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BY AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – The notes come from young and old and in many languages.
“We love you!”
“I came to vote for the first time because of you.”
“The U.S. should be proud.”
Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool, message boards have been set up for people to write messages to President-elect Barack Obama.
The boards were put up Wednesday afternoon by Avaaz.org. -- avaaz means voice in many languages. The liberal global advocacy group received permission from the National Park Service, said Brett Solomon, campaign director for the New York-based Avaaz.org.
The boards, Solomon said, are a way to bring attention to Obama’s commitments to sign a new global treaty on climate change, close Guantanamo prison and end torture, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to fight poverty.
But for tourists and Washington residents alike, the boards were a chance to express their hopes for the newly elected president who has yet to arrive in the city since he was elected Tuesday.
“God, we need good luck for this young man,” wrote Robert Clayton Nicol, 82, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We all need good luck right now because of the economy and two wars,” he said after writing his message.
Tara Trapp, 25, of New Jersey, had thought about taking her two children to Florida this week. But after Tuesday’s election, the three came to Washington instead “to come to see the White House where Obama will live.”
Their message for Obama: “We love and believe in you. Congratulations.”
The message boards will remain up through the weekend and possibly into next week, Solomon said.
The group’s Web site also provides a way to send messages to Obama. Some of the messages the group has received online have been printed out and pasted to the wall. So far, 157,000 messages for Obama have been received online. The group hopes to get to 1 million.
“It’s just a fantastic display of expressing democracy,” Solomon said.
Debbie Williams, 55, of Washington, heard about the display and came to see it to honor Obama.
“I wanted … to see the warmth and sincerity that people have for him and his family,” she said.
The group hopes to get the messages to Obama and is trying to work out how to do that, Solomon said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com
On the Web: Send a message to Obama through Avaaz.org
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – The notes come from young and old and in many languages.
“We love you!”
“I came to vote for the first time because of you.”
“The U.S. should be proud.”
Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool, message boards have been set up for people to write messages to President-elect Barack Obama.
The boards were put up Wednesday afternoon by Avaaz.org. -- avaaz means voice in many languages. The liberal global advocacy group received permission from the National Park Service, said Brett Solomon, campaign director for the New York-based Avaaz.org.
The boards, Solomon said, are a way to bring attention to Obama’s commitments to sign a new global treaty on climate change, close Guantanamo prison and end torture, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to fight poverty.
But for tourists and Washington residents alike, the boards were a chance to express their hopes for the newly elected president who has yet to arrive in the city since he was elected Tuesday.
“God, we need good luck for this young man,” wrote Robert Clayton Nicol, 82, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We all need good luck right now because of the economy and two wars,” he said after writing his message.
Tara Trapp, 25, of New Jersey, had thought about taking her two children to Florida this week. But after Tuesday’s election, the three came to Washington instead “to come to see the White House where Obama will live.”
Their message for Obama: “We love and believe in you. Congratulations.”
The message boards will remain up through the weekend and possibly into next week, Solomon said.
The group’s Web site also provides a way to send messages to Obama. Some of the messages the group has received online have been printed out and pasted to the wall. So far, 157,000 messages for Obama have been received online. The group hopes to get to 1 million.
“It’s just a fantastic display of expressing democracy,” Solomon said.
Debbie Williams, 55, of Washington, heard about the display and came to see it to honor Obama.
“I wanted … to see the warmth and sincerity that people have for him and his family,” she said.
The group hopes to get the messages to Obama and is trying to work out how to do that, Solomon said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com
On the Web: Send a message to Obama through Avaaz.org