Drive It Home Sends Barra M&Ms with Message

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – The Drive It Home campaign sent a Valentine’s Day heart full of M&M candy emblazoned with loving messages to General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra and the 12 members of GM’s board of directors.

Barra and the board members each received a decorative red heart filled with red, white and blue M&Ms candy with the following sweetheart messages: “We Love GM,” “Mary Save Our Jobs,” “Save Lordstown” and “Mary, Save Lordstown.”

“We are part of the GM family and have been for 53 years,” said Drive It Home co-chairman Dave Green, in a release. “We wanted GM CEO Mary Barra and the board to know that everyone in the Mahoning Valley thinks about them, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day.”

Green is also president of UAW Local 1112, which represents workers at the plant.

“We love General Motors. We understand what being part of the GM family has done for our community,” said James Dignan, co-chairman of Drive It Home and president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. “But it’s just as important for General Motors to understand that we have been there for them. We are ready to be part of the future of General Motors.”

Drive It Home also sent similar heart-filled Valentines to local, state and national reporters who have been covering the effort to convince General Motors to reinvest in GM Lordstown and grow jobs in the Mahoning Valley, protect manufacturing in Ohio and make sure American cars and trucks are made in America.

On Wednesday, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and United Auto Workers Local 1112 organized a trip to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to meet lawmakers to voice their ideas on how they may be able to save the Lordstown GM plant from closing next month.

Among those who made the trip were Green, Dignan, UAW members, Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill, Warren Mayor Doug Franklin and state Sen. Michael Rulli.

“I am incredibly disappointed by GM’s plan to stop production and, as lawmakers, we are doing everything in our power to support the employees who will be left in the cold if something is not done,” Rulli said. “Lordstown is home to one of the most hardworking and experienced labor forces for auto manufacturing in the nation and I am confident we will be able to find a solution.”