Welcome to the AZELO Newsletter!

January 1, 2022

This Issue's Contents

Fundraising
A Look Back at 2021... and a Glimpse at 2022
Legislative Update
Kem's Open Office
Upcoming Events
Donate!

Fundraising
by Dwight Moore, Ph.D., Chair, Arizona End of Life Options

We have Great News to start for 2022!

Diane Uhl, a supporter of Medical Aid in Dying, from Oro Valley, has generously offered to match donations up to $10,000.00 for our 2022 budget. Simply, she will match every dollar we raise for our budget up to $10K. Diane and her late husband Steve, long-time humanists, continue to advocate for free-thinking, reason, and public education.

As most of you know, MAID is an OPTION, a choice at the end of life, giving terminally ill residents greater control over their final days. We at AZELO want this option for ourselves and believe that others should also have this choice. Diane's matching gift will help us with the following:

Funding an updated Arizona polling question
Advertising in digital news sources
Printing costs for education materials
Lobbying expenses
Consultant fees (lawyers to set up 501(c)3 or political Pac)
Digital software
Community Education Kits

We are a grassroots, volunteer organization and unlike most nonprofits, no one gets paid to do the work. Most organizations have a core paid staff, but our budget exists to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses that our volunteers incur.

At this time, we are not a 501(c)3 (we are considering this as a possibility), and your donations will not be tax-exempt.

We currently operate as a 501(c)4 organization under a fiscal sponsorship with Death with Dignity National Center. This allows us to conduct political activities such as lobbying and persuading legislators to sponsor our bill. We are looking forward to "dropping" (i.e. submitting) our 2022 Medical Aid-in-Dying bill on January 15.

We would hope that all of you who donated last year will do so again this year, recognizing that your contribution is doubled because of Diane’s generosity.

There are three ways to donate:

Click the blue button below
Go to our website: azendoflifeoptions.org and click on the Donate button
Or, send a check with “AZ C4” on the memo line to:

Death with Dignity Political Fund,
Attn: AZ C4, 520 SW 6th Avenue #1220,
Portland, OR 97204.

We greatly appreciate Diane’s generosity and her dedication to getting a medical aid in dying law passed in Arizona so that we all may truly have another End-of-Life Option.

Click Here to Donate and Your Gift will be Matched!

A Look Back at 2021... and a Glimpse at 2022
by Mary Ganapol, Volunteer

As we close out 2021, we’re noting the progress we made to educate voters and lawmakers about bringing MAID to Arizona as an end-of-life option.

-- In the midst of the pandemic, we shifted from the idea of house parties and library gatherings to live webinars on Zoom featuring our three prestigious doctors: Chair Dwight Moore, Ph.D., founder Ron Fischler, MD, and Tom Fitch, MD formerly of the Mayo Clinic.

PowerPoint presentations were followed by audience engagement with stimulating Q&A for a total of 48 live webinars. Samples of the webinars were also included on our website (AzEndOfLifeOptions.org) and our YouTube channel which enabled viewers to share the information with their friends and loved ones.

-- Separate webinars were presented to a variety of groups including the Arizona Public Health Association, Secular Humanist Jewish Circle, Arizona State Leglislators and Democrats of Greater Tucson weekly speaker’s series. The League of Women Voters presented a panel discussion entitled “MAID: Issues and Perspectives” as part of their Voter Education Program.

-- Our social media outreach was expanded to various Facebook pages, NextDoor postings, Meetup and contacts through LinkedIn. We completed a two-sided info card and drafted a tri-fold info sheet. We continued regularly publishing a newsletter to 1,400 subscribers.

-- A table was sponsored by Compassion and Choices at the annual convention in Phoenix of the Arizona Public Health Association.

-- We revised our Advisory Council and started our Doctors for Dignity and Nurses for Dignity groups.

-- A bill was drafted for the 2022 Legislative Session which starts January 10th. A call to action for Legislative Action Teams in all 30 legislative districts has resulted in 270 volunteers signing up to communicate with lawmakers when we need to send emails and letters about the bill and educate voters.

-- Research was completed to proceed with a survey of Arizona voters to get a pulse on statewide support.

We plan to make 2022 another successful year with fund-raising ideas, more virtual events, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arizona) classes, and outdoor activities will include tabling at farmer’s markets and libraries, Tucson Festival of Books, Lobby Day at the Capitol and various senior fairs and gatherings.

Legislative Update
by Leesa Stevens - Legislative Advocacy Leader

As we welcome in 2022 on January 1st, we also know the 2022 Arizona legislative session is right around the corner, slated to start January 10th. It should be interesting with a dozen or so new legislators having replaced those who have resigned. We also anticipate another bumper crop of legislative bills to be introduced including our End of Life bills in both the House and the Senate.

At this time we are pleased to announce our 2022 Senate sponsor is Senator Stahl Hamilton out of LD10 in Tucson. Senator Stahl Hamilton served her freshman year last year in the House of Representatives and was a co-sponsor of HB 2254, our End of Life Decisions, Terminally Ill Patients bill. She was appointed to the Senate this past August to replace Senator Engel, who has resigned. She is enthusiastic about this issue and looking forward to speaking to her fellow senators about our new bill.

The bill now goes to the Senate Legislative Counsel for review before going to the Senate President, who will determine which committee will receive it. (At that time the bill will receive a number and will be posted on our website for reading.) Ideally, then it will be added to the agenda, discussed, and voted on.

In the past six months, we have reviewed bill language from several states, as well as the Compassion&Choices and Death with Dignity organizations, and updated our own bill language. Our goal was to make it as understandable as possible, while still keeping the safeguards in place needed for passage here in the moderately conservative state of Arizona.

Next month we will profile our House bill sponsor, identify our cosponsors, as well as key provisions of the bill.

Kem's Open Office

with Kem Ellis, AZELO Volunteer Coordinator

Happy New Year! My next open office is scheduled for Monday, January 14 from 10:00-12:00. During the first hour, I am inviting all Action Team members to join me for important updates as we head into 2022. We'll take a moment to review AZELO's history and our efforts to bring medical aid in dying to Arizona. Then we'll have a preview of the 2022 legislative session as well as the Action Team roadmap and planning calendar for the coming year.

So add to your list of New Year's resolutions to renew your commitment to helping AZELO by participating!

Click here to join on January 14th from 10:00 - 12:00

Upcoming Events

Presented by Dr. Dwight Moore, this zoom presentation describes the six choices people have about how they will exit this life and makes a case for considering Medical Aid in Dying as one of the choices.

Click on one of these dates to register. Your zoom link will be emailed to you:
Free Webinar on Sunday, January 16th at 2:00

*** SAVE THE DATE ***

AZELO All-Volunteer Event via Zoom

Ever thought of testifying in front of the AZ legislators?

Civic Engagement Beyond Voting is offering a Zoom training January 5th at 6:30 pm. This training will cover all the basics, from how committees work to the best ways to make your point in the 2-3
minutes allowed.

It would be great if volunteers that are in the Phoenix area could attend this training so we can have some folks prepared to speak when our bill is heard in committee.

Here's the link to register:

Meeting Registration - Zoom

Arizona End-of-Life Options
https://azendoflifeoptions.org