I opened our last meeting on March the 12th with the remarks “Welcome to the last meeting….” and it was the last one in person for longer than we want. It would be pointless to say that we will be back at so and so date or anything else. If you run across someone who suggests that on this date or that, everything will be just fine, don’t get too close. It might rub off on you.
We did hear from three candidates at our last meeting. Bill Flythe, David Sink and Tom Simmons gave us a briefing on where their campaigns were at that point. Dwight Willis gave us a little education as to what a Democratic National Delegate actually does, and announced he is running for a spot in order to attend the convention that is still planned but has been moved to August. Dwight also gave us a summary of our finances and announced that we have sold seven more bricks for our brick garden. Plenty of room for more bricks, folks! We also have added many new sustaining donations that really help us out with budget needs. If 100 people could donate $10 dollars a month for ONE year, our building needs would be set for that period of time. That would pay our taxes, our insurance, utilities, our fixed expenses. For all of those who choose to make a sustaining contribution, Thank You!
I spoke to Precinct make up day March 14th, and our county convention that was scheduled for March 28th as far what we would be doing and passed out the rules for the convention. Within about 24 hours, all had been squashed by the governor’s order to limit our contact, with no groups over a certain size, and then, to later shelter at home. So our precinct organization was extended until April 11th, and provision made to do completely by phone, no meeting necessary. Our convention is now scheduled for April 25th.
We currently have 193 delegates to the county convention, from 19 organized precincts. Our county and district convention will be all done in a virtual format yet to be determined (ie. Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc.). All information regarding the convention, format, etc. will be provided to you as soon as it is available. As I’m sure you know, everything is fluid at this point.
For us here at the BCDP, we have held quite a few meetings using Zoom, and may use it going forward for our regular meetings. We usually have a larger group than Zoom will allow for free, so the money thing comes into play. Every penny we have comes from you, we guard it carefully and assess (or torture) over those pennies as we spend them. Our Zoom meetings have gone well and it allows you to participate from a computer, pad or a phone. There are no issues with compromise of a devise that I am aware of with any of the current formats available. Different security levels are available to keep out internet trolls. Please give it a try when the moment comes; it is easy and very intuitive to use.
Our communications group has used this method over the last few weeks and designed some new banners for use throughout the county at events, a trifold that can be used up to election day and also new signage for the HQ. Hopefully we can show them off soon to you, maybe at the convention or on social media.
Please keep check on our webpage and also Facebook as it as our best way to keep you informed of what is happening. We have added a good bit of information to our page as pertains to the Covid-19 pandemic. See, I made it to the end before I mentioned it. Please check out the Corona Response Resources and see if you need to apply for them. Please don’t hesitate. I have talked to some friends who have spent days negotiating for unemployment and also the loans/grants available to small business.
That’s it. Hope to connect soon.
--Tom Sapp