Help Midwest Values PAC Fight For Democrats

For Al, midwest values are personal. That’s why MVP is working to elect candidates who’ll fight for families, middle-class values, justice, security, and opportunity for all. Read Al’s story below and then chip in to support MVP’s efforts.

I grew up in a hard-working, middle-class family. And as a middle-class kid growing up in Minnesota back then, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. And I was.

My wife, Franni, whom I met our freshman year of college, wasn't quite as lucky. When she was 17 months old, her dad — a decorated World War II veteran — died in a car accident, leaving her mother widowed with five kids.

My mother-in-law had a high school education and worked in the produce department of a grocery store. Her family made it because of Social Security survivor benefits. Sometimes there wasn't enough food on the table, sometimes they turned off the heat in the winter — this was in Portland, Maine.

Every single one of the four girls in Franni's family went to college thanks to Pell Grants and other scholarships. My brother-in-law went into the Coast Guard where he became an electrical engineer.

And my mother-in-law got herself a $300 GI loan to fix her roof, and used the money instead to go to the University of Maine. She became a grade school teacher, teaching Title One kids — poor kids — and so her loan was forgiven.

My mother-in-law and every single one of those five kids became a productive member of society. Conservatives like to say that people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps — and that's a great idea. But first, you've got to have the boots. And the government gave my wife's family the boots.That's why I created Midwest Values PAC — to fight for families like Franni’s all over the country.