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How to Rally Local Support Using a Letter

By: Jeff Durham - Updated: 14 May 2012 | comments*Discuss
 
Rallying Local Support Promoting Local

Just as a colony of ants has to band together if they want to achieve the aim of moving something from point A to point B so people often join together to form some kind of support group to forward a common cause. The causes can vary tremendously but can include issues such as keeping an area litter free, preserving green field sites, campaigns to keep yobs off street corners etc. In fact, just about any cause is likely to have a support group driving it forward.

But Where to Start?

Many people will begin by taking out advertisements in their local newspapers, putting ads in the windows or message boards of shops, contacting a news editor in their local paper etc. However, you might not be looking to form an organised support group as such but may simply wish to highlight an issue of concern and gauge support for it at a local community level. This could even be restricted to just your nearest neighbours and might simply begin by posting a leaflet through their door or even by word of mouth.

However, leaflets and the like can often simply end up in the bin unread so a letter with the name of the intended recipient, not just ‘The Occupier’ is likely to result in a far more successful campaign.

How to Write a Letter Rallying Local Support

In planning the letter, it’s always useful to make it timely and for it to coincide with an event you might be planning a week or two ahead of the letter being sent. You should think ‘locally’ and direct your letter towards local issues which are more likely to be of interest to the surrounding community. Raise awareness in this section of the letter and close it by calling for action.

Here is an example of a letter to rally local support written by a mother whose child attends the local primary school.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Peters,

Over the past 6 months alone, as you’ll no doubt be aware, 3 children from St Barnaby’s Primary School have suffered injuries as a result of being hit by drivers travelling at excess speed through the junction between Thomas Road and Edgar Street. As the mother of one of the children involved in one of the accidents, I have started a campaign to press for the introduction of a pelican crossing at the aforementioned junction and we are holding a rally at Roberts Community Centre on January 11 at 7pm to drum up support for this.

At this rally, I will be speaking about the effects of the accident in which my daughter, Jodie, was involved and how it affected all of our family and Jodie will be there also to speak about how the accident has changed her life.

Our aim is to encourage the relevant people within the Council to consider installing a pelican crossing at the junction between Thomas Road and Edgar Street instead of siting it 300 yards further down the road near Lime Lane which is their current intention.

Other speakers at the rally include Tim Wyatt, the local councillor, and Detective Inspector Chris Jones of Mirryshire Police who takes an active role in teaching children the basics of road safety at play groups and primary schools throughout the local area. There will also be representatives from the council’s Traffic division attending and these are the people we are ultimately focusing our attentions on as they are the key decision makers.

The event will last for approximately an hour and we will be providing sandwiches and hot and cold drinks free of charge.We cannot achieve our goals on our own and I sincerely hope that you feel passionate enough about our cause to lend your support on the evening in question. Hopefully, if we get a good turn out, we can start to put the wheels in motion and, ultimately, achieve our aim of making the local streets safer for our children and to avoid any repetition of the accidents we have witnessed over recent months.

If you have any questions or require any additional information or even if you simply want to get involved more actively, I’d be delighted to hear from you. My contact details are below.

I do hope you’ll join us on 19 Mar 2024 at 7.30pm and thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Parkes

Church View Cottage

Dunchester Road

Dunhall

DN34 5ER

Tel: 01329 657333

Mobile: 07311 600400

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