I've received many forwards about the Red Envelope Project. To recap, as LifeNews.com reported:
Inspired during a prayer, [Christ] Otto came up with the idea of sending red envelopes to President Barack Obama to protest his pro-abortion policies.As he tells LifeNews.com, what started out as an email request to 120 of his ministry friends and supporters turned into a nationwide phenomenon that could result in hundreds of thousands of pro-life envelopes heading to the White House.
Added Catholic.net...
Supporters have been encouraged to send an empty red envelope to President Obama, symbolizing a single child who died because of abortion.On the back of each envelope, is a handwritten message that reads: "This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception."
Now that Valentine's Day is over, presumably the impetus for the Red Envelope Project, I have something to say, some advice.
Estimates of red envelopes sent to the President ranged from the aforementioned "hundreds of thousands" to "millions."
That's the problem. No one will ever know, because the White House is not going to tell anyone how many it gets. It's simply going to throw them away. Does anyone really think WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will put this on his agenda about which to speak? "Wow, have we been inundated with red envelopes protesting the President's abortion policy!" No. Well-intentioned people are sending their red envelopes to a black hole.
I like the idea of the campaign, I think it's a good PR stunt and a little outlet for frustration. The blogger at AboutAbortion.com thinks the effort is a waste of money, but I don't. I think it's an inexpensive way to show force.
BUT next year Christ Otto should have pro-lifers send their red protest envelopes to him or to an organization he creates.
Then hold a press conference, having the 100k or 1 million red envelopes on hand to give a visual demonstration of the pro-life Americans who protest Obama's anti-life stance, and box them up and mail them, or better yet, hand deliver them if they can find a WH office that will accept them.
I know what I'm talking about, because we held an analogous campaign in 2004. At that time the parent company of Christ Hospital wanted to build a hospital in our community, as did a Catholic Hospital.
We organized a postcard campaign, having pro-lifers protesting CH's plan mail their cards to us (click to enlarge).
We held a well-attended press conference at a nice hotel in Chicago with our thousands of postcards on hand as visual corroboration that our opinion was shared, and then I boxed them, drove them to Springfield, and hand-delivered them to the office of the IL Health Facilities Planning Board.
(Epilogue: We won, sort of. The - we now know corrupt - IHFPB decided not to let either hospital build. Apparently neither would line Blagojevich's hand-picked officials' pockets.)
Bottom line: I think the Red Envelope Project is a good idea, it just needs tweaking. I know Otto didn't expect his idea to blossom as it has. He should exercise some media and visual savvy if he does this next year.
Comments:
Isn't there something we can do to replace what went into the black hole, now?
Posted by: Lisa Evers at February 17, 2009 7:42 AM"Then hold a press conference, having the 100k or 1 million red envelopes on hand to give a visual demonstration of the pro-life Americans who protest Obama's anti-life stance"
People will recognize that the number of envelopes does not necessarily equal the number of protesters. Some one could send in thousands on their own. Just something to think about.....
Asitis, I think you're expecting people to read more into the effort than they will. The visual would be helpful to the cause. As they say, pictures say a thousand words.
Lisa, I think it's too late for this year. The founder needs to build on lessons learned.
Posted by: Jill Stanek at February 17, 2009 7:58 AMJust because the tree fell in the forest and there was no one there to observe the event does not mean the tree did not fall.
Sometimes meer obedience to the seemingly smallest command brings about the fall of an empire.
Sometimes the seemingly small thing done in secret is rewarded openly in a very big way.
The US Postal service has a record and I am sure the White House has a record of every letter, including the empty red envelopes, that was mailed to the White House. They might not have all been delivered, but everyone that was posted created an electronic record.
yor bro ken
Posted by: kbhvac at February 17, 2009 8:42 AMI changed mine a bit to represent my daughter killed by abortion and then wrote Responsibility Begins Before Conception. :) I joined the facebook group when it was around 300 members it will reach 11,000 today.
