Novel twist on the simple pledge-a-thon
I am Emily X is a blog that chronicles 40 days in the lives of Planned Parenthood workers and asks readers to pledge donations based on the number of protesters they encounter.
They are on day 36 and have encountered 426 protesters — from the polite and pious, to the obscene and violent. They are raising money ($40K+ to date) and using video interviews with volunteers and workers to delve the many reasons why Planned Parenthood (and reproductive choice) is so important. The campaign and blog is a response to anti-choice groups’ “40 days for life” campaign.
Here’s a snippet from the first post:
Hello, world.
We’re in the middle of something here at Planned Parenthood (where I work). The anti-choice people call it “40 days for life.” I call it another day at the office.
Basically, the anti-choice groups have decided to picket more than 80 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country for 40 days. September 26-November 4.
I’m used to picketers. Planned Parenthood is used to picketers. It bothers me very much that the picketers aren’t just picketing our clinics — that they’re really about making it impossible for women to get health care. But…we don’t let them faze us. As for me, the more picketers there are, the harder I want to work.
So, I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’m inviting you come to work with me. Seriously. Every day, I’m posting to this blog — some notes about my day, some photos, some video. I want you to know what it’s like to work for Planned Parenthood.
That’s not all. Since the 40 days thing began, various friends and supporters have emailed us saying they’d like to donate money for every protester that shows up. So we set up a thing over there on the right, at the top of the column — please pledge 5 or 10 cents, too! You have no idea how far we can make donations go at Planned Parenthood.
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