Red Envelope Day Today

Special Report - March 30, 2009
On Tuesday, March 31, pro-life citizens from across the United States will go to their mailboxes to employ a new weapon in the battle to end abortion in this country—an empty red envelope with a simple, yet powerful message on the back that is mailed to the White House. The effort is known as the “Red Envelope Project,” and the aim is to for President Barack Obama to receive at least 50 million of these red envelopes over the next few days—one red envelope for every unborn child who has been aborted in this country since 1973. On the back of each empty red envelope, pro-lifers are supposed to write the following message to the president: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It’s empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”

The “Red Envelope Project” is the brainchild of pro-life activist and blogger, Christ Otto, who was recently a guest on the North Carolina Family Policy Council’s radio show, “Family Policy Matters.” Mr. Otto told NCFPC President and host, Bill Brooks, that he came up with the idea during his prayer time in January 2009. “I had a mental picture while I was praying of red envelopes flooding the White House,” he said. “I sent an email out to my ministry supporters, asking them to send a red envelope, and if they thought if it was a good idea, I asked them to go ahead and forward my email on to their friends. And they did that, and it’s sort of taking over like a firestorm across the country.” Mr. Otto’s simple email to a few friends has become a cultural phenomenon, with several groups on Facebook created to spread the word, and hundreds of thousands of red envelopes already mailed to the White House since the effort began.

“My first hope is that [the Red Envelopes] will really change [the president’s] heart and will change the heart of those in his administration,” Otto said. “Our goal is really to create a symbolic red sea that represents the innocent blood that’s been shed. And I’m hoping that it’s going to change everyone who sees it.”

March 31 has been designated as “Red Envelope Day” when pro-lifers are asked to mail as many empty red envelopes to the White House as they can afford. For more information on the “Red Envelope Project,” including address information for the White House, please visit the web site at www.redenvelopeproject.org, or www.redenvelopeday.com.

Copyright © 2009. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.