Posted by: Carla at February 17, 2009 8:48 AMIn Poland during the reign of communism a catholilc priest was murdered by the servants of the people. No one was ever apprehended.
The people who knew the priest each brought a stone and layed in front of the court house as a memorial to the priest and an indictment of the murderers. Each day the officials would have the stones removed. The next day the pile of stones was larger.
Where are the Polish communists today? For that matter where is the Soviet Union?
yor bro ken
Posted by: kbhvac at February 17, 2009 8:51 AMMy envelope is setting in my mail box waiting to be mailed out as we speak.
I'm hopeful that the message will also be received by all of the postal workers who see the envelopes as they travel to D.C.
Posted by: Lauren at February 17, 2009 8:52 AMYou could look at this effort as an attempt to reach Obama and change his views, and not as a PR Stunt. If so, the press conference and visual effect of millions of envelopes is not important.
Posted by: Hal at February 17, 2009 9:10 AMSo no one getting healthcare is a win....how? Sounds like the petty squabble screwed people over rather than solving any issues.
Posted by: Yo La Tengo at February 17, 2009 9:18 AMHal, that could be.
Posted by: Jill Stanek at February 17, 2009 9:32 AMI agree with your observations and hope the effort might be made more effective in the future. All of these efforts need to be orchestrated to optimize their impact.
Asitis, I think you're expecting people to read more into the effort than they will. The visual would be helpful to the cause. As they say, pictures say a thousand words.
Posted by: Jill Stanek at February 17, 2009 7:58 AM
Jill, I'm not "expecting" people to do anything. I'm just saying, as someone from the other side, that some people will look at it and say well, 100 thousand envelopes might mean 100 people care.
Posted by: asitis at February 17, 2009 10:58 AMabortion isn't health care, its the opposite of health care
Posted by: LizFromNebraska at February 17, 2009 11:40 AMV,
Oh. Never mind.
I have taken the DNFTT vow.
Posted by: Carla at February 17, 2009 12:32 PMAh, but you just did!
Posted by: asitis at February 17, 2009 12:37 PMCarla,
I liked the change. I also changed it. Instead of "died", I wrote murdered. Murdered is a purposeful act. It struck me as more passive to write "died" like it was just a case of the measles.
Posted by: Kay at February 17, 2009 5:01 PM
Absolutely Kay. I also noticed in the Red Envelope Campaign on Facebook(reached 11,000 members)that many people were sending them out to their state reps as well.
Posted by: Carla at February 18, 2009 6:37 AMI am sending the red envelopes to my US senators who are both pro-abortion.
Posted by: Karen at February 18, 2009 2:38 PMSeems to me the Red Envelopes would be more useful if sent to someone to whom bad votes on Life issues would be more politically uncomfortable. Pres. Obama appears impervious, even if he were ever even to hear about this campaign, which I heartily doubt. Now for Pennsylvania citizens to send Red Envelopes to Sen. Bob Casey Jr., whose voting record is distressingly wobbly ... that could have an impact on him ... provided the envelopes were sent to one of his in-state offices rather than DC. (If I lived in PA, I think I'd choose his Philadelphia office.)
Posted by: Penny at February 18, 2009 11:12 PMThis was about praying for the president, and it was about my sharing with those who pray for me something I felt God was guiding me to do. It wasn't about media, or about creating a stunt. I have kept abreast of the actual numbers, but have been very cautious. From the three websites that have kept tabs, and from the numbers on Facebook (over 100,000 members) I am confident 250,000 envelopes have been sent. That, with no PR, no budget, and no press releases. I don't understand it, but it has happened, and is continuing to grow. I am sorry that you are unhappy with this, considering we are on the same side.
Please address your critiques to me personally and not in public.
Christ Otto
Posted by: Christ Otto at February 22, 2009 1:43 PMI just sent an empty red envelope to my sisters and nieces with the hopes that they never felt they had to rely on the availability of this medical procedure that should be kept safe, legal and rare.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
