Make Louisville SweatFree: Archive

Back on my horse

Well well well, it has been a while since I have been actively promoting the ordinance to city council. This is in part due to a respect for their hectic schedules as they all prepare for reelection and in part due to my own laziness. At any rate, I feel I can wait no longer to get things prepared for an introduction of the ordinance when city council reclaims their seats. I notice there are a...

Apr 26th

UL's Economic Justice Fair

I will be speaking Tuesday January, 12 at Louisville’s Economic Justice Fair. 11 am 2nd Floor Ekstrom Library

Jan 12th

6 notes

5

we now have 5 city councilmembers expressing thier support for the ordinance. Jim King, we thank you, and whoever wrote the multitude of letters he recieved last week. hip, hip….

Dec 22nd

Dec 14th

Dec. 14: Update from the show

The show last Thursday was quite the success. All of the anxiety and preparation leading up to it turned out to be worthwhile. Thanks again to all five bands that came out to play and drew the crowd: Squeeze-Bot, Justin Lewis, The Local Villains, The Bad Reeds, and Yardsale. You all did an awesome job, and you did so with no benefit to yourself. Thank you all so much. Also, thank you to...

Dec 14th

me on WFPK before the show! →

Dec 10th

December 8, the email

Hello all, While I understand that this email is sent to a very large group, let me start by telling you that this is not spam or chain mail, and if you forward this to 20 people you won’t finally have your life goals realized or kiss the girl of your dreams. This email is an update, a rather important update, for the SweatFree Louisville Campaign. As a campaign, we are in the home stretch....

Dec 8th

1 note

December Seven: Show on the horizon

I will be promoting along with Kirk from Yardsale on 91.9 WFPK tommorow at 11am. have a little listen and get pumped for the show!!!

Dec 7th

1 note

November 30th: a short yet momentus update

Our ordinance now has a co-sponsor on city council: Councilwoman Judith Green of District One. This helps a lot! Also, do not forget about the show on the 10th… promote at every turn!

Nov 30th

Nov 20th

Updated info for SweatFree Benefit Concert

Headliners Music Hall: Doors: 7 pm, music starts at 7:15 Acts: Squeeze-Bot Justin Lewis The Local Villains The Bad Reeds Yardsale it’s not gonna be an 18 and up show, so everyone is welcome! $10 cover at the doors.

Nov 20th

Nov 19th

Have a listen, this is "The Bad Reeds". They are... →

Nov 14th

Ordinance: pre-revisions

Ordinance: Sweat Free purchasing and membership in the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium. I. Introduction: Over the course of the last few months a “SweatFree Louisville Campaign” has found that the citizens of this community value responsible purchasing, and do not wish for their tax dollars to be spent on goods made in “sweat shop” conditions. This ordinance was written to...

Nov 13th

National SweatFree Summit

I spent last weekend in Washington DC at the National SweatFree Purchasing Summit. The Summit was hosted by SweatFree Communities and the SweatFree Purchasing Consortium. Overall the weekend was a mix between activist networking, idea sharing, brainstorming, and education. One of the highlights of my visit was hearing from the actual workers subject to sweat shop conditions in the...

Nov 11th

Monday, October 19th

I met with Tina Ward-Pugh on Tuesday, and I feel like it went very well. It was nice to be able to sit down with a member of city council and really break down the whole SweatFree idea. Tina seemed very interested and supportive of everything I was pitching. Sometime this week she should be getting me in contact with some other city council members to go through the same process that we just...

Oct 19th

Tuesday, October 6: All kinds of updates

I know the updates have become less and less regular, but I asure you the effort has not been. Here are a few things going on: The University of Louisville’s Amnesty International group has begun writing city council in support of the ordinance. Thanks very much to Erika Williams and Emily Nordling for that. I have set up a meeting with Tina Ward-Pugh (District 9, Old Louisville Rep) for...

Oct 6th

Sept 28: on canvass

We finally go to go out door to door canvassing on Saturday. We had a group of six and paired off in twos. Ultimately, this was viewed as a test run to see how feasible of a fund raised this could be in the future . We all covered one street (30-40 homes). The biggest problem proved to be finding people who were home and/or willing to answer their door for people with clipboards. Between the...

Sep 28th

Sep 23rd

We are on the front page of sweatfree.org- check... →

Sep 10th

September 9th: Joining the PAC and the BU...

We still have a lot of the metro council on the fence, but I honestly think it’s only a matter of time before they come around. I think it’s just matter of conveying enough relevant and pertinent information, rather than convincing them. Since the last update SweatFree Louisville has joined the PAC. PAC stands for Progressive Action Coalition. It is a U of L based group that has...

Sep 9th

Sample Letter For City Council

Last update: 10/19/09 Dear Councilperson ___________________, Hello, my name is ____________, and I am contacting you as a (concerned citizen/ volunteer/ supporter) on behalf of the SweatFree Louisville Campaign. The SweatFree Louisville Campaign is a local chapter of a nationwide nonprofit organization called SweatFree Communities (sweatfree.org). SweatFree...

