"Sister Giant" Two Years Later: Want Another Shot at Making a Difference?

We are excited to announce that Marianne Williamson will be joining the 2012 REF/RESULTS International Conference, held July 21-24 in Washington DC! Marianne is a well-known spiritual author and leader and will lead a seminar entitled “Creating a Politics of Love: Turning Compassion into a Political Force.” This seminar will be open to everyone and will discuss how the work of government and our work as citizens should be led by humanitarian values.

Following this seminar, the 2012 REF/RESULTS International Conference will provide more opportunities to put this new knowledge into action; you will build advocacy skills in lobbying, social media, organizing, and a number of other topics, and then join other RESULTS activists on Capitol Hill or at the World Bank to share your message with Members of Congress and staff.

Nancy Gardiner, who attended Marianne’s “Sister Giant” conference in February 2010, recently wrote to fellow Sister Giant attendees to explain how her involvement with RESULTS has helped her build upon her experience at Sister Giant. As she describes, the Sister Giant conference “renewed, energized, and enlightened me and opened my heart to the devastating effects of global poverty,” but it was RESULTS that provided the next step. Together with other attendees, she started a RESULTS chapter in her area and worked with RESULTS staff to develop knowledge and advocacy skills. She attended her first REF/RESULTS International Conference in 2010, and on the lobbying day of the conference, she met with members of Congress and remembers “advocating face-to-face with legislators that day for the first time ever, sharing the words that had first opened my heart regarding global poverty, was life-changing.”

Since then, Nancy and her RESULTS chapter have become skilled advocates who have met with legislators locally and in DC, influencing these lawmakers to sign onto important legislation about global poverty. They have had letters to the editor and op-eds published and have shared their message through social media. They met with their local Senator and inspired him to write to President Obama about the importance of childhood vaccines. And Nancy and her fellow volunteers were not the only ones inspired: other Sister Giant attendees have returned to Denver, CO and Boise, ID and helped to build RESULTS groups that focus on U.S. poverty issues, as well as global issues.

Nancy finished her letter by asking “Will you come with us to Washington this summer?…Anyone attending will have a chance to speak truth to power on Capitol Hill, as we have, and you’ll have plenty of support to do it. The world needs to hear your voice.” So if, like Nancy and the amazing Sister Giant attendees, you want to further your advocacy, learn skills, and create change against the worst aspects of poverty, join us in DC from July 21-24! Register now for the 2012 REF/RESULTS International Conference!