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
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
or 419-206-0356 or on Twitter at @MyTownSylvania.
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