I’m a college student. At the last SweatFree Dallas meeting,
we emphasized the need for endorsements. Other campaign volunteers have
connections with local political and religious groups, but my strongest
affiliation is with my university. I emailed every cultural and religious
student organization at my university to ask for “just five minutes” at their
next meeting. Already many groups have said “yes,” and today I gave my first 5
minute speech, with several more to come in the next week.  I’m not a
terrible public speaker, but I tend to get pretty nervous. At this student
organization meeting, I felt more empowered than nervous. The audience at the
meeting was clearly receptive to the message.  And thanks to our monthly
SweatFree Dallas meetings, my own research, and a workshop last month, I was
confident both in my knowledge of the issue and in the obvious justice of the
cause. Rather than dreading future talks, I’m just looking forward to spreading
the word. Other volunteers are making similar presentations to diverse
organizations around the city. Our hope is that our endorsement list will be
overflowing by 2009 and that we’ll be celebrating the passage of a SweatFree
Ordinance—a victory for workers and people of conscience around the world—long
before 2010.  

For more information on the SweatFree Dallas campaign or to
get involved, email sweatfreedallas (at) gmail dot com or check the campaign
website: http://www.texasfairtrade.org/DallasSweatFree.html

To find out about the SweatFree Communities movement, visit http://www.sweatfree.org