Sep 1st

September 1. A lot of emails

In the last 48 hours a LOT of emails have come to and from me. Here are the most recent and exciting updates. We got a couple new volunteers via the facebook group to email city council. I got an email from my HS newspaper to do a story about everything (go Rocks). The Buy Local First/ Keep Louisville Weird organization declined support… )o: I sent emails to every fair trade business...

Sep 1st

August 31, My Fair Encounters and Rollin' On

I went to the fair yesterday and distributed literature and bumper stickers to other non-profits and generally tried to spread my word around. My favorite quote of the day was: Republican: “This seems like something pretty liberal…I think the democrats could get behind this” Me: “You mean human rights? That’s a partisan thing?” Republican:...

Aug 31st

Aug 29th

August 28

We have 3 (probably 4) city council votes pledged… only 11 to go before we can pass one of dem der ordinances. also- picking up bumped stickers today at 5 Holler at me if you want one. Holla!

Aug 28th

August 26

Things seem to be picking back up again. I now have two folks writing to businesses and representatives for me on a smi regular basis and out bumper sticker will be done before Friday (come get one). I really need some legal aid in doing the actual writing of the ordinance though, anybody know someone?

Aug 26th

August 19

Hey- sorry for the lack of updates again. Life’s been a bit busy. The latest news is that there are informational pamphlets at all Heine Brothers Locations in Louisville. As we speak John is working on formatting the Louisville Skyline design into a bumber sticker. If you want one please let me know.

Aug 19th

August 6

Sorry things are going slow, I have been helping move a new roomate into my apt and things have been mildly busy lately. We finally have the pamphlet done. look for it at a heine bros coffee near you. We are currently in contact with the archdiocese and Bellarmine University about support. Other than that- you”re filled in.

Aug 7th

1 note

July 28

Right now things are stagnant at best. I feel like all the work i have done has led me to the edge of this cliff and I know I have to jump, but once I do I can’t slow down again… I’ve been standing here for a while.

Jul 28th

Watch

floodwaters: woah amyyy: soupsoup: hilker:syzlak: Radiohead’s video for “All I Need” This may be the best/most powerful video I’ve ever seen.

Jul 27th

17 notes

Jul 24th

July 24

July 24: Sorry for the lack of an update lately. Not a lot has been happening.The guy who told me he could hook me up with some other Catholic churches never got back to me, I’m gonna have to double check his email. Keep Louisville Weird/ Buy Local First got back with me and wanted more information- they would be an excellent ally. Anywho, other than that I have just been working on this...

Jul 24th

Jul 20th

nevermind, no break- designing fliers and pamphlets today with John at 530

Jul 20th

July 20

it’s still really early. Doing all this has made for maybe one of the busiest weeks of my life- EVER, and I am not even a fraction of the way there. I’m not discouraged, just exhausted. I’m gonna get fliers ordered from Kinko’s on Wednesday, and Nick is trying to find a cheap place in Louisville to make us some killer bumper stickers. As for me, and as for today0- i...

Jul 20th

July 19

July 19: Todays masses at St. Edward went excellent. Lot of sigantures and some cash as well. I even made some connections to speak at other churches.

Jul 19th

JULY 18

also: dan zoeller (THS principal) wants to do an article about the campaign in the trinity magazine. today I have my first talk at st. edward… it went okay. got a lot of signatures of support and zero funds. I’ll be speaking at 2 masses there tommorow. This is what i’ll say: Hi everybody, Im here today on behalf on SweatFree Communities – an anti-sweatshop agency. I have...

Jul 19th

Jul 17th

July 17

Well I’m pretty much in the contact everyone I can for support stage at this point. If anyone knows any business owners anywhere in Louisville please give me their contact information. Also, If anyone thinks their church would be interested in what we are doingand would allow me to speak there, maybe even for a second collection, that would be awesome. PLEASE give me a hand. Also, I have...

Jul 17th

CrossRoads Ministry

We have thier backing now too! woot woot!

Jul 16th

July 16

Today we have the official support of Heine Bros Coffee, as well as permission to distribute fliers, bumper stickers, pamphlets at thier counters. I am still waiting on replies from Keep Louisville Weird and Trinity HS. I will be contacting Crosswalk Ministries, the SMABA, and J’town area ministries tonight by phone.

Jul 16th

a runaround

Tina Ward-Pugh basically told her asistant to have me find someone else.

Jul 15th

a nice conversation

Tues July 14: Today I spoke with both Liana and Tom Owens (district 8 rep). Sounds like the Louisville Council is a bit more conservative than expected. Toms says that from the get go there is a garunteed 11 votes against anything as “liberal” as this, but that’s not gonna stop anything. Tom also says he is with me, he just needs me to educate him a bit more about what we want to...

Jul 14th

5:30 today

i plan to ask him about the political climate of the council- as well as his own opinion of the ordinance. I found out yesterday that I need a member of the council to sponsor and introduce any ordinace that will even be voted on, so if he likes it i supose i will ask him to do that. wish me luck

Jul 14th

Tom Owen

He is the the city council rep from the highlands and hopefully his assistant is working on a meeting time for us right now!

Jul 13th

the sweatfree communities website →

Jul 13th

Terri Miners

just joined the facebook group. I need to use him to my advantage.

Jul 13th