It has been said that actions speak louder than words.

Thursday, September 4th marked another day on the calendar for many people. But for some veterans down on their luck in California’s 4th Congressional District, it was a day for hope. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Brown was joined by retired General Wesley Clark for a check presentation ceremony to three very special veteran’s service providers: Rebuild Hope, the Greater Oroville Homeless Coalition, and Cottage Housing.

Gen. Clark & Charlie Brown present check to local veterans service providers

$30,000 was donated to these three groups from Charlie’s campaign-something no other political campaign has done in known history. Charlie Brown has been committed to doing good right now through his Promises Kept Veteran’s Charity Challenge giveaway. The results have been nearly $55,000 in campaign money since Charlie started this unprecedented event back in March 2008.

Josh Steward, OIF veteran

The day’s events started with a speech by Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Josh Steward, who came to the meeting in support of Charlie and to tell his story of how a former Veteran’s Charity Challenge recipient, Soldier’s Angels, helped him get back on track after a terrible accident while in service.

Dwayne & Carol Zanon, Greater Oroville Homeless Coalition

The 2nd runner-up in the Promises Kept Veteran’s Charity Challenge was the Greater Oroville Homeless Coalition. The Coalition helps homeless families or those who are at risk of becoming homeless, acquire, access, or maintain safe, temporary or permanent shelter—often veterans, or women with children. Charlie and the campaign presented the group with a $5,000 check. This money will be instrumental in their development for many months to come.

Dana Hendrickson, Rebuild Hope

The 1st runner-up, Rebuild Hope, is a relatively new non-profit who’s goal is to help keep soldiers and their families financially stable through tough times. The group received $10,000 from the Brown campaign, which will help drastically increase their scope and the number of families they can assist. Rebuild Hope is a national non-profit organization dedicated to mobilizing individual Americans to improving the financial health of severely injured soldiers, veterans and their families during their transition from military to civilian life. They are the only group in the nation to provide such services.

Tim Burke, Cottage Housing

Finally, the Promises Kept winner, Cottage Housing, received a check from Charlie for $15,000. Cottage Housing creates healing residential communities where homeless people are able to support one another while accessing the full range of supportive services they need to make the transition from the streets to self-sufficiency.

Tim Burke, a veteran and one-time recipient of assistance from the group, said that the pride he felt in knowing that he was “a tax-payer instead of a burden” helped motivate him and he now works with Cottage Housing to help get his brothers & sisters off the streets.

Gen. Wes Clark

With General Wesley Clark on hand, Charlie was doing something amazing. He was shining a spotlight on a need in not only this district, but this country as well. Too often our men & women are bravely sent off to fight & defend our freedoms. When they come home from battle, no one seems to want to care for them. It takes groups like Cottage Housing, Rebuild Hope and the Greater Oroville Homeless Coalition to provide services to help get through tough times. Now that they are receiving the attention they deserve, maybe more help will come.

General Clark said it best: “Everybody needs money and wants support, but this is the first time I’ve come to a candidate who gives back as he raises.”

For more information on these groups and what the Promises Kept Veteran’s Charity Challenge, please visit our Promises Kept page on our website.

Please visit our website, www.charliebrownforcongress.org, to learn more about Charlie, his historic mission, how to donate, and the ways you can help send an American hero to Congress.

PS- Check out our local press coverage here, here and here

The first round votes have been counted and we are down to the final five!  

Thousands and thousands of people cast first round votes in “Serve with the General” – the contest that will send General Wes Clark to one lucky Congressional District to participate in a community service project.  The race to get into the final round was extremely close!

Now it is time to pick from the final five districts: Washington’s 8th (Darcy Burner), California’s 4th (Charlie Brown), North Carolina’s 10th (Daniel Johnson), Colorado’s 4th (Betsy Markey), or Minnesota’s 3rd (Ashwin Madia).

Click here to cast your final round vote!

(Every district starts back at zero votes for the final round, so make sure you cast a final round vote.)

You get to decide where Democrats will roll up their sleeves at a community service event with General Clark this summer.  

So cast your vote today!  The final round of voting ends this Friday, June 6th, at 12:00 midnight eastern time.  

Thank you for your participation and for putting your Democratic values into action.  Spread the word!

Wes Clark will be joining a Democrats Work community service project this summer, and Democrats Work and WesPAC are running a contest to decide who will Serve with the General.

Thousands of people have already voted, but voting is so close that as of this morning California’s 4th district has 70 votes separating it from first place ~ and only 17 votes before it drops out of the top 5!

On Friday, the top 5 vote getting districts will move on to the final round. A handful of votes will decide if California’s 4th is pushed out or wins it all.

If you would like to meet Gen. Clark, or to help bring him to California to serve on a community project, cast your vote here.

Today, the WesPAC and Democrats Work communities launched a contest to determine which Congressional District General Wes Clark is going to visit this summer.

This won’t be an ordinary visit.  General Clark will travel to one Congressional District where a Democratic challenger is fighting to change the direction of our country to work side-by-side with area Democrats to make a positive impact through community service.  We want you to tell us where we should put our values into action.  

You can cast your vote here: www.DemocratsWork.org.

For 34 years, General Clark served our country in the United States Army.  Service is a cornerstone upon which our country was built. It is central to what makes America great.  That’s why we’re excited to have General Clark join us.  We’re ready to bring a service project to a community near you. But it can only be successful if we hear from you.

Vote to bring General Clark to your district.  Or vote to send him to a district where you want Democrats to roll up their sleeves at a community service project.  We’ll invite the Democratic challenger for Congress and his or her supporters – and all of you who vote for the winning district – to join me at the service event.  And we will show everyone how Democrats gets things done.    

   

Vote here: www.DemocratsWork.org

Democrats Work has helped spread a new politics of service across the country, mobilizing thousands of Democrats at more than 80 service events  cleaning up neighborhoods and parks, supporting our troops, caring for veterans, working at food banks, planting trees.  Many of you helped make that happen.

Cast your vote today to bring that same spirit of service to a great part of our country.  It is our job to spread the word far and wide.  It is your job to make sure your favorite district wins!

 

The first round of voting will only last until Friday, May 30th, so get your vote in today.  Only the top five vote-getters will move on to the final round!

There is a new Wes Clark video that is very unusual at YouTube. Instead of talking about a candidate, in this case Wes Clark, it speaks directly to Wes Clark. I hope this really does go viral. I feel it has a message that Wes Clark needs to hear.

Beyond that impact on Clark himself I think this is the beginning of the ability of a group, individual or campaign to create their own channel that will talk directly to the candidate or from the candidate to the public…with no press editing. I’ll be posting more on this topic as it can impact local, regional, state and federal races.

The full channel name is YouTube/Polcampaign. There is only one video there at least for the moment. I will be putting this on my blogs. I hope other blog owners and members do the same.

This is not a 100% declaration of support for a Clark candidacy on my part.While most know I was heavily involved in the Draft and Campaign, I’m trying to keep an Open Mind for a couple of our declared candidates as they make their case. But I want to listen to Wes Clark too. I firmly believe he will elevate the campaign once in the game. And I think this video may help in that effort.

If Wes Clark again gets a firm demonstration of his built-in support perhaps it will impact his decision making. While most of us expect him to run, based on his own comments, I believe this is a time to demonstrate his support. Circulating this video is one easy way to make the support obvious..and elevate the campaign discussion at the same time. A great President can only help California, the US and the world. I’m all for having all the good people in the race!

UPDATE: This story was merged with Part 1 into the complete letter here.