For those in the Central-West region of Michigan, Jeff Orzechowski, the regional director of the Fix Michigan Center of Grand Rapids, will on Thursday, July 1st, be driving all the petitions gathered at the Grand Rapids office to the Lansing office, to be added into the statewide total.  So if you're a County or Local Coordinator in the Central-West region of Michigan (Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, and Ottawa counties) please turn in everything you have to the Grand Rapids office by Wednesday night.  These petitions can be dropped off at, mailed to, or overnight expressed to the Fix Michigan Center of West Michigan (located at 264 Leonard Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI - 49504).

Other regional coordinators are making similar commitments to final weekend drives from wherever their regional offices are to Wendy's state headquarters in Fowlerville.  (They are free to post their office contact information in response to this article.)  

But it doesn't end there.  This weekend is the Fourth of July, a time to celebrate our freedoms that have been fought for and defended over the past 237 years.  And what better way to celebrate those freedoms than to gather even more signatures for the Michigan Healthcare Freedom Initiative?  And we can still get them turned in before the Monday deadline.

Kevin Heine, the Central-West Regional Coordinator, has already committed to making a final sweep of the state on Sunday to personally pick up and arrange for delivery of any last minute petitions that need courier service.  All he asks in return is for gas and coffee money.  Those being provided, he will gladly drive anywhere within the State of Michigan over the course of the entire weekend for the sole purpose of collecting any last-minute turn-ins and personally hand-delivering them to Wendy's office.  Understandably, he's a tad reluctant to put his cell phone number in plain view online, but that number is known to Wendy, her staff, the regional directors of every Fix Michigan Center, as well as most of the regulars in this forum; and they will gladly act as relays to Kevin for the coordination of any deliveries.

This great and challenging effort was started on a wing and a prayer by Wendy Day, of Common Sense In Government.  So many people were outraged by not only the bill itself, but also with how the bill was passed over the objections of the people, that she knew something had to be done.  And thus, Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom was formed.  Through her efforts, thousands of volunteers statewide rallied to her side - through the Tea Party Groups, through Political organizations, through civic groups, and through word of mouth and social networking - to take this issue to the streets and to the people.

And the response has been overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts.  The Silent Majority in this state now had a way to stand up, and say "NO MORE!"  No more to government overreach, no more to government pork, and no more to the politicians ignoring the will of the people they swore to serve (to promote their own agendas, or curry favor from the White House in order to call in those favors later).  Voters in Michigan have committed to sending a message, loud and clear, to the politicians in Washington and Lansing that "We the People" will no longer be ignored.

Let's not fool ourselves; we have already brought about change.  The backlash from the Healthcare vote has led to a number of Democrats (of both high and low profile) not seeking re-election, including Michigan's own Bart Stupak.  And we must keep up the fight by replacing those politicians with ones who will listen to their constituents, support our values, and will work to replace this flawed "healthcare reform" with a truly viable healthcare system.

So remember, when turning in your petitions; please make sure that you have fully filled in the Circulator information in the lower right hand corner.  This includes:  signature and printed name, city or township, physical address, zip code, and date of close-out.  Without ALL this information filled in, we cannot count those signatures, and we will lose the entire sheet.

Together, we can make this happen.  It won't be until sometime in mid-July before we know for sure whether or not we reached our goal and placed the Amendment on the ballot.  There are still thousands of signatures that need to be counted, and verified, as well as those last minute submissions.  But I want to thank all of you for your dedication, your sacrifices, and your support in this Petition drive.  Without the help of all you volunteers, we could not have made this happen.

It's not that we're fighting the fight we think we can win, but that we're fighting the fight that we cannot afford to lose.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Kevin Rex Heine
Central-West Coordinator, MIHCF
P. O. Box 150464
Grand Rapids, MI - 49515