September 2003
Persistence and Perseverance
 
 

Dr. Nora Baladerian, President of AASP, and Thomas F. Coleman, Executive Director, will be joined in Washington during National USA Week by AASP members and volunteers.  Our arrival will be announced by a half-page ad in the Washington Post and by similar ads in newspapers in 26 states.

This visit and these ads are part of the National USA Week public awareness campaign to educate elected officials, corporate executives, and the general public that 86 million unmarried and single Americans contribute to society in significant ways.  And we deserve equal rights and fairness when it comes to taxes, employee benefits, and business practices.

This year's National USA Week activities are an all out effort to attract more members to AASP.  We need more members and more financial support in order to afford a permanent office in Washington D.C.  Annual visits and continuing letters to Congress are helpful to show that we are paying attention to what lawmakers do.  But it is the squeaky wheel that gets oiled, and we need an ongoing megaphone in Washington to amplify the concerns of an emerging "unmarried majority." 

 

We have laid a good foundation with our previous visits (see the summary below) and periodic communications with elected officials in the nation's Capitol.  But we need your help to move this equal rights movement to a more professional level. 

Please accept the invitation to participate.  Come to Washington.  Help us deliver materials to congressional offices.  Meet other AASP members at the social reception.  Give gift memberships to friends.  Offer to be interviewed by the media.  And move to a higher level of membership in AASP by increasing the amount of your annual donation.

Elected officials and corporate executives will pay more attention to our cause, but only if we have many more members and a broader-based team of participating supporters, volunteers, and staff. 

We are involved in a relatively new political and social movement for equal rights.  But we can build on the privacy victory handed down by the Supreme Court in June and during National USA Week insist that Congress and the President recognize our rights too.

  

 

  
 

Previous Visits to Washington

  
 

 
May 2001
AASP Made History 

AASP sent representatives to the nation's capitol during the first week of May 2001. It was a historic trip since this was the first time that a national group representing the interests of single and unmarried Americans had made personal contact with every congressional office.

A two-thirds page ad in the Washington Post announced our arrival.  The ad headline -- 82 million unmarried Americans want to know why -- caught the attention of national media and Washington politicians.

Thomas F. Coleman, Executive Director of AASP, also had policy meetings with the staff members of several Representatives and Senators.  These meetings were later summarized in the June 2001 newsletter.

The Associated Press released a national feature story later that month about our historic trip to Washington.  The story was carried by papers throughout the nation during the Memorial Day Weekend.
 

     
Thomas Coleman, Michael  Vasquez, and Michael Patino after they finished distributing materials to all 535 members of Congress in May 2001.

 September 2001
9-11 Caused a Change of Plans

AASP's hopes for a major celebration in Washington D.C. during National Singles Week (Sept. 16 - 21, 2001) were dashed when tragedy struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11.  What was planned to be a festive occasion was turned into a somber commemoration.

We pressed on nonetheless, delivering Singles Week greeting cards to more than 80 unmarried members of Congress.  We also delivered certificate packages to 123 members of Congress whose districts had been reported by the 2000 Census to be "unmarried majority" districts.  We even managed to have photo sessions with many of these Representatives and Senators as we presented them with a greeting card or census certification or both. 

D.C. attorney Jane Albrecht and D.C. resident Perry Heath, both members of AASP, helped Executive Director Thomas F. Coleman with the deliveries and photo sessions.  Other members who planned to fly to D.C. to participate were unable to be there due to flight cancellations.

The trip was reported in the December 2001 newsletter which also contained a series of photos of the presentations to members of Congress.


D.C. members Perry Heath and Jane Albrecht, and Executive Director Thomas F. Coleman made presentations to 135 members of Congress in Sept. 2001
 

 
September 2002
Creating a Tradition

On September 16, radio stations throughout the nation broadcast a one-minute segment released by the Census Bureau commemorating National Unmarried and Single Americans Week.

From September 16 to 19, representatives of AASP were in Washington, D.C. visiting the offices of all 535 members of Congress. We also delivered special awards to the Washington offices of CBS Radio, New York Governor George Pataki, and D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.

We were delighted when The Hill, a newspaper read by members of Congress and their staffers, carried a special story about AASP a few weeks later. This story helped reinforce our message in the halls of power.

This was the third time that AASP members walked the halls of Congress to make it known that unmarried and single Americans are paying attention to the actions of lawmakers. 

Our recurring visits to Congress have now created a tradition -- visiting Washington, meeting with staffers and members of Congress, conducting interviews with the Capitol media corps, and presenting awards to individuals and organizations who have helped single people -- all during National USA Week.
 


During National USA Week, Sept. 2002, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton receives a Political Leadership Award from AASP members (left to right) Michael Patino, Dr. Karen Gail Lewis, Tom Coleman, Perry Heath, and Michael Vasquez.

 

A Political Leadership Award to New York Governor George Pataki is presented by Tom Coleman and AASP member L. Joan Allen. Receiving the award on Pataki’s behalf is his federal affairs representative James A. Mazarrella.
 


Tom Coleman and Perry Heath present an Excellence in Media Award to CBS Radio News. Washington D.C. correspondents Howard Arenstein and Dan Raviv received the award for CBS News General Manager Constance Lloyd.