It was nearly impossible to support both John Kerry and the Atkins diet in Evanston this Saturday.
Evanston hosted two bake sales this weekend as part of a nationwide effort promoted by political action committee MoveOn.org to “bake back the White House.”
According to the Web site, www.MoveOn.org, more than 1,000 bake sales were held in communities across the country Saturday to raise money in support of the movement. MoveOn.org will use the profits from such fund raisers to run advertisements and enlist voters to support John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election.
Evanston’s two bake sales both attracted plenty of baked goods, hungry passers-by and quite a bit of cash.
“Karbs for Kerry,” which took place at the corner of Church Street and Maple Avenue, raised $1,250 in two hours by selling everything from vegan cupcakes to chocolate-chip cookies, according to Evanston resident Wynn Graham, the organizer of the sale.
Evanston resident Liz Martin, who organized the other sale, held on the 1900 block of Central Street, said that her sale brought in about $1,500.
Graham started planning for her bake sale after receiving an e-mail from MoveOn.org that requested her help. Graham soon had to ask Martin to conduct a separate bake sale after she realized that too many people were volunteering for a single, two-hour event in downtown.
“First there were 10 (volunteers), then 20, then 30 and now 67,” Graham said Wednesday. “Everyone just wants to help.”
More than 80 people eventually volunteered for the Evanston fund raisers, Graham said Saturday.
Evanston resident Eric Waggoner said he was encouraged by the grassroots political action that MoveOn.org was promoting.
“If Kerry is going to stand a chance, he needs to have this kind of creative fund raising at his disposal,” Waggoner said. “Kerry should be able to depend on these types of political organizations to support his candidacy.”
Waggoner said the success of the bake sales was the focus on two American obsessions — food and politics.
“Everybody likes to eat, so why not combine food and political action,” he said.
Evanston resident Sarah Lovinger said she donated Rice Krispies Treats to be sold at the event because of her disgust with the Bush administration.
“Bush is the worst president we’ve had in my lifetime,” Lovinger said. “I feel like a lot of my rights are being taken away. I feel the current administration tries to usurp the Constitution to serve its own needs.”
Lovinger also said she was impressed by the ability of the Internet to quickly bring like-minded people together in a way that can effect political change.
“(This sale) tells us about the power of the Internet,” Lovinger said. “You couldn’t do this without e-mail.”
Most of the volunteers who turned out to staff the event had never met until coming together for Saturday’s bake sale.
Alicia Berneche, an Evanston resident and international opera singer, said that MoveOn.org’s frequent e-mail alerts about the many community bake sales made it much easier for her to become active in her support of the Democrats.
“I’ve always voted Democratic and I always felt I should do more than vote,” Berneche said. “If I don’t do something this year I might as well move to Canada, because I wouldn’t be an American.”
