03 November 2009

Raffle for Marriage Equality

My caseload was fairly manageable last night and I had no inpatients, meaning I actually had a rare shift where I was able to get in a fair amount of sleep. Where "a fair amount" means about 5 hours. So even though I wasn't completely rested this morning, I had enough energy after my shift to spend a couple hours volunteering at the No on 1 headquarters in Portland.

Polls are showing our side essentially in a dead heat with the people who don't think mine and David's marriage should be recognized. This means that this campaign will be right down to the wire, and it will all come down to whether or not the bigots and fearmongers can get more people to the polls than we can.

Anyway, I've been thinking of what I could do to help raise the money which is very badly needed. It's needed to pay for the phone banks, produce ads and get them on air, and to counter the hateful and nasty lies, which they're already recycling outright from the Prop 8 campaign in California last year. It would be nice if that money could go elsewhere, but seeing as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is closing down parishes and parochial schools and taking second collections to spend on attacking my family and others like it, we have to meet the fight head-on.

So I decided that since this is (primarily) a knitting blog, I should do a raffle involving knitting. I thought initially about offering to knit a sweater for the winner, but as a process knitter I tend to be a bit too slow for anyone to wait on a project of that size. That and I don't know that I've got enough of anything in my stash, which is where the yarn will need to come from given how tight money is these days. What I do have in stash is a fair selection of sock yarns, including some very nice handpaints. Some were gifted to me, but I'm going to make them all fair game because it's for a very good cause.

So here's the deal: To participate in the raffle, go make a donation to No on 1, then send me a copy of your receipt (either send a pdf copy of the receipt page or forward me a confirmatory e-mail to mel(daht)vassey(at)gmail(daht)com). For every $5 you contribute, you will get one "ticket" in the raffle. Donations can be made through November 3, Election Day. On November 4, I will use a random number generator to select a winner.

The winner will get to select a yarn from my stash of sock yarns, from which I will handknit them a pair of socks, the pattern for which will also be selected upon consultation with the winner. In addition to this, David is also offering a free pair of RedMaple Sportswear socks, winner's choice, to wear while waiting for me to knit up a pair. And as if that weren't enough, VUBOQ has offered up a piece of his lovely hand-turned pottery to sweeten the pot even more. Photos to follow, of course, once I manage to dig out my stash and assemble all my sock yarns in one place.

Oh, one more thing. Because this is a political campaign and donations are governed by campaign finance laws, No on 1 can only accept donations from US citizens or permanent resident aliens. However, so those of y'all who are "from really, really away" aren't left out, I will hold a second drawing for folks who do not meet the citizenship/residency requirements but who link back to this post to put the word out and encourage your US readers to chip in.

If you do so, just be sure to let me know you've done so and where, so that I can be sure to get your name on the list. The winner of this drawing will get second pick from my sock yarn stash, and I'll knit them a pair of socks after I finish the first pair.

Um, which means my knitting will be all booked up through next summer, I'm thinking.

17 comments:

Sam said...

Sweet! what a nice idea Mel. Doing my part to get the word out.

JoVE said...

Retweeted your tweet. Will try to remember to tweet it up over the next little while.

Rabbitch said...

I'm long overdue for a blog post. Shall link to this tonight. Seeing I do believe some of the yarn in your stash was painted by moi, there's no need to put my name in the hat (or the sock).

Anonymous said...

Donation made. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Donation made.

I went to my niece's wedding on Saturday at a Catholic church and was really pissed off that the priest used her wedding as a political opportunity. He must have said at least 15 times that marriage was between a man and a woman. It infuriated me!

Nigel Pottle said...

I've linked to your blog on my Facebook page and am about to hop over to Twitter and RT you. Good luck. I'm doing my best as a married Canadian!

AuntieAnn said...

I linked to this on FaceBook. Thank you for doing this!

Anonymous said...

I just linked this on facebook and I posted about it (and added a raffle of my own).

Marianne said...

I came over via Julie... just forwarded the confirmation email.
Good luck!

Brenda said...

Just donated and will send you an email.
Thanks for getting the word out!

FiberQat said...

Circumstances prevent me from donating at this time but I'm 100% behind you. Hope you raise lots.

Did you know your blog entry is dated November 3rd?

Lisa/knitnzu said...

I just made an additional donation. October is rather crazy here, but I'm going to look into something for the very end of the month/beginning Nov. I actually saw a "yes on 1" button at the fair... guess all sorts go, eh?

Oh, and clearly you never sat in the women's room toilet, because there's a sign there next to the roll of paper that says to memorize this: "third weekend in September AFTER Labor Day".

Amanda said...

November 3 is Voting Day???

Ken said...

Great idea!! Love it! I have already cast my vote by absentee ballot. Keeping my fingers crossed and my thoughts on a positive outcome!

Sally W said...

One of the "yes on one" ads was on last night and my 14 year old son said something about the vote being about schools. I cleared that right up and he said "I think people should be able to love who they want and marry who they want" I said "Pass it on!!"

Anonymous said...

hope you guys win! Another Canuck, proud that we support love, in all its many forms.

Lucia said...

I donated, and I hope I win! But not as much as I hope #1 doesn't win.