Hosting a Letter-Writing Party

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Most people don�t write handwritten letters to Congress very often, which makes letter-writing one way to make your voice stand out to your representative. You can host a letter-writing party to get people to take action while having fun and learning more about ending the war in Iraq. Here are some tips to make your letter-writing party a success:

Find something fun and interesting to draw people in.

Choose one or more of these ideas to incorporate into your party to entice people to come along, or come up with your own creative ideas:

Have a potluck.
Show a film about the war in Iraq. You can buy the powerful PBS documentary, �Bush�s War� here. Or you can watch it for free online. There are many other videos available through companies like Netflix or even your local video store.
Bring in a guest speaker who can educate people about some aspect of ending the war.
Create a fun activity or game to help people get to know each other.

Get people informed and politicized.

One reason it�s good to write letters together is so people feel like they are part of something beyond themselves. As the host of the party, it�s your job to show people that writing letters is important and effective. Things to share include:

Who you are writing to and why you�re writing to him or her.
What you�re asking for in the letters and why.
What�s going on with the political climate around the war in Iraq and what Congress will be doing in the near future. (Click here to see the latest on Iraq legislation on our blog.)
Why letter-writing works and tips on how to write good letters (click here for tips).

Have everything people need to write and send their letters.

Make writing letters as easy as possible for people. You can have everything there or make bringing supplies part of the letter �potluck.� Make sure you have:

Paper
Pens
Stamps
Envelopes
Sample letters (click here for a sample).
Tips on writing letters

Send people away with more action.

Your party will be even more effective if people leave ready to encourage others to join them in taking actions. Here are a few ideas, but you can come up with your own:

Give people extra sample letters to give to friends.
Give them petitions to the president-elect to have signed and return to Peace Action West (click here to download a pdf of the petition).
Encourage them to hold their own letter-writing party.
Give out copies of Peace Action West�s activist toolkit (click here to download) so your friends can plan their own actions.

Get everyone�s contact information.

Your letter-writing party can be one step that leads to engagement and more political action if you can follow up with everyone who attended. Make sure you have everyone�s phone numbers and e-mail addresses so you can plan other events in the future. If you have a meetup, encourage anyone who isn�t a member yet to join. If you don�t have a meetup and you�re interested in setting one up and joining the Peace Action West Meetup Alliance, contact Rebecca Griffin.

Report back.

We want to share your action and successes with others, and be able to tell members of Congress about what you are doing in their districts. Keep track of the number of letters you generate and take photos. Post them to your meetup or send them to Rebecca Griffin, Political Director so we can share your work and inspire others to take action!