The following article was written by Convention of States North Carolina District Captain Jeff Groh.
On a sunny, sultry July 4th in Brevard, a small but energetic team of COS volunteers engaged an enthusiastic crowd at the Heart of Brevard July 4th Festival.
The team gathered nearly 140 petition signers, well exceeding expectations for this first-time COS event.
The American Flag welcomes festival attendees.
Floyd Dyess(NC119) and myself were joined by new NC 113 volunteers Chris Wiener and Lauren Case, along with their children.
There were many inspiring storylines from the event. One is the satisfaction of engaging new volunteers Chris Wiener and Lauren Case.
As Lauren said after the event: “Great to work with you yesterday! I learned a lot, as did my kids. It seemed to me that people were interested and engaged in seeking information and quite receptive…”
As all District Captains know, part of what motivates all of us is engaging new volunteers to help spread the COS message and continue to build the grassroots army that will be so important for long-term success.
NC 113 Volunteers Chris Wiener
and Lauren Case (center) with
new petition signers.
Heidi Wiener, Chris Wiener’s 9 year-old daughter, and her infectious fearlessness the entire day was so amazing and inspiring. At some point early on, I spied Heidi grabbing a stack of my business cards and proceeding to stand in the middle of street engaging everyone that walked by, asking them if they had heard of COS and handing out my cards.
When I realized what she was doing, I gave her palm cards instead! No one asked her to do that, so for a 9 year-old to take that initiative gives me so much hope. Later, I told her she had a bright future. She looked up at me and said, “I want to be a Navy Seal.” I have no doubt that is exactly what she will be.
festival attendees!
Finally, the team had a slightly different strategy at this event. After someone signed the petition, we would ask them to also sign the “COS Pledge.” The pitch was that it is not good enough to sign the petition, though that is important, but also to personally call their local state representative and senator.
With the recent failure to get a house vote still fresh in our minds, we explained that it is time to turn up the heat in North Carolina on our elected officials. They need to hear from every one of the 40,000 COS supporters to make sure they cannot hide from their responsibility to help rein in the federal government.
COS volunteer Chris Wiener stands
in front of the COS Pledge board.
In summary, there almost could not be a better day of the year to engage our neighbors, friends, family, and colleagues on the need for a Convention of States.
The Declaration of Independence still resonates today: Our rights come from God, not government. Sadly, the Founders’ fears have come to fruition as many in our country have turned their backs on that concept and elevated the role of the federal government well beyond what the Founders’ envisioned.
It is not too late!
