Since my last post on January 22, 2021, a new grassroots undertaking has grown exponentially. I’m calling it our TOMORROW WAS YESTERDAY WHITE HOUSE BOOK PROJECT.
LET'S DO SOMETHING REALLY BIG!
WE ALREADY HAVE REPRESENTATION FROM 39 STATES! We hope to have one book sent to the White House from each of our 50 states.
1) ORDER YOUR BOOK COPY OF TOMORROW WAS YESTERDAY FROM AMAZON.
https://www.amazon.com/Tomorr.../dp/1732974527/ref=sr_1_1...
2) MAIL THE BOOK TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND YOUR CHOSEN RECIPIENT (SEE SAMPLE COVER LETTER BELOW) FROM YOUR HOME ADDRESS.
3) INCLUDE A PHOTO OF YOUR LOVED ONE IF YOU WISH AND INSERT IT IN THE BOOK WITH THE COVER LETTER. (photo will not be returned)
4) EMAIL THE WHITE HOUSE TO GIVE THEM A HEADS-UP THAT YOU’RE MAILING A BOOK.
Link to White House email:
Can you imagine if the White House were to receive a copy of Tomorrow Was Yesterday from each state in the nation? With a request to develop a National Plan to Address Serious Mental Illness? Send me an email if you choose to participate and which state you represent and who you are sending a book copy to. I'll add your name to a spreadsheet to see if we can cover all 50 states. Multiple copies from the same state will send an even stronger message so don't worry about duplications.
dede@soonerthantomorrow.com
If you live in one of the 11 remaining states without representation yet, please consider joining us. Thanks so much. Or if you know someone who lives in one of these states, ask them if they'd like to help.
We have a book sponsor who is willing to order a few books on Amazon, send you a copy, and help you represent your state. Email me if you want to receive a copy from her.
STATES NEEDING A REPRESENTATIVE
GEORGIA
HAWAII
KANSAS
MISSOURI
NEBRASKA
NEVADA
NORTH DAKOTA
RHODE ISLAND
SOUTH DAKOTA
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING
SAMPLE COVER LETTER TO BE INSERTED IN THE BOOK (Keep cover letters to one page)
Date:
Name of Recipient: Choose one or more: — President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Dr. Jill Biden, Ashley Biden, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services Nominee
℅ The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear —
1) Please read the stories in Tomorrow Was Yesterday — Explosive First-Person Indictments of the US Mental Health System — Mother’s Across the Nation Tell It Like It Is by Dede Ranahan with 64 Co-Authors (book enclosed).
2) Read the Grassroots 5-Part Plan to Address Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and the Extended List of SMI Needs (in the book).
3) Assign a task force to develop a National Plan to Address SMI — like the Covid-19 Plan with detailed goals, structure, and funding.
To date, 25 million Americans have contracted COVID and over 400,000 have died. Hopefully this will be a time-limited health crisis.
Right now, between 11-13 million Americans (and by extension 11-13 million families, maybe 44 million more Americans) suffer from the ramifications of SMI each year. This crisis isn't time-limited.
Our country is being crushed with multiple crises, but our on-going SMI crisis needs to be added to the crises requiring immediate attention.
From Tomorrow Was Yesterday: “As it stands today, the US mental health/illness system is filled with political landmines and gut-wrenching divisions: parents vs. children, peer organizations vs. family organizations, voluntary vs. involuntary treatment concepts, psychiatrist vs. psychologist turf wars, state vs. federal jurisdictions, HIPAA restrictions vs. parental rights, lack of beds vs. incarceration, unions vs. providers, psychiatry vs. anti-psychiatry, civil rights vs. dying with your rights on, NIMBYism vs. housing, traditional medicine vs. holistic medicine, and funded advocacy organizations vs. unfunded grassroots advocacy efforts. I watched my son Pat die because the system is tied up in bureaucratic and philosophical knots.” Dede Ranahan
Thank you for your help.
YOUR NAME
Address
Phone number/email address
If you want a copy of the sample cover letter, email me and I'll send it to you to fill in, print out, and sign.
dede@soonerthantomorrow.com
COMMITTMENTS TO DATE:
ALABAMA
Ruth Griffin
ALASKA
Robin Duffey: President Biden, Ashley Biden
ARIZONA
Joann Strunk
CALIFORNIA
Ingrid Dempsey: Jill Biden
Jennifer Diane: President Biden, Jill Biden, Vice-President Harris
CJ Hanson: Vice-President Kamala Harris
Darlene Merz
Linda Rippee Privatee: Xavier Becerra, Sec't of Health & Human Services, Vice-President Harris, Jill Biden
Dede Ranahan: President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Ashley Biden, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kat Shultz
Catherine Woodward
COLORADO
Alison Canjar: President Biden
CONNECTICUT
Colleen Lord
DELAWARE
Cheryle Vitelli
FLORIDA
Deborah Knighton: Vice-President Harris
Deborah Krug: President Biden, Vice-President Harris, HHS Nominee Becerra
Gemma Pena
Lori Reho
Sandy Turner: President Biden, Vice-President Harris
Chris Upchurch: President Biden
IDAHO
Angela McCandless
Karena Yachts: Vice-President Harris
ILLINOIS
Penney Jo Dickey: Vice-President Harris
INDIANA
Diann Benefiel: Jill Biden
IOWA
Leslie Carpenter: President Biden
KENTUCKY
Joann Strunk: Jill Biden
LOUISIANA
Tiffany Treadway Morton; President Biden
MAINE
Jeanner Gore: Maine Governor Janet Mills, Jessica Pollard, Maine Director of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Jennifer Johnson: Ashley Biden
Laurie Turley: President Biden; Vice-President Harris
MARYLAND
Amy Swartz Kerr: Jill Biden
Marilyn Marten: President Biden
Laura Pogliano: Dr Jill Biden
MASSACHUSETTS
Robin Carmona Evensen: Jill Biden
Deb Harper: President Biden
Beth Tuleja: President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Secretary Xavier Becerra
MICHIGAN
Kimberley Blaker: President Biden, Vice-President Harris
Therese Paivarinta:
MINNESOTA
Emily Iverson Story: Jill Biden
MISSISSIPPI
Kathy Hilton: Xavier Becerra
MONTANA
Montana Witsend
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nancy LaBranch: President Biden
NEW JERSEY
Mary Moran
Clara Thomas
NEW MEXICO
Pamela Field: Vice-President Harris
NEW YORK
Deborah Bonneau
Clarissa Cece Crade
Pamela Field: Vice-President Harris
Gail Freedman
Shreya MN: Vice-President Harris
NORTH CAROLINA
Sherri McGimsey
Leah Moran
OHIO
Kelly Montgomery: Jill Biden
Ingrid Silvian
OKLAHOMA
Audrey Adams Auernheimer
Melissa McLemore: Ashley Biden
OREGON
Mary Murphy: Ashley Biden
Sharon Underwood: Amy Klobachar, Surgeon General Nominee Dr. Vivek Murthy, Congressman Peter Defazio
SOUTH CAROLINA
Elaine De Lancey Gilliam
TENNESSEE
Pat Morgan: Dr Jill Biden
Martha Stringer: Dr Jill Biden
TEXAS
Joyce Berryman: Ashley Biden
Marti Cockrell: President Biden
Sarah Leigland
Prissy Snelling: Vice-President Harris
UTAH
Heidi Franke: Jill Biden
VERMONT
Ron Powers
VIRGINIA
Patricia Wood: Xavier Becerra
WASHINGTON
Lyndia Learned Hawkins
WISCONSIN:
Mary Anderson Frey: President Biden