PRESS RELEASE

DATE: Oct. 23, 2017
Contact: Robbin Warner, (571) 262-1977 | robbin@postcards4va.com

Low-Tech Voter Outreach Empowers Virginia Voters

Grassroots Effort Produces Over 136,000 Handwritten Postcards to Democratic Voters

ALEXANDRIA, VA. – Oct. 23, 2017 – A grassroots effort to handwrite postcards to Democratic voters in Virginia inspired volunteers throughout Virginia and around the country to write over 136,000 postcards. Four Northern Virginia women (Robbin Warner, Lisa Howard, Krystal Henson and Dianne Holland) launched Postcards4VA to help flip the Virginia House of Delegates blue with its “100 Postcards Challenge.”  The call for volunteers for this low-tech outreach strategy went viral bringing in a flood of mostly women volunteers, from millennials to seniors, who composed their own messages and personally paid for the postcards and the postage.

Most of these women are new to politics and activism using their lifetime of experience to organize, energize, and empower voters. All of this is happening on the grassroots level unencumbered by official organizations or political parties.

Volunteers are writing at home, at work, with their kids, and at parties with friends and neighbors. They’re going this to make their voice heard and to cope with the turbulent political environment. “Writing postcards helps me de-stress after reading all the craziness in the news,” says Katherine Lowry of Arlington.  In fact, writing postcards may be good for your health.  According to Dr. James Pennebaker, Regents Centennial Professor of social psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the leading scholars on the relationship between writing and health, “Writing these postcards is beneficial to people’s mental health both by putting emotions into words and by building a sense of community among writers.”

Postcards4VA’s 136,000 postcards are being mailed this week. The success of this campaign has turned these political newbies into seasoned activists with an eye on 2018.

Photos available for use at https://postcards4va.com/media/photos