Convention Extras - Service and Going Green

We recently got an email from the Secretary of the DNC telling us about some of the "extras" at the convention. From what all I have gathered about past conventions, most of the activity is in the afternoon and at night, so there is plenty of time to be a tourist, party, and do community service.

This year, the Delegate Service Day is on Wednesday, August 27. For a few hours in the morning, delegates can sign up to participate in a number of projects. Apparently they assigned each state delegate at least one project based on proximity to your host hotel. We're at the Doubletree along with Kansas, and thus we are also working with them (and Mississippi) on our project, which is helping Project CURE (www.projectcure.org) sort medical supplies that are sent overseas to developing countries. I randomly clicked on another state to see they at they are hosting a neighborhood cleanup and block party, so it seems like a well-rounded list.

There are also two events on the Sunday before the convention - an Interfaith Service at 2pm and an event in recognition of groups helping with Katrina aftermath (the three-year anniversary is that week). I'm not sure if I can make it to those because of my flight schedule, but I definitely plan on doing as much as I can while there - who knows when I'll get to go back!

Another interesting this year is the "Green Delegate Challenge." There is a competition among the states to see which can be the "greenest" by purchasing carbon offsets at a discounted price. This is a new concept to me, but it seems that they take our purchases and make investments in projects that produce sustainable energy. The "DNCC Special Blend" goes to four projects that involve wind power and methane extraction; they are located in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Minnesota. I'm not sure how many you're supposed to get, so I went ahead and purchased two. Maybe I'll buy enough and they'll start calling it Wynned Power instead. Heh heh heh.

As always, information about all of this can be found at www.demconvention.com (including official lists and other information about the actual delegates). Information about the energy projects can be found at www.nativeenergy.com/dncc.