Resources > Activist Kit > Community Action & Media Guide By taking action in your community, you can have an active role in our True Food campaign. As a consumer, a parent, a farmer, a concerned citizen - in any of these or other roles - you have the ability to influence the development of this radical new technology. True Food Network is here to support you in your efforts and provide the resources you need to take a leadership role in your community. One person can make a difference, and as a group, our voices cannot go unnoticed. Background on the True Food Campaign The ultimate goal of our campaign is a ban on the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. Scientists and doctors have warned that GMOs can have unexpected consequences in the diet and the environment. Once released, GMOs cannot be recalled - genetic pollution is forever, so releasing GMOs could cause irreversible harm. The True Food campaign supports the consumer's right to know about GMOs in food. Consumers should be able to choose food made without GMOs. Consumers who are concerned about health issues, ecological harm, vegetarians, people with religious restrictions or ethical concerns, and many others want to avoid eating GMO food. Consumer pressure works! In Europe, virtually every major food company has stated that it will eliminate GMO ingredients from its products. Many of these food companies still use GMOs in their U.S. products. These companies say that consumers here are not concerned. But some food companies in the U.S. are already working to meet consumer demand: Gerber, Heinz, Frito-Lay and others have already taken steps to remove GMOs from their products. More consumer pressure on US companies is needed. Action in your community targeting food companies or supermarkets can have an impact beyond your town. Together with others working around the world, you can bring about changes in company policies. Your action can also effect government regulations. Many food companies say that they use GMOs and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found that GMOs are no different than other food. Yet even scientists within FDA said that GMOs are different and that they could lead to different risks. Greenpeace and over 50 consumer, family farm and environmental groups petitioned the FDA in March 2000, calling on the agency to require pre-market health and environmental safety testing before allowing GMO foods on the market. Citizen pressure on FDA and other agencies is often essential in bringing about change. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) received nearly 300,000 comments on their proposal allowing genetic engineering in organic food, and was forced to withdraw that idea. Planning Action in Your Community Whether you're hosting a small meeting or organizing regular visits targeting a giant supermarket, you can get involved in your area in the fight against GMOs. The True Food Action kit [Link to action kit page] has a number of ideas and materials you can use. Here we focus on how to go about holding meetings, writing letters, and effectively working with local media. Organizing a Meeting: Hosting a meeting of like-minded people could be your first step in your community outreach. Your action will be more effective with even a small group working together. Reach out to friends, neighbors, classmates, anyone who you think would be interested in helping out or learning more. Look for allies at natural food stores, restaurants, local nature centers, farmers' markets, alternative health centers---anywhere people are concerned about food, health or the environment. Publicize the meeting with flyers and personal contact. Written announcements should be followed up, when possible, with phone calls to remind people of the meeting. Plan the meeting: have clear goals, a structured agenda, and a timeline. Have a facilitator to keep the group focused on the agenda and to encourage participation. Have a timekeeper to keep the meeting on schedule. Have a note taker to keep minutes. Have a sign-in sheet, to collect contact information from everyone. Make it available so people can stay in touch. Break the ice: plan a fun, relaxing start to the meeting. Begin the meeting with introductions, have everyone say something about themselves or why they are interested in the issue. The facilitator should check with the group on "common understandings" for meeting process. For example, decide if people should raise hands or if they can just jump in to talk. The agenda: after introductions and common understandings, you'll get to the "business" of the meeting. "Brainstorming" can be a useful tool: this means exploring ideas from everyone in the group, without allowing any discussion or judgement of whether the ideas are possible or worthwhile. Keep brainstorms to a set time, but allow flexibility if lots of ideas are coming out. Then take time to choose ideas that the group wants to pursue, and prioritize these. There may be sub-groups, some people may want to pursue one approach while others prefer another. Get commitments: by the end of the meeting have an action plan with clear agreement from people who agree to take on certain tasks and a clear time for reporting on progress. Suggested Goals for a Meeting Any one or more of these would be a good start to your organizing: Plan a meeting with managers from a local supermarket. Plan to engage local food businesses (restaurants, food coops, natural food stores, etc) as allies. Plan educational events in the community; link with schools, fairs, other community organizations. Organize outreach to local media: set up groups to write letters to the editor and op-eds and make calls talk radio stations. Plan a meeting with your local Congressperson. Meeting with a Target Once you have decided to meet with store management, potential allies, or elected officials, you should plan your meeting. Go into the meeting with a specific request in mind: Ask supermarkets to assure you that their store brands are made without GMOs. Ask them to request policies from their suppliers about labeling or using GMO ingredients. Ask elected officials to support a specific bill, regulation, or policy. Ask them to