“If every member of the House of Representatives and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different.”
HOW IT WORKS
The Postcard Brigade is an easy and inexpensive way for you to lift the voices of communities experiencing genocide and human rights atrocities in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma/Myanmar and Bangladesh. Each month the Never Again Coalition will send you several pre-addressed and pre-stamped postcards with timely messages for leaders who can make a difference. All you have to do is sign your name and put them in the mail.
Subscription cost covers postage and printing. Any remaining funds are donated to organizations that help people affected by ongoing human rights abuse in Sudan, South Sudan, the DR Congo, Burma/Myanmar and Bangladesh.
BRIGADE HISTORY
How It All Began
By Diane Koosed, Postcard Brigade Founder
A few years ago, my congregation put on a short program to help us learn about the situation in Darfur. As one of the organizers, my job was to be able to answer the question people would surely ask: “What can I do to help?” Besides doing something for the long haul, I wanted to have an action they could do right then and there while the spirit moved them strongly. I went to the internet to learn what messages needed to go out to our lawmakers, thinking it would be fairly easy to accomplish this by looking at action alerts. There was no shortage of websites and no shortage of action alerts. But it took a great deal of time and research to learn which issues were, in fact, absolutely current and which were somewhat or grossly outdated. Then, it was an additional step — and in some cases lengthy — to find the correct addresses for the messages. I realized that most people could not be expected to spend the time on such research — certainly not on a regular basis.
But if someone, or a small committee, did the research for them? Wrote the postcards? Addressed them? Put stamps on them? I considered this: Would I be willing to be that person… part of that committee? Yes, I would. And: If someone sent me a set of several such postcards once a month, would I sign them and put them in the mail? Again, yes, I would. Some might call it “activism lite.” But if what we want are numbers getting our message across, then isn’t “activism lite” worthwhile?
And so, the Postcard Brigade began.