Meeting Summaries
Since the election, but especially since the Inauguration of Barack Obama as
our president, GHO has been committed to keeping the spirit
of the campaign alive. To that end, we decided to meet monthly to discuss
issues of great import to us and our nation and to plan community-service
and grassroots political activities.
In order to keep everyone easily abreast of what our
organization is doing, we have decided to present our agenda for our
upcoming meetings and summaries of past meetings here.
January 2, 2010
January Meeting We got together for a discussion about job creation issues in our community and to celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Due to the weather, attendance was small but we got a lot done nonetheless. more...
October 3, 2009
October Meeting After a busy spring and summer, our monthly meetings are back! Everyone, regardless of previous participation, is welcome. We would like to see people from other towns join us as well. more...
January 2, 2010
January Meeting We got together for a discussion about job creation issues in our community and to celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Due to the weather, attendance was small but we got a lot done nonetheless. more...
October 3, 2009
October Meeting After a busy spring and summer, our monthly meetings are back! Everyone, regardless of previous participation, is welcome. We would like to see people from other towns join us as well. more...
During the summer months, we have not had any formal meetings; however, Demet
has kept everyone aware of planned activities via e-mail and we did get together
for certain activites.
September 17, 2009
Health Care Reform NOW! Once
more we participated in an event in support of a strong public option insurance from
10:00 AM to Noon in Haverhill near the Farmer’s Market.
We distributed information to dispel the myths and rumors propogated
by reform opponents, asked people to sign our petitions (to be
sent to Congresswoman Tsongas and Senator Kerry), and held rally
signs to increase awareness -- and express our support for --
health-care reform. For pictures, please go to Health
Care Reform NOW!
September 7, 2009
Health Care Can't Wait Rally - Boston At 9:00 AM a group of us (Demet, Mary, Mari, Jane, Lisa, Daniel, & Eva) piled into our cars and headed for Boston in a two-car caravan to participate in the rally organized by OFA and SEIU. By around 10:30, we were in place near the front so that we were able to see and hear everything that was going on.
When the rally was over, we joined other marchers and paraded to Copley Square along Boylston Street. Along the way, we ran into Perma, Becky, Pam and Doug. Later,
at Copley Square, we cought up with Derek, his mother, and his sister.
We all had a good time and were thrilled to be part of something so big. We listened to speeches by members of SEIU, who demonstrated (through personal) stories the need for health care reform. We also were treated to some fiery speeches from public officials: Attorney General Martha Coakley, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Rahul Rajkumar (president of Doctors for America) and U.S. Representatives Ed Markey, John Tierney, Michael Capuano, and Steve Lynch (whose speech was interrupted by chants in support of the public option). Missing in action was our very own Vikki Tsongas. For pictures of the event, please click here.
August 4, 2009
Movie Night: "Sick Around the World" We all gathered at Demet's and Bill's house to watch the PBS documentary. Once the movie was over, we discussed briefly the health care reform proposed by the House and supported by the Obama administration. more....
June 26, 2009
GHO's First Anniversary We got together at Demet and Bill's house to celebrate our group's first anniversary. While many people joined together in various organizations to work for the election of President Obama only to disband or meet via e-mails, etc., we continued working together and growing since those heady days.
Health Care Can't Wait Rally - Boston At 9:00 AM a group of us (Demet, Mary, Mari, Jane, Lisa, Daniel, & Eva) piled into our cars and headed for Boston in a two-car caravan to participate in the rally organized by OFA and SEIU. By around 10:30, we were in place near the front so that we were able to see and hear everything that was going on.
When the rally was over, we joined other marchers and paraded to Copley Square along Boylston Street. Along the way, we ran into Perma, Becky, Pam and Doug. Later,
at Copley Square, we cought up with Derek, his mother, and his sister.
We all had a good time and were thrilled to be part of something so big. We listened to speeches by members of SEIU, who demonstrated (through personal) stories the need for health care reform. We also were treated to some fiery speeches from public officials: Attorney General Martha Coakley, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Rahul Rajkumar (president of Doctors for America) and U.S. Representatives Ed Markey, John Tierney, Michael Capuano, and Steve Lynch (whose speech was interrupted by chants in support of the public option). Missing in action was our very own Vikki Tsongas. For pictures of the event, please click here.
August 4, 2009
Movie Night: "Sick Around the World" We all gathered at Demet's and Bill's house to watch the PBS documentary. Once the movie was over, we discussed briefly the health care reform proposed by the House and supported by the Obama administration. more....
June 26, 2009
GHO's First Anniversary We got together at Demet and Bill's house to celebrate our group's first anniversary. While many people joined together in various organizations to work for the election of President Obama only to disband or meet via e-mails, etc., we continued working together and growing since those heady days.
Once the celebration was over, we spent time talking
about health care reform, a topic that has become our central issue. more....
April 26, 2009
The Green Summit This was our first annual Green Summit, an exciting meeting involving many groups and individuals who care about our environment and are doing all kinds of things to try to ensure that we will leave behind a healthy Earth to our children and grandchildren. For more details, please click here.
March 21, 2009
March Meeting We devoted most of our time to educational issues, including Obama's Education plan, the main problems facing education, and how we could provide support to make our education system better. We focused on Obama's education plans, state education issues, and some local education concerns made more real by the presence of Mayor Fiorentini. We also talked about our Earth-Day activities scheduled for Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26. For more details, please click here.
February 28, 2009
February Meeting We discussed President Obama's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the budget for fiscal year 2010, and abuses of the Massachusetts Pension System by some elected officials. Additionally, we planned our next community-service activity and decided to draft a letter to be sent to our representatives and senators in the US Congress on the issue of uncollected taxes from individuals and from corporations. For further details, please click here.
January 25, 2009
January Meeting We had our first post-inauguration meeting at Doug and Pam's house. We discussed donating nonperishable goods to the Sacred Heart Church Food Bank in Bradford, MA; inviting local political leaders to our meetings; and getting involved with the League of Women Voters. We also filled out a questionnaire about what we thought were the most pressing issues for us. Then, we broke up into small groups in which we chose one of those issues to discuss and share our resulting opinions with all the assembled members. We plan to concentrate on the issues chosen by our groups as themes for coming meetings. (To see some of our pictures, click here.)
Coming Events
February, 2010
Join OFA in its ongoing campaigns!
Check out Organizing for America and join the various ongoing activities.
12:00 Noon - 4:00 PM
Haverhill Goes Green - an Earth Day Fair for the entire family! For details, please see Haverhill Goes Green in our Events section.
February, 2010
Join OFA in its ongoing campaigns!
Check out Organizing for America and join the various ongoing activities.
- We Demand Our Money Back -- see article on this page
- You Fight, We Fight -- see article on this page
- Join the Presidents Day Open Thread
- Volunteer for OFA.
12:00 Noon - 4:00 PM
Haverhill Goes Green - an Earth Day Fair for the entire family! For details, please see Haverhill Goes Green in our Events section.
"History suggests that unless a progressive president is able to mobilize widespread support for significant change in the country at large, it's not enough to have a congressional majority." -- Doris K. Goodwin
For detailed information about Health Care Reform, please go to
and 
and check out our Issues section.
"MAKE NO SMALL PLANS. THEY HAVE NO MAGIC TO STIR MEN'S BLOOD." -- Daniel Burnham