Your action requested in support of Thomas' proposed valley fever legislation

As most of you already know, Congressman Bill Thomas recently introduced legislation ( H R 5416)authorizing funds for Valley Fever vaccine research.  Bill Thomas' legislative director, Mike Holland, indicates that letters of support for this legislation would be greatly appreciated from businesses, chambers of commerce, local government entities, lobby groups, etc.  

ADDRESS:  These letters addressed to Bill Thomas should be faxed to Mike Holland's attention at 202-225-8798 (with a copy to Valley Fever Americas Foundation at 661-746-6056 !).   

FORMAT:  There are many possible formats, and we hope many different ones will be used, but as a guideline, here is one way:

            The Honorable William Thomas

            2208 Rayburn Office Building

            Washington DC

                                 (Faxed to the attention of Mike Holland, 202-225-8798)

             Dear Representative Thomas       

WHO:    Letters are needed from individuals, corporations, government entities, chambers of commerce, in our area and elsewhere.  Holland writes:  One of the keys here is to show it is a problem beyond Kern County and CA so letters from such groups in NV, AZ, UT, NM, and TX, especially TX, would be very helpful.

TIMEFRAME:   Holland writes:  At the risk of sounding glib, the sooner the better.  There is not a lot of time left in the legislative year and I would like to start receiving these letters by the end of this week.  Re:  their shelf-life.  The letters should remain effective until the end of the year.  Thus, they will be helpful as long as they are arriving but it is better to get them sooner than later.  

CONTENT:    You should mention the bill HR 5416, your support for the bill, and some reason why you support it.  The letter does not need to be long, but should be your own.  Holland writes:  "We would prefer that it NOT be one form letter because we will want to use those letters as evidence of support and they are more powerful if unique."

 Thanks for your help with this important project.

 

Sandra Larson

Executive Director

Valley Fever Americas Foundation

661-746-6056

661-331-7639 (CELL)

661-746-4746 (FAX)

SLWorks@bak.rr.com