Some friends and neighbors are taking a roadtrip to promote Amendment D, your chance to vote to expand Medicaid in South Dakota.
The Love Your Neighbor Tour is visiting 25 South Dakota towns this week to spread the word that expanding Medicaid is a moral imperative for good religious folk:
The message of the tour is that all religions have a call to love our neighbors, especially neighbors in need. In loving our neighbors, each of us can be a neighbor to people whose health is at stake. Medicaid expansion is the response to the sick and suffering that is most available and also very economical for the state. The majority who need it are low-wage workers whose jobs lack health benefits. The Tour emphasizes voter registration and Yes votes for Medicaid expansion, which is Amendment D on the statewide ballot this fall.
As Sister Lynn Marie Welbig says, “This tour is an effort to open access to health care for hard-working South Dakotans for whom health insurance is out of reach due to salary inequities. Our LOVE THY NEIGHBOR crew takes seriously the Lord’s mandate to care for our needy neighbors by making provision for food, clothing, shelter, etc. which surely includes access to basic health care” [Love Your Neighbor Tour, press release, received by DFP 2022.09.21].
Sister Lynn Marie and her team have conducted 11 meetings and covered 548 miles since Tuesday morning. They’ll do 14 more meetings and 809 more miles by suppertime Saturday. They’ve done east and northeast; they’ll launch from Lemmon this morning, loop through the Hills, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud, then cruise through the southeast to end in Vermillion.
Note that Friday’s stops coincide with the first day of early voting. Voters Sister Lynn Marie speak with on Friday can head right over to the courthouse, register to vote if they haven’t already, and then cast an early ballot right then and there for Amendment D
Here’s the full itinerary:
Day 1: Tuesday, September 20, 2022
- Send-off: Sioux Falls, 7:45-8:15, Minnehaha County Admin Bldg, East side. 415 N Dakota Ave, at 6th St.
- Tour stop: Colton, 8:45-9:30am, Buffalo Trading Post, 24805 457th Ave
- Tour stop: Madison, 10:15-11:00, 2nd Street Diner, 610 Washington Ave S
- Solidarity Stop: Flandreau, 11:30-1:00 listening sessin with tribal health workers
- Tour stop: Brookings, 1:30-2:30pm,Brookings Public Library, 515 3rd St, Cooper Room
- Solidarity Stop: Sisseton, 4:00-5:00pm, Dakota Crossing grocery store, 2410 SD-10
- Tour stop: Watertown, 7:00-8:00pm, Dempsey’s Brew Pub, 127 N Broadway
- Overnight at Mother of God Monastery, Watertown
Day 2: Wednesday, September 21, 2022
- Depart Watertown: 7:45am
- Tour stop: Webster, 8:45-9:30, Pereboom’s Café, 13 US-12
- Tour stop: Aberdeen, 10:30-11:20, The Red Rooster coffee shop, 218 S Main St
- 11:30-12:15 Lunch with Presentation sisters
- Tour stop: Mobridge, 2-3pm, Klein Museum, 1820 W Grand Crossing
- Tour stop: Timber Lake. 4-5pm, Country Market Grocery, 412 9th St (9th & E St) Overnight in Lemmon
Day 3: Thursday, September 22, 2022
- Tour stop: Lemmon, 7:4-8:45am, Meeting room at Dakota Lodge, 5 10th St E on Hwy 12
- Tour stop: Belle Fourche, 11:30am-1:30pm, Brown bag lunch, Belle Fourche UCC church, 717 Jackson St.
- Tour stop: Spearfish, 2:00- 3:00pm, Perkins meeting room, 2301 E Colorado Blvd, near I-90 exit 14.
- Tour stop: Lead, 3:30-4:30pm, Stampmill Restaurant, 305 W Main St. in Lead
- Tour stop: Rapid City 5:30 -6:30pm, Southside Pizza Ranch, 405 E Stumer Road
- Overnight at Journeys End Guest House, 25246 Holiday Trail, Custer (two at Camp Judson)
Day 4: Friday, September 23, 2022
- Tour stop: Custer 9-10am Senior Center, 538 Mt Rushmore Rd
- Solidarity Stop: Pine Ridge, 12:00-1:30pm, Big Bats Convenience Store, SD-407
- Solidarity Stop: Rosebud, 3-4pm, The All Stop gas station
- Photo stop: Dignity statue 5:45
- Tour stop: Chamberlain, 6:00-7:30, Main Street Café, 117 S Main St
- Overnight in Chamberlain: Private homes
Day 5: Saturday, September 24, 2022
- Depart Chamberlain: 8:00am
- Tour stop: Wessington Springs, 9-10am, Springs Inn, 201 Main St E
- Tour stop: Mitchell, 11am-12:00 Corn Palace Plaza Public Parking Lot, south side
- Tour stop: Parkston, 1-2pm, Parkston East Park, at the east end of Main St
- Tour stop: Yankton, 3:00-4:15pm, United Way Community Impact Center (UW CIC)
- Last Tour stop: Vermillion, 5:00-6:15pm, The Bean coffee shop, 6 W Main St.
For example, the devastating pandemic has made clear what every rural American has known for decades: On a per capita basis, rural communities are older, poorer, sicker, hungrier, and more reliant on federal programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies, and SNAP than urban areas. These facts are proven by government data or, better yet, by simply driving through the empty business districts and decaying neighborhoods of almost every rural community today.
https://www.aberdeennews.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/12/25/farm-and-food-file-why-are-you-giving-extreme-voices-so-much-attention/115765286/
There are still a couple days. Come on out and meet the tour. Show your support for Medicaid expansion for South Dakota. Also note that early voting starts this very week -Friday.Sept.23. Vote YES for Amendment D!