SMS for Reps

Since the election in November, many people have been looking for ways to take action and voice their dissent. I hit upon an idea to help people make their voices heard. But now it’s getting popular and it's starting to get expensive. I need your help to keep it going.

I built a simple text message (SMS) hotline to help people call their elected officials. If you text a postal address to (520) [phone redacted], it will text you back with the names and phone numbers of your state and federal legislators. Currently I’m rotating between 5 outbound numbers because the cell carriers were flagging the original number as spam for sending too many messages too quickly.

I’ve been running this on my own as a free public service since November, but the phone number has gone viral in the last few weeks and the bill is starting to add up. As of March 7, I've answered more than 386,000 SMS requests. While I don’t mind spending a bit of my own money to connect people to their government representatives, it’s starting to cost me more than $150 a day. I don't want to shut it off, but I can't underwrite this on my own.


The great news is people are super loving the service and making tons of calls. You can see some of the response I've received on Facebook and Twitter. In recent weeks, senate offices have been flooded with calls. It's clear there is demand and people are ready to take action. Raising $3,200 will help recoup my costs. Raising another $4,000 will help keep this running for another month while I try to find an organization to take over operation. (Serious inquires about taking over this service are welcome.)

If you are technically inclined, you can read more about how the bot works and find the source code here.

Thank you for your support!

[Updated on March 7, 2017 to reflect latest usage and expenses.]