This was a tough week. My heart goes out to anyone affected by the awful events in Las Vegas on Sunday night. I’m hugging my babies closer this week and continuing to look for things that are good and beautiful in the world, but I’m also supporting Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety in their advocacy for meaningful gun control. I’ve been looking for more ways to help, so when I saw that calligrapher and illustrator Allie Hasson had created these Dear Senator postcards, I asked her if she’d be willing to make them available as printable designs for OSBP readers. Allie graciously agreed, so keep reading below for links to the printable files. For those of you who aren’t DIY-inclined, you can purchase a set of ten postcards directly from Allie right here – all the proceeds go to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Engaged citizens help support and protect our democracy, and there are plenty of issues and opportunities for you to make yourself heard with your representatives in Congress. Every American citizen living in one of the 50 states is represented by two Senators that serve the entire state and one House representative that serves your particular Congressional district. Fun Fact: residents of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories have no voting representation in Congress! We have no Senators, and only one non-voting House representative, which means our residents don’t get to have their views represented on any of these important policy votes. So please, if you live in one of the 50 states, write to your Senators and Representative and make your voice heard – because we can’t!

You can look up your two senators and their addresses here. You can look up your house representative using your zip code here. When you click on their name, scroll down and you’ll see an address.

When writing to your senator or representative, it’s best to keep things short and sweet. Just your name, the name of the town or city where you live, and what you want them to do. If you can cite the name or number of a specific bill, great, but if not just be as specific as you can. Write about any issue that is important to you! There are staff members in every single congressional office responsible for reading constituent mail (and often responding to it) and passing constituents’ collective views to the senator or representative.

To make the printable Dear Senator, Dear Representative postcards:

Step 1. Download the printable files below and print on any white or light colored card stock. The postcards are double sided, so be sure to follow the instructions for double-sided printing on your home printer.

Step 2. The cards are designed to be a quarter sheet of paper each, so you’ll get four cards per sheet of card stock. Once you’ve printed both sides, cut straight down the middle vertically and horizontally. A paper trimmer is easiest if you have one, or scissors if you don’t have one. 

Step 3. Write your text and address of your senator or representative. If you need some ideas for suggested text on gun control for your postcard, you can find some ideas from Allie here and from Everytown.org here. Then add a stamp and pop into the closest mailbox.

Note: If you have any trouble with double-sided printing, just print the front side and cut from there. The back file helps provide a guide for your text, address, and stamp, but isn’t necessary for mailing.

You can download the postcards through the links below – a big thanks to Allie for making these files available to us! And just a reminder that you can purchase printed postcards directly from Allie right here, with all the proceeds going to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Dear Senator postcard

Dear Representative postcard

Dear Senator and Representative postcard

Photo Credits: Allie Hasson

All artwork © 2017 Allie Hasson. All artwork is made available for personal use only. By downloading the postcards you agree to the terms of use.