POSTED BY MICHELLE FOWLE, WRITTEN BY VICKI MCCARTY

I’d like you to meet Vicki McCarty. She’s a 62 year old activist who had only canvassed one time in her life and that was when she was in high school. I’d like to share her story about her second canvass experience at 62 years old.

The last time I had canvassed for a candidate I was in High School, couldn’t vote yet, but was supporting George McGovern. Back then we were only armed with a survey on a clip board and some bumper stickers. We had no idea if the person opening the door was a friend or a Goldwater fan.

Needless to say, I was suddenly intimidated when I showed up to canvass for Katie Hill and realized that I was in the 21st century. The volunteers were given a quick training on getting the App on our cell phones which would then direct us to the location, given names and addresses…Right about then my audio went out and my panic set in. At 62 years of age this all sounded way too Jetsons, and I saw myself wandering around Santa Clarita dazed and confused. There were only two other volunteers so my escape going unnoticed would be tricky. Just as I was eyeing the exit a nice young volunteer asked if I’d like to team up with her. Now I was trapped but potentially had someone to drag me over the finish line.

It turns out she was very experienced and within minutes she had me and my phone all set to go. For the first couple of streets I shadowed her and was so amazed at the ease and efficiency of it all. We had the names and addresses along with their political persuasion. Reporting on the results was equally as easy, and after several houses I felt confident enough to split up and tackle the 60 houses we were given to contact. Once we had completed our mission we headed back to HQ, sharing funny stories as well as moments that felt we may have influenced and inspired.

So, what at first felt like I had volunteered for a root canal turned out to be a fun, fulfilling and impactful accomplishment. It’s an experience I highly recommend.

See our event page and join us in a canvass. We’d love to have you.