A team of Convention of States (COS) California volunteers, lead by District Captain Mary Hebert, shown above explaining Article V, had an exhibit table last weekend at the three-day Christian Homeschool Educators Association of California (CHEA) Convention held at Biola University in La Mirada. District Captain Hebert is a homeschool mom to her two sons. The volunteer team included Deb Oresko, State Media Liaison, Andrew Lusch, COS Regional Director, Doug Crocker of the Follow Up Team; volunteer Erin Anderson and Caleb Hebert.
“I had dozens of wonderful conversations with an audience that cares about self-governance,” DC Hebert said.
The COS exhibit table couldn't be missed by attendees. Located in the entrance hall of the gym, the exhibit featured tabletop signs, an iPad running Convention of States video content, informative flyers and two ways to sign the COS petition: using the printed QR Code or filling out the paper form. Between keynote addresses, meals and classes, the homeschool educators and homeschool families strolled the exhibit hall. Most of them, after visually scanning the information, looked up and asked, “what is Convention of States?”
One way the volunteers introduced COS was to mention a familiar name in homeschooling: Michael Farris, who co-founded Convention of States. He is known as president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom. He is founding president of both the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA, 1983) and Patrick Henry College (PHC, 2000), which were represented in the exhibit hall. Farris continues to serve as chairman of the board of HSLDA and chancellor emeritus of PHC, according to The Federalist Society.
“It was a great opportunity to talk at length about COS with my homeschool acquaintances from up and down the state,” Hebert said.
She is talented at breaking down the complex concept of an Article V amendments convention of states from her years of teaching American History to her sons. Her well-informed and gracious manner prompted one Biola political science and honors professor to invite her to speak to his students in the Fall.
Another interaction Mary had was with an attendee from Venezuela. A journalist in who escaped the country prior to the regime of Hugo Chavez, the woman said many of her colleagues were jailed. She spoke of her concerns about government corruption and overreach. Now a US citizen living in North Carolina, she took extra flyers to share with her neighbors.
“It was a lot of fun to work the booth with my son and other COS volunteers,” Hebert said. She enjoyed a conversation with the makers of the Constitution Quest board game who were convention exhibitors. Hebert and her fellow COS volunteers saw for themselves the typical myths and concerns that some people have about COS. She set the example of how to respond with facts and good listening.
Most of all DC Hebert and the team enjoyed working together to present homeschool educators and homeschool families a vision and path out of unsustainable federal overreach and corruption; a way forward with new hope for America, an Article V Convention of States.
