Despite the sweltering heat, over 150 people packed into a church in the Bronx for our first community meeting.

Rocking to a singing reverend, everyone in the room was clapping to the music as we kicked off the 2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change America tour. After the music, we presented our new power point called “A Costly Truth.” Taking a page from Vice President Al Gore, the presentation shows how important it is to change Wal-Mart if we want to build a better America.

In addition to the Northwest Bronx Community Coalition leaders, we had Congressman Elliot Engel drop by. He’s just one of the many elected leaders calling on Wal-Mart to step up to the plate and do the right thing by providing affordable health care and good-paying jobs to its employees.

The funniest part of the night was trying to get the bus out of the Bronx. With power outages blocking off a lot of the streets and alternate side parking not in effect, we were constantly popping off the bus and directing traffic as we made our way down the narrow streets.

Now it’s off to Connecticut, which is already getting a lot of attention because both Ned Lamont and Senator Joe Lieberman will be there joining the fight for a better America. The war may have divided them, but changing Wal-Mart is uniting Democrats all across the country. Then it’s a mad rush to Philadelphia for our 2nd town hall with targeted Congressional Candidate Patrick Murphy.

See you in Connecticut!