Rick Steves:
I’m really excited today because we are announcing that have been joined by 1,545 people donating more than $110,000 supporting Lawyers and Collars, spearheaded by Sojourners. With my matching gift to start this off, we’ve got over $150,000 to make a difference, thanks to your generous support. This is putting all of that positive energy from demonstrations that we’ve had across our country for justice and equality into action because our democracy depends on your vote! I’d like you to meet Adam Taylor, he’s the Executive Director of Sojourners as we celebrate and thank you for your support of this initiative.
Adam Taylor:
I want to thank you, Rick for your partnership in this effort and all of your travelers for your generous support. It has been truly remarkable to see the outpouring of support for this effort.
Sojourners is a peace and justice organization that’s been around for almost 50 years. Our real goal is to help people put their faith into action. I can’t think of a more important way to you put your faith into action in this particular moment than to ensure that every single American, particularly in communities of color that have experienced voter suppression efforts in the last number of election cycles, can exercise their constitutional right and be able to vote. We know that protecting the vote is literally critical to the health and legitimacy of our democracy. It is also a test of our faith because we believe that every voter is made in the image of God.
With your support we are expanding to new states including North Carolina and Wisconsin, in addition to the existing states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Georgia, where we are equipping, training and mobilizing black clergy with other clergy allies to hold their election officials accountable for the exercise of a free, fair, and safe election. We are also equipping ministers to be at polling sites where possible to provide a moral presence. We are even trying to recruit poll workers to volunteer, particularly in this challenging time of Covid. Again, thank you for the support. Together, we can ensure that we have a free and fair election in November.
Rick Steves:
Thank you, Adam, for helping me and all these others be able to put our deeply held beliefs that we are all equally precious and equally deserving children of God, that together we can make the fabric of our community stronger, through the initiative Lawyers and Collars.
Lightly edited for clarity
For more information visit Lawyers and Collars.
Additional donations are welcome to support the ongoing Lawyers and Collars voter protection and mobilization work.