Jocelyn Coimbre had planned to get some pizza and invite some friends over to write to Washington state’s members of Congress for the Women’s March new campaign, 10 Actions for the First 100 Days.
But then she decided to invite a few more people and go to a bar. Eventually, the gathering grew to a few thousand people interested in attending the meet-ups at six different locations in Seattle organized via facebook.com/100DaysSeattle.
“I would have been happy with 100 (people),” Coimbre told CHS.
At one Capitol Hill location Monday night, the event started at 6 PM and tables and the bar were full of people writing postcards at E Pike’s Wildrose. Coimbre printed 3,000 official postcards from the Women’s March website to send to Washington D.C. and expected to run out by 9.
Maddie Howard helped lead a second gathering at Little Oddfellows.
“By sending 3,000 postcards to D.C. we’re saying that we’re not going to sit back,” Howard said.
Monday’s events were part of the first night of the Women’s March campaign, 10 Actions for the First 100 Days, aiming to continue the momentum created by the January 21st Women’s March.
Women’s March stretches from Central District to the Seattle Center — UPDATE: 120,000
Every 10 days during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, the organization will announce a new idea for an action people can take. The first was to write a postcard to your senators.
“Write down your thoughts. Pour your heart out on any issue that you care about,” the website says.
“People are writing a lot,” Coimbre said. “I’ve never seen such small font.”
Crystal Flores, a Latino woman who grew up in Eastern Washington, came to the event and wrote to lawmakers not only for her own rights but her siblings as well. It was her first time writing to members of Congress.
“It’s very empowering,” Flores told CHS.
Those who were unable to attend the events in Seattle or have more to say can download postcards here.
Coimbre also launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to fund expenses for each action — like printing and postage stamp costs for action one. As of Tuesday morning, $425 had been donated. Any money leftover will go to Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and other sponsors.