put pressure on FDA, USDA, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Ask allies to help spread the word, to display literature or host a meeting. Each member of your group should have something to say in the meeting. Keep it brief, but give each person a chance to speak. Bring background material: assume the person you are meeting with knows nothing about the issue. Bring fact sheets and articles that make your main points. Be polite. A meeting is the start of a relationship. The person you meet with may not agree or do what you want. Your follow-up (whether it's organizing a demonstration or another meeting with more people) is just as important and can lead to further communication down the road. If you are asked a question you can't answer, be honest. Offer to get back to the person at a later date. Contact True Food Network with any questions. Phone the people you met with a week or so after the meeting, to see if there is any progress on commitments they made. Keep your group informed of any developments, and ready to act if agreements are not upheld. Working with the Media Even if you don't plan on it, you may attract the press by your action against genetic engineering. REMEMBER, ONLY True Food Network STAFF SPEAK FOR True Food Network. You can tell reporters that you are taking action as one of thousands of True Food Network supporters around the country who are part of our True Food Network, but please be clear that your comments are your own views and/or those of your local group. The Press Advisory If you want to invite the press to cover your local event, you will need to let reporters know ahead of time. You need to write a press advisory. This alerts reporters to the basics, the "who, where, and when" of your event. The press advisory should go to reporters a few days before the event. You should fax or mail it, then call to make sure reporters received it and to get an idea if they are planning to attend. One useful form for an advisory follows: [SAMPLE] PRESS ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LOCAL CITIZENS TAKE ON SHOPMART OVER GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD WHO:   Citizens Against Genetic Engineering WHEN:   Tuesday, January 6 from noon to 2 pm WHERE:   ShopMart Store, 1234 Main St (corner of Midland Ave), Paramus, NJ Take Rt 17 to Midland Avenue, exit right and go three blocks to Main. On January 6, dozens of area citizens will meet outside ShopMart to protest the store's refusal to remove genetically modified (GM) ingredients from its store brand foods. Citizens Against Genetic Engineering (CAGE), a local group against GM food, has called the protest after ShopMart management consistently refused to take any steps to meet the group's requests. For more information, contact Jim Green of CAGE at 201-555-1212. # The Press Release On the day of the event, send the same reporters a press release. This should include the information in your advisory (time, place, etc), but go into more detail and explanation about how the event will proceed and why you are doing it. It should include some explanation of the issue and the background of your event. Look at the True Food Network web site for recent press releases, this will give you an idea of how to structure your message for the most impact. Interviews If you get reporters to come to your event, they will want to hear your story. You should have a media spokesperson or two from your group, others can decide whether or not they want to talk to the press (if not, they should let the reporter know who the spokespeople are). Make sure everyone is on the same page--you should have one or two lines that you go over in advance so everyone knows the message that you want to get across to the press. Spokespeople should be prepared ahead of time with short, clear answers to common questions (see the Food Fight: The Truth About GMOs [link to this] for some common issues raised about GMOs). For television or radio in particular, short "soundbites" are likely to be all the reporter can use, so keep each point to 10-15 seconds. Some reporters will let you talk for a long time then just use one 5 second segment, so be careful what you say: be prepared with your arguments and stick to them! For example, if a reporter says, "Isn't it true that there's no evidence that GMOs have harmed anyone," you might say, "GMOs haven't harmed anyone but we don't know what the long-term threat is." The next day you might be quoted like this: "Jim Green of CAGE agreed that 'GMOs haven't harmed anyone.' So, a better answer is, "There is no evidence that GMO foods are safe in the long run, yet they are not labeled so we can't avoid eating them." Use positive language as much as possible. Don't just say, "We oppose GMO food," but use a positive approach: "We support the consumer's right to know what's in our food and to choose food made without GMOs." If a question comes up that you can't answer, tell the reporter you don't know. You can refer them to True Food Network or find out the answer from True Food Network and then get back to the reporter. Media Follow-Up Be sure to collect contact information from any reporters who attend your event or who interview you by phone. If your event generates print stories, please send or fax copies to True Food Network - your local news is a huge help in our global campaign. Keep reporters advised as your organizing develops. Don't overly burden reporters, but if you hear of national news that relates to your state, let your press contacts know. Reporters need stories, so you are helping them do their jobs if you can provide current, interesting items that their audience will relate to and be effected by. Make your events meaningful by connecting your work to how it effects average folks in your community. The success of community action usually comes down to how well your work defines a problem faced by many people in the community, so that people become engaged as participants in the debate on that problem. If people are talking about the issue, if it's being debated in the press, in schools, in supermarkets and elsewhere, your organizing is a success! Good luck and thanks for your support of True Food Network!