and filed with the Secretary of State.   The reports can be viewed at the Michigan Secretary of State website (under “Links” to the right of this screen).  Once there, click on “Elections in Michigan”  and follow the links to the Campaign Finance Database.  Once there, you can look at county party filings as well as the filings for state-level candidates.  This information can be very interesting – you can see where the money comes from, who gets the special interest money, and what it is used for.

The next filing won’t be due until January 31, 2010.

Please note that we have moved our P. O. Box from Charlevoix to Boyne City.  Our new mailing address is:

Charlevoix County Democratic Party
P. O. Box 651
Boyne City, Michigan  49712

Election night at the Villager Pub – Thanks to all of you who helped to make this result possible!