Posted 8/16/06
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Pittsburg
All Star Game As you recalled the campaign was "officially" launched during this year's All Star Game in Pittsburg, PA. The press conference was a huge success with coverage from every local station in Pittsburg, MLB.com, and several interviews XM radio and as many of you read the piece on USA today (the most circulated paper in the USA). The volunteers that hit the streets immediatly after the Press Conference made another huge impact on the "going on's" of the All Star Week. MLB was a little perturbed by our work, but we addressed them directly and they accepted the inevidible, that this is a different campaign that is "community grass root" and has no intention of going anywhere, but forward. We agreed to disagree with respect. The fact is that they were "uptight" by the sight of many folks wearing bright yellow shirts that read: "Retire 21" on them. They were great for the petitioners and as a result we had so many folks approach us to volunteer to sign that many of us (use to collecting signatures in the streets) were amazed as to the support we were getting from folks from all walks of life and from different parts of the country. In essence our mission was accomplished We have as of yesterday over 45 taped video interviews with some of the top active and retired baseball players in the country. Our video team headed by Byron Hunter (producer of the popular and award headed documentary, "Black Wheels" continues to use the resources of Latino Sports & the Latino Sports Writers & Broadcasters Association (LSWBA) to interview and penetrate every sports circle and bring the question to light. We have interviews from African Americans, Anglo and of course the Latino community. If you visit the retire21.org site you can begin to see short "snips" of these interviews. Our strategy is to continue with the interviews for a documentary on Retiring 21 and in the meantime use every interview and resource to promote the campaign. Thank you Dennis Rivera, Angelo Alicea and the 1199 team for the printing. Thank you the Latino Sports team who organized the Pittsburgh press conference. Thank you to the Clemente family who attended the press conference and supported the work of the volunteers. Thank you to all the fans who took petitions to thie rhome cities to fill out and mail in. Thank you Assemblyman José Rivera for presenting the Retire 21 at the Bronx Democratic Dinner. Thank you Nany for voluntering to coordinate the petition drive. Projected work: Raising Money We have opened the Retire 21 bank account. The Resurrection United Methodist Church agreed to be our fiscal conduit. "GOING TO BAT TO RETIRE 21" will be the fundraising arm of the Retire 21 campaign. Pastor Lydia Lebrón and 2 members of La Resureccion have signed on as fiscal officers to help oversee the finances of the campaign. As stated from th einception all monies collected will go towrads the expences of the Retire 21 campaign. One of our goals is to raise enough money to also take out a full page ad in the New York Times during the World Series. Every person who donates any of the amounts suggested will appear in the ad. The amounts donated will not be mentioned, only the names of the individuals will appear. Suggested Amounts (all in intervals of number "21") $2.10 = Single $21.00 = Double $210.00 = Triple $2,100.00 = Homerun $21,000.00 = GRAND SLAM Checks can now be written to Retire 21 |