In an electronic age, people don’t send handwritten letters to Congress very often, which means your handwritten letters stand out. It is easy to host a letter-writing party, and you can get people to take action while having fun and learning more about why we need to develop our own energy resources.
Here are some tips to make your letter-writing party a success:
Make it fun.
There are many ways you can emphasize the “party” in “letter-writing party” to make it fun for your friends and neighbors:
- Have a potluck or a picnic.
- Make it a movie night or host brunch.
- Bring in a guest speaker to host a discussion on energy citizenship and our need for domestic oil and natural gas.
- Create a fun activity or game to help people get to know each other.
Of course, you can always come up with your own creative idea. The key is to make being there a valuable experience for the people who come.
Get people informed.
Writing letters together allows people to share ideas, collaborate, and feel part of a movement. As the host of the party, it’s your job to show people that writing letters is important and effective. Things to share include:
- Whom you are writing to and why.
- What you’re asking for and why.
- Why letter-writing works.
Be prepared.
Make writing letters as easy as possible for people. You can provide everything or make bringing supplies part of the letter “potluck.” Make sure you have:
Ask people to do more.
If your letter-writing party gets people excited about taking action to support energy security, you’ll want to take advantage of that excitement:
- Encourage them to spread the word among other friends and neighbors.
- Ask them to sign up on the Energy Citizens site.
- Encourage them to hold their own letter-writing party.
These are just a few suggestions; you should feel free to be creative about ways people in your community can do more.
Get everyone’s contact information.
Your letter-writing party can lead to more participation if you follow up with everyone who attended. Make sure you have everyone’s phone numbers and email addresses so you can plan other events in the future. And don’t forget to let them know when there are opportunities to take action on the Energy Citizens site.
Report back.
We want to share your action and successes with others, and be able to tell members of Congress about what you are doing in their districts. Let Renee (info@energycitizens.org) keep track of the number of letters you generate and take photos so we can post them to our site. Your actions can inspire others to follow your lead!