Tom Perriello - a campaign that gives back to the community

One thing interesting this cycle is the recognition of some candidates that they have the power through their campaign to do good beyond themselves.   We have seen this with Charlie Brown, Democratic Congressional Candidate in CA-04 with his Veterans Charity Challenge.  And of course we all know about the Obama campaign and its cooperation with the DNC to register more voters.

Now let's add Tom Periello, Democratic Congressional Candidate in Virginia's 5th CD, against the noxious Virgil Goode.  Tom, who is a founder of the progressive faith movement, is tithing volunteer hours.

Keep reading to see what I mean.
Jessica Barba, Tom's communications director, sent out the following in a press release today:

Perriello Campaign Launches Unprecedented Initiative to Tithe 10% of Volunteer Hours to Community

May 12, 2008-Danville, Charlottesville, and Collinsville, VA-With events in Danville, Collinsville, and Charlottesville, the Perriello for Congress campaign launched its volunteer tithing initiative, unprecedented for a political campaign. The campaign will tithe 10% of all its volunteer hours to community service projects around the district. The campaign has logged more than 1,700 volunteer hours in total; over the weekend, volunteers kicked off the initiative by tithing 42 volunteer hours and moving forward, will tithe 10% of its hours.

"I was raised to believe that a strong faith is a lived faith that must be made clear by our deeds. I want my campaign for Congress to reflect those same values," said Tom Perriello. "That is why we are asking our campaign team to commit 10% of their volunteer hours to local charities to reflect the value of service to community and to country."

Perriello campaign volunteers launched the volunteer tithing initiative in three locations around the district. In Charlottesville, volunteers worked on constructing a house for Habitat for Humanity. In Collinsville, they brought groceries to the local post office for the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. In Danville, they served food to the hungry at a local church.

Tom Perriello is the Democratic candidate for Virginia's fifth congressional district. Born and raised in the district, he is a national security analyst and has founded faith-based organizations.

Let me offer a few observations of my own.

The 5th CD, which stretches from the Charlottesville area to the NC border, is an area with a strong commitment to religion.  But Tom's taking this action is in no way a pander - it is symptomatic of how Tom has approached a life of living his deep Catholic faith, which has included working to end atrocities in the West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone, which had suffered long civil wars fueled by blood diamonds, and serving as a national security analyst for the Century Foundation. He has worked inside Darfur and twice in Afghanistan.

It is not unusual for our Congressional candidates to be so involved with their communities - after all, we all remember our own Ron Shepston fighting a forest fire near his home, and perhaps a few remember like I do how Pat Murphy used his campaign website and office to help gather and coordinate assistance to people who suffered from heavy floods in Bucks County in 2006.

I thought I would call attention to what Tom is doing.  I urge you to visit and explore his campaign website to learn more about him, about this very unusual candidate, and perhaps consider how you can help as well.

Peace.

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