In this Newsletter:
- Fish & Dogs Fundraiser
- Upcoming Events
- Breakfast Meeting Notes
- Youth Voter Registration Drive
Fish & Dogs Fundraiser
The annual Fish & Dogs Fundraiser (formerly “Dogs & Burgers”) is one of the two main events to help the GWCDP raise money to effectively pursue its goals for the year.
We need your help! Please contact the Fish & Dogs Committee Chair, Claude Wright, at wrighttravel65@yahoo.com or by phone (864) 992-7087 if you would like to offer assistance in:
- Food donations (chips, beans, drinks, hot dogs, etc)
- Coolers & ice
- Serving, cooking, clean-up
- Offering and seeking donations for door prizes
- Advertising, promotion, distributing flyers
- Selling tickets!
All Precinct Leaders should pick up a batch of tickets to sell. If each could successfully sell only 5-10, we’d have the largest fundraiser ever! Please e-mail info@gwdcountydems.org to purchase tickets or to receive some to sell.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, May 24
Meet and Greet with Mary Geren, SC-3 Candidate for US Congress
6:30 pm – 8 pm
Please see the Facebook Event Page for more information.
Sunday, May 27
4 pm
The Greenwood Area Martin Luther King, Jr. Mass Choir will celebrate their annual Spring Concert
Mt . Moriah Baptist Church
914 Highway 221, Greenwood, SC
Saturday, June 2
Monthly Breakfast Meeting
9 am – 11 am
Inn on the Square
Guest Speaker: SC-3 Congressional Candidate, Hosea Cleveland
Saturday, June 9
Fish & Dogs Fundraiser
11 am – 5 pm
Emma Gaskin Memorial Park, Greenwood
Tuesday, June 12
South Carolina Candidate Primaries. For Greenwood, the key candidates we will be voting on
- Democratic Candidate to represent SC-3: Hosea Cleveland or Mary Geren.
- Democratic Candidate for SC Governor: Phil Noble, Marguerite Willis, James Smith
We encourage you to hear their messages and VOTE!
Breakfast Meeting Notes, May 5
We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with another packed room at Inn on the Square for our monthly Breakfast Meeting. Below are some of the highlights!
As always, we maintain an information table where you can pick up literature about voter registration, Real ID, candidates running for office, and other items related to the guest speakers for the day.
Claude Wright led off with a rousing “Blue Wave” cheer.
Party Chair, Charles Lewis, opened with several thoughts followed by a Candidate Search & Support Committee update from Dr. Bob Phillips. Please contact Dr. Bob if you are interested in participating in strategy discussions, debate preparation, and issue research.
The key Guest Speaker for the morning was Barbara Robinson, Director of Outpatient Services for Cornerstone. She spoke with great passion about her experiences, both personal and professional, in combating the opioid epidemic that plagues our nation.
Care must be taken with pain medication prescriptions, as they can be extremely addictive. When distributed and taken without a planned and controlled wind-down period, a sudden withdrawal could lead the individual to dangerous and illegal remedies such as heroin.
Parents and other family members should treat their prescription drugs with the same caution and responsibility as they would with firearms. Too often children are taking these pills from their parents and then using, selling, or sharing them among themselves.
When no longer needed or expired, all medications should be disposed of properly. DO NOT FLUSH prescription drugs down the toilet or drain! You can dispose of old medications by using free prescription drug boxes available at the Greenwood and Abbeville County Sheriff’s Offices. You can also dispose of drugs at “take back day” events (usually held in the spring and fall).
Barbara left behind a wealth of literature as well as free at-home drug disposal pouches that we will have available at our table during future Breakfast Meetings.
Thank you, Barbara, for all you do and for sharing your story and information with us!
Next, 1st Vice Chair, Denise Waldrep spoke about upcoming efforts for Youth Voter Registration drives (see more info below).
Finally, Claude Wright and Cathie Swindell provided updates on the Fish & Dogs Fundraiser activities (as described above). We could use all the volunteers we can get!
We hope to see you next month, on June 2!
Youth Voter Registration Drive
To wrap up this newsletter, we’d like to share some wonderful work that’s been done to engage our High School students in the Democratic Process.
In the past few weeks, we’ve volunteered (in a non-partisan manner), at Emerald and Greenwood High Schools in a student voter registration drive. We registered 34 new voters and recruited 5 or more new poll workers! It’s this hands-on, grass-roots approach that will be most effective in driving participation in the November elections.
We’d like to thank Denise Waldrep, Rodney Jones, Rev James and Judith Thompson, Contessa Miller, Anna Michaelis, Dr. Robert Moore, Hannah Poe, and Katie Thompson for volunteering. We’d also like to acknowledge Derwin Share and David Connor from the Greenwood County Board of Voter Registration and Elections for helping us organize this event.
