On Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 15, members of AAUW-Algona Branch met at two local coffee shops, whose owners had agreed to let us have our activity at their restaurants, from 7-10 AM and again from 11 AM-1 PM. We asked women who came to the coffee shops to sign our letters to our Iowa Senators and Representative asking them to support the Paycheck Fairness Act recently introduced in Congress. We also asked them to donate hygiene items for women to our local food pantry. In return, we gave them $.50 off on their drink.

Eighty-eight women signed our letters or took a pre-written postcard from AAUW to send to their legislator. Several men also signed the letters. In addition, women brought 155 hygiene items for our food pantry. Some of the women shared their stories of being paid less for their work than a man with the same or less education doing the same job.

We were very pleased with the support for Equal Pay Day in Algona. We would like to thank the staff and owners of The Perky Parrot and The Chocolate Season for allowing us to hold our activity at their shops, and we thank members of the Algona Branch of AAUW for working on the activity, for getting out the word ahead of time, and for donating money for the discounts on the drinks.