Mark your calendar for Monday, May 18, when Sandy Parker, author of Sparker’s Soapbox, will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Collier County Democratic Club.

The meeting will take place virtually on the GoToMeeting platform and will open to participants at 5:30 p.m.

If you haven’t used the Go To Meeting platform before, you can install the app here.

The Virtual Meeting room will be open at 5:30 p.m., however the meeting officially begins at 6:00 p.m. Your microphones will be muted during the meeting to block background noise. You will have an opportunity to ask questions through the chat function of GoToMeeting. All of this will be explained to everyone on Monday

If you are using your computer, tablet or smartphone, the invitation to the meeting is at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/791265309.

You can also dial-in using your phone at  (571) 317-3122,  Access Code: 791-265-309.

Sparker’s Soapbox is a blog, website and e-newsletter founded and written by Sandy Parker to help herself and others be more informed voters. Its mission is “facilitating and encouraging informed voting in Collier County and throughout Florida.”

Recaps of government news Sandy thinks would be of interest to voters are published monthly from September – July; posts about upcoming elections and other topics are published when she thinks there’s more voters should know.

From her website:

After moving to Florida from New Jersey in 2003, Sandy rediscovered a long-dormant interest in government and politics. Her first vote as a Floridian was in the presidential election that followed Bush v. Gore. All eyes were on Florida’s elections then, and it has remained so ever since.

Sandy spent the next several years learning about her new home’s local and state governments as an active member of the League of Women Voters of Collier County, and in 2008, she led a statewide project to revise Our Florida Government, which served at the time as a “compact and factual presentation of the basic structure and operation of Florida government” published by the Florida LWV. She also volunteered on political campaigns.

In 2010, she began writing Sparker’s Soapbox as a way to share her ongoing research to become a more informed voter. She wrote at the time, “… the outcome of the upcoming elections … will set the direction of our future in irreversible ways that we can’t even begin to imagine.”

That belief continues to motivate Sandy today, and she is passionate in her conviction that the more informed voters are, the better our government will be.

In addition to Sparker’s Soapbox, Sandy is known for her involvement with the League of Women Voters and for presentations about state and local government to community groups, continuing care retirement communities, and adult education programs.