Today’s event at the Iowa City public library attracted a large crowd and several reporters, as usual. We heard from Congressional Candidate Dave Loebsack, Gary Sanders of the successful site fight group “Stop Iowa City Wal-Mart”, and State Senator Joe Bolkcom, who called for an end to “corporate welfare as we know it.”

But as a former camp counselor, my favorite part was all the young WakeUpWalMart.com supporters in the audience.

Will, age ten, came to the town hall meeting with his parents. He told me, “I think it’s bad Wal-Mart is paying their employees so little. It’s really not fair.” Will was so excited about the tour that he tried to stow away on the bus, but his mom found him in a bunk, hiding amongst the sign-up sheets.

Will could hardly wait to put up his new WakeUpWalMart.com rally sign in the front yard – it’ll be perfect when the whole family invites their friends over for a screening of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.”

Then there were Colin, Emily, Celeste, and Andy, all very impressive thirteen year-olds. Daniel, one of our canvassers, met them on the sidewalk this afternoon. He told them about the event and they said, “Hey, we’ve been reading about Wal-Mart. They do a lot of unscrupulous things!” (Like I said, smart kids, big vocabularies.)

This evening all four bought WakeUpWalMart.com T-shirts, sat at the front of the room, and absorbed all kinds of information. After the presentation, I asked what they had learned. “I knew they keep a whole bunch of people living in poverty, but I didn’t know they cost taxpayers $2.5 billion each year,” Colin told me.

Colin, Emily, Celeste, Andy, and Will are five of several hundred Americans who joined the movement today. They are eager to help spread the word and get their friends involved.

After all, as Andy says, “Activism is fun!”

-Laura