ALERT: FIRST Legislation Needs Your Help

[Ken Leung]

It is very important that all the teams included in the "TEAMS_REPRESENTATIVES" help with this effort that will benefit all FIRST teams. This is the chance when you say to yourself “I can make a difference” and do something that could help out your team and others, because EVERY letter sent to the representatives counts.

Take a look at “Teams by Representative” to see which teams we are asking help from, and who is the congress member you are writing to, and their contact info.

The $2,000,000 will mean a discount for all teams' first event. This is by far one of the easiest fund raising activities you can do to get your team some money for registration. Although "Memo to teams" mentioned that you can send one letter per team, it is encouraged (and necessary) that EVERYONE in your team each write one letter, and send them all out together as a group of letters. The more people the better. Just imagine the representatives when they see all those letters thinking, "Wow, there are a lot of people wanting this. I better do something or they are not going to support me."

So, that means, every student, teacher, parent, engineer, and anyone else involved in your team each writing one letter to the representative in your district. Take a look at the "Sample Letter to Representatives" to see how to write one of those letters.

As the memo said, Timing is crucial . It is very important that your team get this done as soon as possible.

Also, it is very important that teams arrange meetings with the representatives, because in-person meetings are far more effective than a letter. Advices for in-person and telephone meetings can be seen in the "Memo to teams". This is not one of the times when you say “I am too lazy to do this…” because whatever effort you aren’t putting forth, will come back when you have to work 10 times harder trying to get money out of sponsors.


So, I urge that all of you out there pay serious attention to this. If you are a student on your team, inform your team leader about this. If you are a team leader, talk to your team about it. This isn’t something casual you just skim through and ignore. We need the help of EVERYONE to make this work. So, get as many people as possible on your team to write a letter to the representative, and figure out who you want to bring to the in-person meeting with the representatives.

If this legislation is passed, you will be sure FIRST will make use of every penny from the $2,000,000.

Thanks for your time!

-Ken Leung

P.S. Just so it is easier for you, here is a list of teams we are asking to help with this.

1
33
47
65
68
73
92
94
111
128
174
191
201
211
226
300
304
308
321
340
382
386
401
405
406
414
416
422
435
444
451
469
554
561
563
573
578
587
600
618
619
638
642
648
665
677
762
801
837
859
872
891
892
900
926
945
963
975
977
979
1008
1030
1037
1065
1068
1083
1093
1113
1188
1218
1236