Non-endorsement message: My blog
does not endorse any particular political candidate or political
party. This is a political post, but it is in no way an endorsement,
nor do I publicly support any presidential candidate.
So, the final countdown is on.
We're right
at the finish line for the election.
Tuesday brings voting and politics, and also pancakes, to Sylvania. The Sylvania Rotary Foundation will sponsor their 55th annual Pancake Supper at the Northview High School cafeteria, from 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. The suggested donation for the meal is $5. A few local guest cooks will be at the griddle, including area political and community leaders. Proceeds help Sylvania Area Family Services and the Boy Scout building at Camp Miakonda.
And now, to the politics.
I spent some time today with a
few volunteers for Obama for America, from the Sylvania field office,
as they prepared for the last day before the election.
In a brown house in Sylvania's Sleepy
Hollow addition, resident Cathy Johns volunteered her Applecreek Road
home as a staging location. As a meeting place for volunteers, Ms.
Johns opened up her home to support the president because of a
personal story.
“I started to support the president
in 2008 because of a very serious health problem with my daughter,”
she said. “She was dropped from her father's health insurance,
because she could not return to college, even though she had been
insured by the same company from the moment she was born, until the
moment she was diagnosed. We had health insurance. We didn't think
that that could be taken away so easily,” she said.
Citing the Affordable Care Act, with
prohibits insurance companies from dropping coverage when those who
are insured get sick, Ms. Johns said the accountability of the act
would have benefited her family a few years ago.
“
And now with the Affordable Care Act, if that had happened now, my
daughter would be protected. That was a big victory for us when that
happened and from that moment on, there wasn't any doubt that I was
going to be here to make sure he gets re-elected...” she said.
Volunteers from the Sylvania Obama for America office, including Cathy Johns (center) and Sheila Banerji (right) and another volunteer, work together to report information from canvassing. Photo by: Kelly McLendon
What the Sylvania staging site was like:
All around Ms. Johns house, about half
a dozen volunteers were grouped together, some checking volunteers
in, while others were tallying up the results of the canvassing they
did earlier Monday morning. Tina Hibbs, who has been volunteering her
time since September, was one of those canvassers who knocked on
doors and tried to start a dialogue with those who answered.
She said she wanted to get involved to
help with re-election efforts, but also so that she would feel like
she was part of something bigger.
“I didn't want to wake up the next
morning and realize I didn't help,” Ms. Hibbs said.
Behind-the-scenes:
A little after 1 p.m., after the
morning canvassers returned, Ms. Johns and two other volunteers went
into the “reporting room,” of the house, ready to send the data
that canvassers had collected.
The sign on the door of the reporting room, where volunteers were compiling and sending data. Photo by: Kelly McLendon
Finding community
Sheila Banerji was one of those who
helped with the reporting.
While many of the women were helping
with the campaign for various differing reasons, she said at the end
of the day, they were able to bind together as a collective.
“I think the best thing about this
whole process has been meeting people and the variety of people that
are working to help re-elect the president. It's an amazing community
feel and the diversity of reasons that they're voting; their stories
for why they're voting have been really inspiring,” she said.
Contact
Kelly McLendon at
kmclendon@theblade.com
or
419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.
