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We’ve staged a coup. Unfortunately, to the liberal collective’s the sigh of relief, we didn’t stack the Supreme Court with Matt and Victoria Cobb.

However, the four top ranking members of Virginia government, conservatives all — certainly to the chagrin of the liberal collective — Governor Bob McDonnell, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and House Speaker Bill Howell, all will speak at this year’s Family Foundation Advisory Council Legislative Briefing on Wednesday, February 17.

This is an exclusive annual event for our Advisory Council members. However, it shows how important Virginia’s top officials view The Family Foundation and its most generous donors (click here for the complete benefits of Advisory Council membership).

Our Advisory Council is more than just perks; its instrumental partnership significantly funds the work of the organization during the General Assembly session and year round: The legislative call to action and subsequent victories, The Truth Project training, Pastors For Family Values, local grassroots networks, your voice in the mainstream media, and much more.

For more information about The Family Foundation Advisory Council, The Advisory Council Legislative Briefing, or any of our development activities, contact Dan Thompson at 804-343-0010 or at dan@familyfoundation.org. To donate to The Family Foundation at any level, you may click here.

Yesterday was one of the busiest summer days ever at The Family Foundation, but an incredible one at that, and one worth having. If all days were as busy as yesterday . . . .

It began when our church outreach, Pastors For Family Values, hosted a pastors breakfast in Richmond, one of a series we’ve hosted around the state. Close to 60 pastors attended. Bishop Harry Jackson, Pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., delivered the keynote address. Bishop Jackson is the author of Personal Faith, Public Policy, as well as The Truth in Black and White.

Bishop Jackson challenged pastors to make a difference as few can. As a result, pastors took thousands of General Assembly Report Cards, requested voter guides to distribute to their congregations in October, were given kits to effectively run voter registration drives, and most every pastor committed to preaching a sermon on civic responsibility.

Much of the rest of the day was devoted to strategizing with more than 10 influential national and state organizations on how to educate and mobilize voters to turn out on election day this November. Making sure that pro-family organizations are unified and working together will be key to success, and it was instructive to hear everyone’s plans. The assembled groups then interviewed several candidates for the House of Delegates so we could get to know them better and learn their positions on the issues pro-family, traditional values voters care about.

There was more, still. In the evening we hosted a special reception for supporters of Winning Matters ‘09. More than 100 people jammed into the home of our board chairman and were treated to brief remarks from special guest, former attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. {Note to IRS: Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25, Bath), the other candidate, was invited but refused citing scheduling conflicts}. Senator and candidate for attorney general Ken Cuccinelli (R-37, Fairfax) also joined the overflow crowd. There was a sensory feel of high voltage excitement and energy, as if attendees wanted to get right to work. It is very clear that pro-family voters understand that to pass pro-life and pro-family legislation, Winning Matters in November.

Most amazingly, we are more than 75 percent of the way toward our goal of raising $150,000 for Winning Matters! Through what has already been raised, field staff have been on the ground for more than a month.

If you have yet to give toward Winning Matters, you can so by calling Vice President of Advancement, Dan Thompson, at 804-343-0010. Because every donation is tripled through a special matching grant, your gift is tripled in value.

It is indeed an exciting and busy time at The Family Foundation. Thank you for being a part of our team! The next few months are going to be crucial to ensuring voters who share our values are identified, informed and mobilized. Yesterday proved that, together, we are going to make that happen.