The annual meeting of the White County Farm Bureau membership went very well. The event was held in the gymnasium of a local community center and I estimated the seating capacity at 480. It was nearly at full capacity.

Due to the size of the group, we did not think it was practical to have everyone sign an attendance roster. The FB leaders were not even taking attendance. Mike Warlick and Dan Cada, two of our local supporters and Community Coordinators, were there as representatives of the FT, also. Mike had set the meeting up and is a member of the White County FB. We placed “push cards” at every place setting prior to the arrival of guests. We showed the “It’s Time” video and took questions afterward.

After the presentation and Q&A, we spoke with a number of attendees. The county president, Stanley London, was not familiar with our proposal before we came, although he said that he had heard of it and was interested in learning more. After the meeting, he told me that he would be willing to send a letter to Macon (Georgia's Farm Bureau HQ) on behalf of the White county FB expressing this organization’s support. Mike Warlick agreed to follow up on that commitment.

The Agency Manager, Ward Gann, had read the book and was already a supporter, which helped a lot. We did not hear anyone who opposed our initiative. A couple of people approached me after the meeting to ask about getting more involved as volunteers and I directed them to Mike.

We want to make a more concerted effort to do more of these in 07. I am not aware of any other organization that could provide us with an audience of this size in a rural area such as this one. The one that I did in the neighboring county of Lumpkin in August was only slightly smaller at about 300.

We have therefore done 2 of Georgia’s 159 counties; we need to do ten times that in 07 at a minimum. Had we rented a space, run radio ads and used a lot of volunteer time and energy in organizing and promoting a FT presentation, we might have gotten 50 or so people (if we were lucky). To get an audience of almost 500 with none of those expenses and without our volunteers or the Houston staff spending hours in organizing and promoting is truly a huge opportunity. I cannot think of a more productive way to spend a few hours promoting the FairTax.

Phil Hinson
SE Director, AFFT