I know you don’t know me very well, but I’d like to share a little about my personal journey with Virginia Organizing and ask for your support as we continue building power and creating change in Virginia.
Many years ago, I committed a felony and was given unsupervised probation. I lost my right to vote because of this. I waited for a very long time to have my rights restored, but there were a lot of obstacles in my way.
That’s where Virginia Organizing came in.
When those of us who have directly felt the sting of harsh policies in our country, state, and locality join together to push for change, that’s called organizing. And when we organize well, we make change happen!
For the past 21 years, Virginia Organizing has been doing just that — getting ordinary people together to use our collective power and make changes. For the last 18 years, we’ve been working to change the way that civil rights are restored for people like me who made a mistake and paid the price for it.
This last year, I was able to be with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe several times to hear him change policies and restore voting rights to thousands of Virginians. I went from being branded a felon to being a grassroots leader and I couldn’t be prouder of the work Virginia Organizing is doing.
We’re all in this together and now, more than ever, we need to be committed to the principles of our democracy — including peaceful resistance and using our resources for change.
Your tax-deductible contribution gives people like me an opportunity to build new skills, develop as a Chapter leader, and work toward bigger, long-term, sustainable changes in Virginia.
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful contribution to this work.
We are in this together, so let’s all organize!
Sincerely,
Shelia Carter
