Introducing . . .

Karene “kid” Nagel, DFIA Meet Up Coordinator

Hello to my Blog for Iowa cohorts, this is Karene Arp Nagel, your DFIA Meet Up Coordinator.  I will be known as 'kid' …this stands for Karene in-for Democracy.  I am happy to be taking on this position to further the development of Meet Ups for DFIA throughout the state of Iowa.  Here is a little background on me.

     I was a little late in joining up with DFA version 1.0, and I do not know why it took me as long as it did.  Nevertheless, having heard Gov. Dean's speech on June 23rd at our Davenport Dean Headquarters, I was instantly hooked!  I came to the very next Dean Meet Up and I jumped in with both feet when I committed to help Alta Price by joining her to co-host for the Meet Ups yet to be.  Soon after that, I was asked to be on the Dean Steering Committee, and along the way I was doing many things at HQ and always looking for new DeanCorps projects to do.  I did the things that many of us did along the way, as in making the phone calls and writing the letters.  One thing I always believed in doing that some never felt comfortable with….was just striking up conversations with virtual strangers to tell them about Gov. Dean.  I made some great amazing contacts, and I am still looking to make those contacts…or should I say converts today.  I think that was one of the best parts of “our campaign”….how it REACHED OUT to those who WERE Left Behind or felt Disenfranchised by the System, as it is!!! 

     One day in particular, I stopped to talk with an African American lady who honestly looked like she might be homeless…after all she was pushing a shopping cart loaded with stuff down an alley!  It turned out that she was not homeless, but had moved to our area recently, and she had been very involved politically back in Illinois where she lived before!  She really wanted to hear all I could tell her about Gov. Dean and the upcoming caucus.  She took what literature I had on me, and I met up with her that afternoon to give her more, which she said she would distribute at her church that night!  These are the very people that have lost hope, and the very people that need it the most!  Always try to be prepared with literature, business cards, a signup sheet, voter registration forms or Meet Up info in your vehicle so the next time you find “a lady” in your area you can 'reach out to her' – because many people are really only waiting to be asked or to be engaged.  We can all give them back the POWER. 

Karene Nagel, DFIA Meet Up Coordinator

Contact Karene here.