I'm going to Washington DC! And I'm meeting with senators. Please help me.

Hey everyone,
It's not often that I solicit people's help for non-concert events. It feels weird to be doing this at 30 years of age, but Invisible Children is a charitable organization that has been laid on my heart. The overall idea is this. In Uganda and surrounding countries, a madman named Joseph Kony has spent the last 20-some-odd years running a rebel band of soldiers called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA rules the jungle in these countries, descending upon villages in the middle of the night and killing, burning, and pillaging, and most importantly, abducting the children of the village. He then marches them to their strongholds, where he tortures them and forces them to become the world's most violent soldiers.

This problem was brought to light by a group of filmmakers who went to Uganda to film a completely unrelated event. They were then introduced to the atrocities happening every day, and filmed some of the craziest footage you'll ever see. Since, the filmmakers began Invisible Children, whose sole goal is to bring these children home to their families, and to end the terrors by Kony and his LRA.

For more info on Invisible Children, head to www.invisiblechildren.com. To watch the video "The Rescue", head here: http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/

Fast forward to today. On April 25th, 2009, Teresa and I joined over 10,000 people in 100 cities across the globe as part of The Rescue, one of the largest organized awareness events in the history of earth. We marched through the rain in solidarity to help raise awareness across the globe. The six-day event concluded with us marching on Oprah Winfrey's studio at 2am in Chicago. She saw the 500 or so of us surrounding her building, and came out and invited the filmmakers onto her show.

Check out our appearance on Oprah here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jFISVUXxc

And check out a follow-up on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Zt1xsokns&feature=related

So why DC? Well, this is kind of the capstone of the whole process. Together with thousands like me, we're going to the Capitol, to officially meet with our senators from each state, to make them aware of our feelings on what's happening in Uganda. I will be meeting with Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, senators from Michigan, in an officially scheduled session. We will be delivering to them the hundreds of letters that were written at the Rescue by the participants, which they are legally required to read.

We will be encouraging our senators to support "The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act", originally introduced just a few weeks ago to the Senate by US Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).

The entire bill can be viewed here: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/includes/phpbin/download_resource.php?id=72

I am driving to Washington DC on Sunday, June 21, staying in a church with hundreds of others on June 22 and 23, and making the trek home on Wednesday, June 24. To help pay for the massive costs of the event, Invisible Children has set up a way for friends and family to make donations. It is costing me $60.00 to attend the event, and I donated $30.00 extra to the cause. I set a goal of $200.00 to be raised, and I'm asking you to donate even $5.00 to help me do something that has been laid upon my heart.

To donate, head to my personal IC page at: http://invisiblechildren.kintera.org/howitends/natedorough

I'm not worried about my costs being covered. I'll worry about my gas money, and I'm staying with friends in Harrisburg, PA and then staying in a donated living space in Washington DC with the rest of the crew. The important part is that the operation itself is funded.

Want to help? Here's how.
1. Watch the movies. You will be inspired, I promise.
2. Head to my page (URL above) and donate. $5 even.
3. Write a letter to Stabenow or Levin. I will personally deliver it, along with the hundreds gathered at The Rescue.

Finally, to help raise awareness locally for this cause, I will be hosting a dual screening of the two I.C. films that I own. The first is the original Invisible Children film, and the second is The Rescue. For now, unless numbers dictate otherwise, I will plan on hosting this in my home on Tuesday, June 16 at 7pm. If numbers dictate, I'll work with my friends at the Hartland PAC to potentially move the screening across the street to the PAC.

LOCAL INVISIBLE CHILDREN FILM SCREENING
Tuesday, June 16, 7pm
My apartment. Please RSVP by emailing me at natedorough@gmail.com ONLY if you're really coming. Facebook users, you can RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86557792841 If enough people RSVP, we'll show the movie on the big screen across the street. We'll write letters to our senators, which I will personally deliver to them on June 22 and 23.

I'm terribly sorry this is so long. Please, react how you feel necessary. You can donate, or you can delete. I understand either way, we all have our places that we put our discretionary money. This is where I put mine. Thanks for reading.

Love,
Nate Dorough