I recently had the opportunity to participate in two events that helped expand our presence and impact across the Mississippi coastal region. The first event was our Pascagoula Gun Show. Pete Wilson is the regional director for the coast, but Alana Campo is the district captain in that area who took up the reins and made this show happen.
Alana made over 200 phone calls to recruit 47 booth volunteers for the Gun Show. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to make it to the event, but those who joined her were able to get 193 more petitions signed and 6 volunteers out of about 500 people who attended the event.
Alana’s successful volunteer recruitment and organization can be traced back in part to her use of CitizenBuilder, the Convention of States volunteer management tool. This tool is available to all state and district leaders to streamline data for our use as events such as this are presented.
Looking through the list of volunteers in CitizenBuilder, Alana found a list of volunteers in the coastal region of Mississippi. One gentleman name Pete Shuman has been a volunteer since 2017. A week after he volunteered at the Pascagoula Gun Show with us, he called her to see if COS wanted to set up a table at the upcoming motorcycle rally.
Pete was able to get us into the 2021 Asgard Blowout Motorcycle Rally for free and let us set up our booth under the headquarters tent. Since my schedule was open for Saturday, I handled the table for Saturday and used hotel points for overnight accommodations. The results from the 2021 motorcycle rally were 71 new petitions.
My fellow patriots, this is how we grow our grassroots. Every person who signs our petition comes from a different life experience. With each experience, we increase our personal sphere of influence with people who have their own sphere of influence. Just like the body of Christ, everyone has their own experiences, gifts, and talents, but we all have a role to play in equipping our COS supporters and expanding our COS family.
Tips learned from these two experiences for future events:
- Know how to use your CitizenBuilder data system so you, too, can identify existing supporters and volunteers in the area your event is taking place.
- Be aware that volunteers who agree to help you with an event frequently develop conflicts with family or work and are unable to help, so pack your schedule with backups or have people on standby to fill in gaps.
- Focus on building relationships with your volunteers. We are in the relationship business. Every person with whom you work or meet is connected to other groups of people who are prospects for the Convention of States. In fact, some may already be supporters who do not yet know where to ‘plugin.’
- People with whom you volunteer often volunteer in other organizations (i.e., Motorcycle Club, Rotary Club, Chamber, Church, etc.). They, too, have a pool of potential recruits with diverse talents, perspectives, and passion for restoring our nation. They also have events of their own that we may participate in some way, such as speaking at a Rotary luncheon or church function, a booth at an annual fair or rally, etc.)
Don’t miss out on the blessings I experienced with the people I met at these events. I would never have had the opportunity to expand my personal world or sphere of influence without the COS tools and people. We are truly building a grassroots army that has room for every single patriot in the USA. What a weekend…what an experience! I thank God daily for bringing the Convention of States into my life and for the impact these experiences have had on me.
