Across the country, boxes are arriving, tables are filling up, and volunteers are getting to work.
Constitution Day is still ahead, but the people behind this year’s effort are already making it happen. In communities from Tennessee to New Jersey to Texas, Convention of States volunteers are working with the 917 Society to place pocket Constitutions into the hands of thousands of eighth-grade students.
This work takes more than a good idea. It takes people willing to open their homes, gather their friends, contact schools, sort boxes, load cars, and make deliveries. It takes neighbors choosing to serve their communities.
In Tennessee, COS activist Doug Hill has also been volunteering with the 917 Society for four years. Each year, he comes to pick up Constitutions for local deliveries. The 917 Society has grown so much that it now has a large shipping warehouse in Nashville. Even so, local volunteers continue to keep supplies close at hand.
Pallets of Constitutions are stored in a volunteer’s garage, ready to go to nearby schools. Doug knows where to pick them up, and he keeps showing up to help. His steady service is one example of how a national effort becomes real in a local community.
In New Jersey, Monica Rudloff of COS has already made deliveries to Thomas E. Bowe Middle School in Glassboro and Bankbridge Regional School in Sewell. Each delivery brings students one step closer to receiving a personal copy of the document that protects their rights and describes the structure of their government.
Another New Jersey volunteer, Andy Deitch, recently helped create a special moment at Churchill Junior High School in East Brunswick. On August 24, Andy partnered with Convention of States to deliver 700 pocket Constitutions to eighth-grade students.
The delivery was more than a handoff of two boxes. It was a moment of connection between citizens and a school community. Andy said the best part was seeing the smile of Dr. Daniel Moran, the social studies department head who enthusiastically accepted the Constitutions.
That smile says something important. It shows that this effort is welcomed by people who understand the value of giving students a clear and lasting connection to their country’s founding document.
In Montgomery County, Texas, Cyndie Phillips, her husband, and their friends are doing the work behind the scenes. When 8,000 pocket Constitutions arrived, they gathered together to count and sort them by school. The shipment will cover three of the five school districts in the county.
This is self-government in action. It is not happening far away in a government office. It is happening in garages, homes, school offices, and community gathering places. Americans are working together to strengthen civic understanding in the next generation.
Convention of States volunteers and the 917 Society are proving that lasting change begins when people decide to participate. One box, one school, and one student at a time, they are helping pass the responsibility of self-government forward.
Click here to learn more about this amazing and significant project.