The sheer horror of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings last year served as a real wake up call for so many Americans. For Gina, a concerned Mom from Rockland County, New York, it was the motivation she needed to get off the sidelines and do what she could to make sure a horror like that never happened again.
Gina wrote to us:
After the killings in Newtown, my heart broke open, and I found myself completely overwhelmed with needing to do something. This wouldn’t be so unusual, except, my community advocacy had never gone beyond delivering canned goods to a food drive and I really didn’t now how to do anything.
I found my way to an organization called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America – where they kept asking us to CALL OUR SENATORS and CONGRESS people. I was too embarrassed to ask “how do you do that”. Although they provided us phone numbers and names, I was paralyzed with insecurity. I didn’t understand what to say or even who would answer the phone. My first call was pitiful. I’ve gotten a little better at it, I still get nervous, but my confidence is building.
I decided, I can’t possibly be alone in this feeling, so I made a video of myself calling Senator Gillibrand and shared it with Moms Demand Action.org. The response has been overwhelming.
Here’s Gina’s video:
What’s great about Gina’s activism isn’t just that she was inspired to get off the sidelines and make her voice heard. Gina wasn’t content to just pick up the phone and call her Senator. She wanted to share the experience online in hopes of inspiring others to do the same.
As Gina tweeted to Senator Gillibrand:
@SenGillibrand @momsdemandact I'm thrilled if I've given just 1 other mom the encouragement to make her voice heard. #gunsense #demandavote
— Gina Daschbach (@GinaPiermont) March 6, 2013
And indeed, Gina’s video concludes with a challenge to us all:
Nap time’s still going. I have two more phone calls to make. What are you doing?
Want to join Gina? Go here to find out how you can contact your members of Congress and urge them to support commonsense gun safety laws, such as the bipartisan gun trafficking prevention bill Kirsten is sponsoring that’s being marked up in the Senate today.
What else are you doing to make your voice heard on the issues you care about?
