Netroots for the Troops – Calling all hippies!

I’m thrilled to say that next month I’ll be winging it to Las Vegas to attend the Netroots Nation conference. Netroots Nation is the biggest, most influential conference for progressive activists, bloggers and organizers in the country and I am totally thrilled to be going this year. From their website:

The fifth annual gathering of the Netroots (formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention) will be held July 22-25 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Netroots Nation 2010 will include panels led by national and international experts; identity, issue and regional caucuses; prominent political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date.

This year, there are keynote speeches being given by Senator Al Franken and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

One of the other way-cool things they do there is something known as Netroots for the Troops (NFTT).

Netroots For The Troops is a joint venture of the IGTNT and MoJo Friday communities of dailykos.com, an online political news and activist hub. Our mission is two-fold: annual shipment of CARE packages to US soldiers in serving in hostile regions of Iraq and Afghanistan for the duration of their deployment, and on-going financial assistance for veterans and their families upon their return to the states.

Last year, NFTT donated roughly 300 well-stocked CARE packages to men and women in combat around the world. They solicit donations, purchase the items in bulk and then, at Netroots Nation, volunteers assemble the CARE packages.

This year they set an ambitious goal of raising $100,000 and sending 600 CARE packages. However, the economic downturn has hit NFTT hard and, to date, they have only raised about $25,000, enough for 300 or so CARE packages. This is from an email I received today:

Dear Friend and Supporter,

Netroots for the Troops is reaching a critical phase in our fundraising in an effort to prepare for CARE package assembly in Las Vegas July 21 – 24th. The time has come for us to make some hard decisions. We originally set a goal of $100,000 for 600 CARE packages. An ambitious goal, yes, and one we would meet without the extraordinary events and circumstances of the past year. Events in Washington and around the world, a poor economy, uncertainty about the future of healthcare, and disasters like the earthquake in Haiti and the oil spill in our Gulf waters have greatly impacted our ability to meet this goal.

There has been much discussion about amending our goal to meet the same standard of quality in producing these CARE packages. We have raised approximately $25,000 to date. With the generous support of several corporations, those funds will allow us to send 300 packages, cost and shipping included, at the close to the same quantity and quality of products as we have done previously.

However, we still need your support. I want to personally thank all of you have already generously contributed in time and money to our fundraising efforts. We are very grateful for your support. However, we still need additional funds to meet our shipping costs and operating expenses.

We are working very hard to stretch your dollar as far as we can. Keep in mind, our deployed military are receiving few to none packages, with entire units going months without receiving a single package. Please ask your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family to help you and help us make this happen for our military men and women serving us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sincerely,

Tony Gattis, aka TexDem
Executive Director, Netroots for the Troops

Netroots for the Troops is partnered with Netroots Nation, a 501© Corporation. All donations to NFTT are tax-deductible.

Netroots For The Troops/NN NAEI
5758 Geary Boulevard #303
San Francisco, CA 94121

So, this is why I’m “calling all hippies!” Here’s a chance to do something very good with the full knowledge that your contribution will be go as far as is possible (due to the purchasing of items in large quantities) while helping show the country that, while we may detest war and our country’s involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan, we still care about the human beings, our brothers and sisters as it were, who are over there representin’ on our behalf.

So, whattya say? Gotta coupla sawbucks for a (tax deductible) good cause?

Awesome.

Then please click HERE. I have committed to trying to raise $500 for this worthy endeavor. I really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

I’m just sayin’…