Activist of the Month - August, 2004

The Free State Project would like to honor a fantastic group of activists with the Activist of the Month Award. We honor Will Albenzi, Jack Shepard III, Elicia Preslan, Russell Kanning, Liberty Thyme, A. C. Clark and Gale Morgan, who all expended a phenomenal effort to reach a large gathering of homeschoolers with the FSP message. Many of these folks are Friends of the FSP, who although unable to commit to joining the FSP at this time, are still willing to go the extra mile to help it succeed. Many of these folks traveled a great distance to attend the homeschool event. Thank you all for your efforts! A special thanks, too, to the whole Southern California Local Group for their donations to make this event possible.

Following is Will's account of their experiences at the homeschooling conference:

The SoCalFSP Local Group has made contact with hundreds of homeschoolers. The Homeschool Association of California had its annual convention in Sacramento CA, and the Southern CA group was there. This spectacular success, the first of many SoCalFSP recruiting events, was only completed because of the determination of our local group members to further the cause of "Liberty in our Lifetime".

The SoCal Porcupines discovered that the Homeschool Association of California was having its annual meeting in Sacramento. They decided that homeschoolers represented a group of people who would be very interested in the message of "Living What You Believe" in NH. When they contacted the organizers of the conference, sadly they did not believe that our message was relevant to their members and denied our application to rent a booth at their conference. After getting over the disappointment, Will Albenzi realized that he knew an intersection where a lot of homeschoolers would be traveling through. So plans were made, moneys and materials gathered, and a call to the Northern California Group (NCA) for volunteers was sounded. Few NCA members were available, so members of the SoCal Group, not being friends of missed opportunities, rallied together to take care of it themselves. And that is how five SoCal Porcupines found themselves departing Los Angeles on a 400 mile road trip (the distance from Baltimore to Boston) to let homeschoolers from all over the state know about the FSP.

They arrived at 4 am and decided to get a room at the Radisson for the (short) night. At 7:00 am Will Albenzi, Russell Kanning, and a Sacramento area libertarian Gale Morgan decided that a change of plans was in order. Instead of being on a more distant corner, they passed out flyers right at the entrance of the Hotel Parking Lot. Russell came up with the excellent idea that they direct parking for the HSC while handing out flyers. A little later they were joined by Jack Shepard and Elicia, who needed a little sleep after the long drive. They generated tons of good will that morning by helping people find the HSC registration desk, parking (the lots were filling rapidly), and in some cases they even helped those who needed it to carry in their materials. They gave flyers to almost everyone they met. They also placed a couple of flyers around the lobbies and tables in the hotel. There were several people seen walking around the hotel reading our flyer and nodding. They gave out about 300 flyers at the convention.

Another of our members, Liberty Thyme (yes that is really her name), recorded the conference for a local TV station. She even interviewed those guys handing out flyers in front. While talking to some of the people running the HSC 2004, she mentioned that she was affiliated with the Free State Project too. She told us that their reactions were pretty positive. The SoCal group hopes to get video of that interview to distribute.

Tons of thanks to all of those who provided the reconnaissance of the area, the materials we gave away, the vehicle we traveled in, the money used for gas and lodging, and the time of the volunteers. With people like you working with the FSP, I am certain we will achieve "Liberty in our Lifetime".

Activist of the Month