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Find some friends to join you! A group event can involve a handful of people or hundreds.

They can be done in private (such as your home) or in public – a pub or coffee shop. The event can run for an hour, an evening, a day or even weeks. Think about the people and places that you are most familiar with.

Are you a teacher? Write for Rights is celebrates International Human Rights Day on December 10th—a perfect opportunity to link a classroom discussion on human rights with real action. The letter-writing activity is ideal for classes in literature, ESL, social issues, history, the arts.

Are you a student? Consider organizing an event in your school cafeteria. Do you visit the library?

Can you bring the Write-a-thon to your faith community, workplace, or recreational place?

Here are some ideas:

WORKPLACE/SCHOOL WRITE-A-THONS

Lunch Rooms and Coffee Breaks: Set up a letter-writing hub in your lunch room, cafeteria or where co-workers have coffee breaks. If time is an issue, offer ready-to-sign appeals, petitions, or post cards. Create a Write for Rights Challenge: Organize a “challenge” among different classes, departments, or with another school.

FAITH COMMUNITY WRITE-A-THONS

Hold a special Human Rights Day service. During the service, light candles for individuals and communities featured in the write-a-thon appeals. Remember these people in your service, and then encourage the congregation to sign brief appeal or support letters or petitions. After your service, organize a Write-a-thon, with coffee, tea and snacks. Candles of Hope. Provide each member with a candle of hope, each wrapped with a ready-to-sign appeal.

STEPS IN PLANNING AN EVENT

What: Decide on what type of event works best for you.

When: This year, December 10th, Human Rights Day, is on a Thursday. Choose a day that works best for you—on December 10th or just before or after.

Who: Decide who you want to attract to your event and how best to attract them. “Who” can include students, co-workers, family and neighbors, members of your Amnesty group, book club or faith community.

Where: Choose a location that is inviting and accessible to the people you want to attract—around a kitchen table, a school hallway or classroom, a workplace lunchroom, during or after a faith service, your local library, café or pub, or virtually through your social networking site.

How:

1. Make arrangements with site owners right away. If you have decided on a public location, you will need permission for your activity (e.g. the school principal, the pub owner, the shopping mall manager.) Some public places require liability insurance for external activities. If so, contact the us and we’ll make the arrangements. admin-hk@amnesty.org.hk

2. Order supplies. Order your materials early. Late orders create frustration and cost extra money. Decide what you need and place your order with admin-hk@amnesty.org.hk

3. Appeal Cases. Go online at www.amnesty.org.hk/html/writeathon09/cases to find a complete set of appeal cases. (Appeal cases will be posted throughout the period, starting in now.)

4. Find some volunteers to help you. Depending on the size of your event or activity, you will likely need some help from the local Amnesty members, students, friends, and even family.

The Day of The Event:

1. Make sure passers-by notice where and when your event is taking place. Before and during your event, set up large signs outside and around your event location. Before the event, send out an e-mail reminder. Arrange for a PA announcement in school.

2. Create a Welcoming Atmosphere: Welcome participants and help them get comfortably involved in letter-writing. Copy and distribute the enclosed Letter Writing Tips. Include snacks. You may wish to show a video, or have music playing in the background.

3. Create excitement and momentum. Record your letter totals. Go to www.amnesty.org.hk/html/writeathon to post your totals-- and tell us and the world about your event! Include a large letter "counter" where participants can see the numbers going up as more letters are written. Ring a bell or blow a horn and announce your totals during your event.

4. Tools of the Trade. Have lots of writing paper, pens, envelopes, and stamps on hand. If you are using computers and printers, check the day before to ensure everything is working and that you have plenty of paper and ink. To make things easier, electronically print address labels for the letters. Some of the foreign addresses are quite complicated, so your letter writers will appreciate the simplicity of just peeling off a label and sticking it on the envelope.

5. Collect change for postage. Ask the participants to help pay for the postage by donating some small change. Generally, a letter posted overseas should only be 3 bucks. Have a donation jar on hand.

6. Thank participants—then make follow-up contacts. Thank participants for their positive contribution to Human Rights day. Gather names, phone numbers and emails, letting them know that you would like to send them further information on Amnesty. We will follow up by sending a special thank-you along with an invite to join Amnesty.