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"Peace Pies in DC"
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Published in the Peace Alliance May 2007 newsletter.
We have some very creative grassroots volunteers in our campaign that help create this buzz and I'd like to share one heartwarming and humorous pie delivery story that happened after our May 11 action. Some states were determined that all of their members of Congress would receive pies in their D.C. offices and hired an outside delivery service to assist. What happens when a white van is driving all around Capitol Hill after a recent pizza delivery threat in New Jersey? See the "Local Spotlight" article below to learn more.
Kathy Kidd
National Field Director
Peace Alliance
Peace pies in DC - Day one
Today was P-day in D.C., and it was chock full of excitement! I had such a funny conversation with the pie-delivery guy tonight (May 15) and thought you might get a kick out of the day's events.
As some of you know, I work in a doctor's office, and we have a strict no cell phone policy. So I left my cell phone out on silent in the event I needed to run outside and take a quick pie call. Well - the calls happened, and then some. It all began when I saw the Washington D.C. 202 area code flashing on my caller ID and thought it was our pie delivery guy. In a panic, I quickly grabbed my phone and took the call at my desk not knowing what to expect.
To my shock, it was one of the Senate offices calling me! The woman on the other end of the line said, "I know this might sound like a weird question, but by any chance do you know about an apple pie being delivered to us today?" I couldn't help myself and started laughing. She went on, "We got a phone call from a delivery guy to come get our apple pie but we can't find him anywhere. Our staff is outside running around looking for him. Do you know where he is or what his vehicle looks like?" Laughing, she said, "We really want our pie!" Assuring the staff member, I promised to locate the pie-man and make it happen.
Not really knowing what to do, I ran outside my office and hid in the stairwell where a flurry of phone calls then took place. As a result, Ed the pie guy called me from outside the Hart building to say he finally located the Senator's staff member and two other Senators' staff members. Thank goodness - three pies down and only 30 to go!! Oh, and I say 30 because our Department of Peace friends in Alaska and Utah joined forces with us last week! They were thrilled by the idea, so they also ordered pies for their Reps and Senators too. It was now a "Piece of the Pie" trifecta.
As I was on the phone with Ed - the pie man - he was painting a picture for me of the situation on Capitol Hill today. Due to the "pizza delivery guy" terrorist threat in New Jersey last week, there were barricades around every building, and security was tripled, with the police, secret service, FBI and military everywhere. Ed was only allowed to park for about a minute-and-a-half one block away, and then he had to circle the block again. Needless to say, he did this for hours, and driving a white delivery van loaded with apple pies for Congress was making him just a little nervous.
Because of the heightened security, Ed could no longer park at the docking station, which was the original agreement. Now, he had to call 30 more offices and ask that they come down to him. As a precaution, Dan Kahn, Rick Gutierrez, Becky Pujals-Jones and I called all 25 Congressional offices in D.C. and gave them a heads up yesterday. We also emailed and faxed all the offices with a written statement advising them to expect an apple pie call and delivery.
Our statement was from the Florida Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Not only did we mention that the pie was on behalf of Florida constituents but also that it asked for their support of HR 808 and included the bill highlights. An opportunity is an opportunity, and we took it - pie or no pie. (Hee Hee.)
At the end of the day, Ed called me with the piece-by-piece details of the pie distribution in the midst of barricades, bomb sniffing dogs and heavy security. He said at one point, at the Longworth building, he had a dozen or more Representative staff members in front of his van all saying, "We're here for our pie. Where's our pie?" Ed said, "You couldn't imagine it. You just had to see the scene around me and in front of me. It was phenomenal and hysterical! They were all hungry and clamoring for their apple pie."
So he pulled out his building list and started calling out Rep names. He said all the staff members were excited, chatting, laughing and bonding with each other over our pies and having a wonderful break. Before he gave them their peace pies he said, "You need to take a postcard so you know who it's from and then you get your pie."
They absolutely loved it. One of the office staff members asked Ed if they could take a pie for another office because that office couldn't make it downstairs. Of course, he let them. Then, he moved on to the Cannon building, where he witnessed the exact same bonding moment among the various staff members and another enthusiastic response.
Ed said he never saw such excitement over apple pies or had a day like this before. I told him "Well get ready, Ed. You have the Rayburn building tomorrow."
At the end of the day, there was a lot of laughter, some chaos, and a lot of pie talk generated. I think we announced ourselves as a united front and introduced HR 808 to a lot of folks today and built community and good will in the process!! Yay!
