SENDING ADVOCACY LETTERS

INTRODUCTION

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: This section of the website contains tools to help you express your opinions on important issues regarding Prostate Cancer. By taking action you will help to further awareness, provide for better and improved treatment options, and increase funding for prostate cancer research. To make a real difference, it is not enough for you to act alone. It is important that you ask your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and support group members to act also.

TAKING ACTION: This takes only 3 simple steps:

• Locate a current issue requiring action
• Find your target audience
• Express a position
• Send your note (letter, fax)
• You may prefer to make a phone call or have a face-to-face meeting

To find an action item you can click on the Advocacy tab on any NASPCC website page and then on "Action Items" in the resulting list. You may also click here: Action Items.

Each action item listed takes you to a page that will normally contain:

• A description of the issue or alert
• Suggested recipient(s)
• A sample letter
• A link to Congressional members and agencies

Periodic updates to keep the readers informed of the status of and progress on the issues will also be provided and users should check back periodically to see if additional action needs to be taken.

The sample letters may be used verbatim by adding only the sender's name and address information. Instructions are provided below as to how to "copy and paste" the sample letters into word processing or other text program for modification or into a web form on the Congressional member's web site. A clickable link to these instructions is also provided on each of the issues pages. For those who prefer to write their own personal letters, the background information and sample letters should provide a good base for getting started. A customized letter may express personal interest better and have more impact than a common or "canned" letter.

A link is also provided to assist users in locating their members of Congress and their contact information.

Detailed instruction to using these features are below.

WRITING LETTERS

Whether you use the sample letter as-is, customize it, or write your own, remember:
Sending a letter in any form will have more impact than sending nothing!!!

CONTACTING YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE(S)

The best way to contact your Senator or Representative electronically is via a form on their web site. In fact, over 500 of the 540 Congressional web addresses are not e-mail addresses at all, but rather pointers to web based forms. The best way to find such contact information is through the web site http://www.visi.com/juan/congress

You can use enter your address or zip code or click on your state name to find your Senators and Representative. The resulting list shows their DC phone and fax numbers as well as a clickable entry for their electronic web mail form. Clicking on their names brings up profiles which show local contact information, committee structure, office staff, a brief biography, and pointers to their websites.

IMPORTANT: We may link you to other organizations' Congressional "alert" sites that utilize their own forms to provide third-party forwarding for electronic correspondence to members of Congress. However, where you live may determine how you must send your letter. In recent years more and more members of Congress will only accept electronic correspondence that utilize specific forms on their own websites. Typically, these forms also require the user to select from a list of predetermined subjects. This is to make it easy for the letter to be directed to the appropriate legislative aide. If you try to send an e-mail directly to these member of Congress or if you utilize a third-party forwarding system, your note may get rejected by their electronic system or you may receive a note telling you that they only accept electronic correspondence using the web form on their site. Some have stated that "canned" correspondence utilizing third-party forwarding methods is too easy to forge and therefore not verifiable. If the member of Congress to whom you are writing will accept electronic mail via third-party forwarding, then you can utilize that easier method.

USING COPY AND PASTE (WINDOWS OPERATION SYSTEMS):

To use a sample letter, you can simply "copy" it into Windows' Clipboard, and then "paste" it into a word processor document, the body of a new e-mail message, or a text box on a form. Here's how:

1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the text.
2. Click and hold down the left mouse button as you drag the mouse to the end of the text.
3. Release the mouse button.
4. The entire sample letter should now be highlighted and can now be copied to the Windows' Clipboard. Depending on your preferences, there are three ways to accomplish this:
   • Use the "shortcut key" method by holding down the "Control" key on your keyboard while you press the letter "c"
   • Use the "menu" method by clicking on "File" on the menu bar and then on "Copy" in the resultant pull-down menu
   • Use the "mouse" method by clicking on the right mouse button and then on "Copy" in the resultant pull-down menu

5. The document is now copied to Windows' Clipboard. Next you'll need to open your target, position your cursor at the beginning of the new document, and paste the copied text into it. Depending on your preferences, there are three ways to accomplish this:
   • Use the "shortcut key" method by holding down the "Control" key on your keyboard while you press the letter "v"
   • Use the "menu" method by clicking on "File" and then on "Paste" in the resultant pull-down menu
   • Use the "mouse" method by clicking on the right mouse button and then on "Paste" in the resultant pull-down menu

The text of the letter should now be in your new document!