It’s the Small Things: Stuck, Alopecia, and Another Week in the Senate

“With every challenge, comes an opportunity to find promise and possibility in the face of adversity.”- Hilary Clinton, Speech to the Senate after her nomination for Secretary of State

While I know, not everyone agrees with Former Secretary Clinton, nor do I on some issues, her speech to the Senate in 2009 was exceptional. She continues on to say While we see the “ills that plague us more clearly than the possibilities in front of us...” We don’t often pay attention to the “innovations that can be fostered, or the people that can be empowered.”

Often, during my time in DC, I’ve experienced small things that have made a big impact on me. I get excited about events that some people take part in every day. But the small things have yet to become old, and I never want to lose sight of the fact that I get many opportunities that others would love, even if they are sometimes mundane to me. On Tuesday, I went to dinner with the other NAAF (National Alopecia Areata Foundation) legislative liaisons. About 15 people affected by Alopecia came to DC to lobby for increased NIH funding and other issues. Did you know that cancer patients have their wigs covered by Medicaid but those affected by Alopecia do not? Issues such as that one are brought to life. I came full circle after having started lobbying for NAAF when I was 8. So, it was a special day.

On Thursday, (today) I was able to attend an event with the senator that is a congressional suit drive for underprivileged women. When the senator arrived, we greeted her and she proceeded to tell people, (including the VP of Fedex) how I was a great intern who has lobbied her for the past 12 years…. It was pretty cool. If only she could tell all of my future potential employers.

I have also been visiting every office in the House and Senate to deliver DVDs. There is a movie called STUCK, produced by the Both Ends Burning, a Non-Profit. It chronicles families as the go through the adoption process and try to adopt children internationally. Unfortunately, it takes an average of three years and over $30,000 to adopt internationally. That’s where our legislation, CHIFF, comes in. It helps to ease prior restrictions and operates on the premise that every child deserves a family. While it has been somewhat frustrating to go to every single office, it has also been rewarding. I pretty much thought that no one would watch the movie since people on the hill barely have time to eat lunch. However, I was surprised and elated when I returned to my office to my boss telling me three offices had already decided to co-sponsor CHIFF after watching the movie. So, it made all of my long hours (that are still ongoing) and blisters worth it. I decided to email the producer of the movie:

Hi Mr. Juntunen,

I am an intern in Senator Landrieu’s office who has been delivering all of the Stuck DVDs to the Senate and the House. While it has been time-consuming and I have many blisters, it has also been very rewarding. So far, I have delivered them to all of the senate offices and about 70 house offices. I have seen Stuck twice and shown it to my whole family. I have no direct connection to adoption, except that one of my friends was adopted from Cambodia. After hearing the foster care interns from CCAI speak this summer I became more passionate about changing the foster care and adoption system for the better, domestically and internationally.

That being said, I returned to the office after finishing the deliveries in the Senate this morning and Whitney told me that at least three offices had already reached out to her after watching Stuck and were talking to their bosses about cosponsoring CHIFF.  So, I just wanted to say thanks for making this movie and for making a difference!

He then called my office and talked to me and told me how he was opening an office in DC, wanted me to work there, and next time he came to DC was buying me lunch. He also said that he rarely gets emails like this and had forwarded it to his whole board and wanted me to be on his website. So, while we can’t immediately change the world we can work towards it.