I met President Obama!

Me, shaking President Obama's hand! Note the Secret Service agent in the background.

It’s not every day that a member of your family receives a phone call saying that President Obama would like to visit their business. But a few weeks ago the White House called my uncle, Mark Krauss, and said the president would like to speak to the workers at his factory. I wasn’t gonna miss a chance to meet the president, so I bolted to Rhode Island to attend the event.

 

My uncle owns American Cord and Webbing (ACW), a small factory which manufactures and distributes webbing, cord cords, plastic and metal hardware in Woonsocket, R.I. President Obama recently passed the Small Business Jobs Act (SBA), which allows small businesses to access more funds to allow them to expand and create new jobs. My uncle had applied for a grant to expand his factory. Next thing ya know, the president was asking to visit.

 

The preparation for President Obama’s arrival was unreal. It took over 24 hours to basically re-vamp the ACW factory to create a speech area, press area, Secret Service station and private meeting rooms…all for a 20-minute visit. On Monday afternoon the president walked through the doors of ACW. He took a factory tour and then gave a speech to all 45 ACW employees, over 100 press people and my family. I was in the front row. (!)

 

President Obama spoke about ACW and how the Small Business Act would benefit companies like my uncle’s. After his brief speech, I had the opportunity to shake the president’s hand and tell him a little bit about myself. When I told him I was a student at Towson University in Maryland, my uncle butted in and asked Mr. Obama if I could catch a ride back to school in his concord. His response? “Sure. I’ll have my people call your people.”

 

Blog it out…What would you say to the president if you had the chance to meet him?

POSTED IN

by Lauren H. | 2/1/2016
share