The following email showed up in my in-box and I thought it worthy of passing along.  Text is as follows:

Dear Friends, 

One of the primary reasons I cast my vote for Barack Obama was his insistence that a well run country begins not only with an effective and fair leader, but with citizens who are willing to mobilize and do something in their communities. To me, President Obama's win was just the first of many changes that need to happen in order to build a community and a nation that we are proud of and that is truly representative of the spirit of the American people. President Obama has challenged what I believe to be epidemic apathy by asking each of us to actively engage in our personal, our families, and our ommunity's well-being.

In the spirit of change, I am inviting you to create with me a community of action here in Olympia - Olympia Action Network. My concept is to meet once a month (the third Sunday of the month, for example) and do something to better our community. This is what we have been asked to do by our President elect. This is why many of us chose to give him our votes. It is our turn to show him that we have heard his request, that we believe in the change he promises and to actually 'be the change we wish to see in the world.'

I have long been critical of the top down approach to> organizational management. In a healthy organization/organism, all parts are equal and essential to the health of the whole. I want this to be your group. What do I mean? There will be no 'leader,' no 'president,' no 'director.' Activity coordination will be rotated among all members. For example, if we have 100 people in our group, you would be responsible to organize the monthly community activity once every 100 months. A task most of us can handle, yeah? For the other 99 months, you need only to show up and volunteer your mental, physical, spiritual skills to that month's activity. This structure will> allow for a  tremendous breadth of action, as it will be different every week. One week we may plant trees, one week we may read to kids, one week we may.... The possibilities are truly limitless.

Please attend the planning meeting on Saturday, December 6, 2008 from 4-6 at Wild Grace Arts (507 Cherry Street SE, Downtown Olympia). The meeting will be an opportunity to meet one another, make a commitment to this work, and create a calendar for the next four years (first term) of monthly activity leaders. From this group, I will put together an email list of all participants. The activity leader for a given month will be responsible to let people know a week in advance of the activity the relevant details of what we will do.

I sincerely hope to see you on Saturday, December 6, 2008. I am excited by the energy and enthusiasm I know exists in abundance in this good town of ours. Please let me know if you have any questions and forward this email to everyone you think would be interested. The time is here to come together and create a community of hope and of action. 

Hope-fully Yours,

Rachael