Who:
Mark McClain
Group Chair
Where:
Salem, VA
Today the Sierra Club's Roanoke Group held a public-education event in Salem, our beautiful home town in western Virginia's "Great Valley." We planned to set up a table for all our literature and spend the day greeting passers-by with a friendly smile, hoping to gain some new members or supporters from the community.
But alas, we found that Salem does not allow such foolishness on public property! We were offered a "parade" permit, which entitled us to mill around in front of the public library and offer our leaflets to anyone who cared to take them.
Distraught at the prospects of trying to manage a variety of leaflets, brochures, and newsletters out of our pockets, I devised a wonderful unit that may make the table obsolete. This has been dubbed the "Portable Picket Poll and Leaflet Library," or PPPLL for short! On this one piece, easily transported as the shade moves, our literature is displayed for all to see. It also has a place to mount a big sign that can be changed to fit the occasion, audience, or issue.
It's fashioned out of a 7-foot-long piece of 2x2 lumber, with a 1x2 cross piece at the top for mounting the poster board sign (that neon green poster stock really shows up!). Attached to one side of the pole are plastic brochure/document holders (available at any office supply store).
We had a great time engaging the library patrons, many of whom tarried for several minutes to visit with us about environmental issues, the Club, terrorism, the weather, and just about everything else.
And (all kidding aside) we want to thank Chief James Bryant of the Salem Police Department for very graciously and professionally explaining just how we do things here and issuing us a permit very expeditiously.
