A Loss in Coventry, CT.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article pertains to the November 2017 campaign for the Booth & Dimock Library that EveryLibrary was involved in. If you are looking for information about the November 2018 election in town and ways that the Coventry GOP is trying to deceive voters about EveryLibrary's role, please visit http://action.everylibrary.org/coventry.
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[NB: original post from November 2017]
I’m sorry to let you know that we lost the Election on Tuesday in Coventry, CT. for a $5.4 million building expansion project for the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library. Working with “Coventry Vote Yes” team was a great pleasure. They ran a very solid and engaging campaign. But with just over 2,100 votes cast, the 47% Yes vote wasn’t enough to carry this important project forward.
We did three big things with Vote Yes for the Library committee there: 1) we bundled up donations from around the country and sent it to them so they could buy yard signs, social media ads, and flyers. Most importantly, they used EveryLibrary’s early donation to challenge the local community to donate too; 2) we helped them understand and map their voter data so they could use their limited resources to maximum “Get Out the Vote” effect; and, 3) we helped them with their messaging, organizing, and social media outreach so they could work to overcome local opposition and voter apathy.
All of our support was free for them. And all of it was donor funded by people like you and organizations like Demco, Inc. I mention Demco in particular because we are fortunate to have their Donor Matching Challenge happening through next Tuesday. If you want your own limited donor dollars to go farther, Demco is matching every dollar donated this week. Simply go to the Demco Donor Challenge through Facebook on EveryLibrary to help us make this match.
We’re meeting with the team in Coventry early next week to discuss next steps. Thank you for helping us help them on this Election Day - and hopefully when they re-run this vital library project for their town.
John Chrastka
Executive Director,
EveryLibrary
P.S. If you're a tea drinker we are really excited about this partnership with Arbor Teas to support libraries! 10% of your purchase will help us help libraries win the funding they need to serve their communities. On check-out just use the coupon code- EveryLibrary and 10% of your purchase will be donated to support libraries.