When I hear the words “block walking”, my mind can’t help but drift off to the Minecraft worlds my daughters used to wander... digging for treasures and building their town, while having encounters with grunting villagers and ominous creepers. Thankfully, block walking with our Michigan Convention of States team is nothing like that. As you can read below, the villagers are not grunting, the creepers are not creeping, and the treasure we are digging for is nothing but righteous self-governance!
Laurie Sallans, Michigan’s State Block Walk Captain, was so kind to take the time and answer some questions I had about COS’ block walking efforts.
Laurie, can you first tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved with COS?
I retired in October 2017 to spend more time with my grandchildren and to travel more with my husband to Europe. I was living the dream until the 2020 election. By the time Biden took office I realized that I was going to have to get active in saving this country and our freedoms for my grandchildren. I heard about COS from Mark Levin and signed the petition as well as checking the box to volunteer. I got a call to join a town hall meeting in April, 2021 and have been active in COS ever since then.
What made you decide to become involved in block walking and what is your current role in that?
Well once I joined and learned we were building a grassroots army, I wanted to get started in my own city. I decided to have a town hall in June, 2021. I started block walking with 3 other COS volunteers to tell people about COS and my town hall. We walked a couple days a week for 2 weeks and had such a great response from the residents in Westland, we kept walking after the town hall event to get more petitions signed.
Our State Grassroots coordinator was involved in the town hall and when he found out how much I liked block walking he asked if I would be interested in the Michigan State Block Walking Captain (SBWC) position that was open. Of course I said yes and became one of the first SBWCs in the country and helped get the program up and running nationally.
What does it take to be a block walker, and what is the level of commitment expected from your volunteers?
We like to have the block walkers go out to walk once a month to join a block walk event. This is a 3 to 3.5 hour commitment on a Saturday morning from late April to late October in Michigan. We have teams of two walking each side of the street on mapped route in a city neighborhood. If we have more than two teams, they cover other mapped walking routes in the same area. We try to cover 20 houses per hour and up to 40 plus houses in the 2 hour time frame.
Someone might think, that is a good fit for me, but I don’t feel I have the knowledge or qualifications to go out and talk to people about a Convention of States. Is there anything COS provides in terms of training?
That is the exact reason we started the block walking: to give volunteers the opportunity to become active with very little training. There is a need to get volunteers engaged and this is the solution. The block walkers can get Zoom training here in Michigan for 20 minutes and watch a 5 minute video. They also sign a volunteer agreement. Then, within a couple weeks, I coordinate a block walk in a city close to the trainees and they are invited to attend.
We meet on Saturday mornings at 9:45am at a coffee shop and hand out supplies and form teams of two people. We always try to pair a trained block walker with a newbie so they are comfortable getting information to the residents and answering questions. We provide clipboards, printed tri-folds and pamphlets with my contact information to leave with the residents in case they have questions. We walk from 10am to 12pm Saturdays and then the teams meet back up at the coffee shop for refreshments, light snacks and share stories about the block walking experience. I also encourage taking team pictures before and after as well as with any willing petition signers.
We have videos in COS University that anyone who wants to organize block walks can get further training to become a Block Walk District Captain. The organizers are encouraged to plan one block walk a month.
When you go out block walking, what are your encounters usually like? Do you get a lot of positive responses from the people you meet?
We tell them our name and we are with Convention of States, a non- partisan, non-profit grass roots group founded in 2013. We then ask, “How do you feel the federal government is working for you?” If they answer it is not working for them, then we tell them about our solution. We get a lot of interest from people who are upset with the federal government’s overreach of its powers these days and their out-of-control spending. They feel a sense of hope when we tell them why we are block walking.
We find about 99% of the people who answer their door have never heard of Convention of States. It is very rewarding when they thank you for taking the time to help save our country. We have pamphlets with COS information which also contains contact information if someone needs to call for more info or they have any questions.
We have met all types of people who are dissatisfied with the government from all political parties who want changes made at the federal level. We especially had a interest from Democrats who voted for Biden but were upset when he forced the vaccine mandates on everyone in the country. That triggered so many people with the federal overreach. Those people were so happy to hear about Article V and the solution we have.
Where can people go if they are interested in joining your block walking team, or if they have more questions about it?
The best way to get information is to call me or email me directly at 313-819-1042 or laurie.sallans@cosaction.com.
We have 12 block walks being planned all over the state this year April - October from Marquette to Belleville to Grand Rapids. There will be more Zoom training classes monthly as well as several in person block walks to train the volunteers if they can't attend the Zoom classes.
