two of the founders of Burghers for Bernie, a grassroots organization dedicated to electing Bernie Sanders as President! If you don't know Burghers, Beth is also a co-chair of PA Labor for Bernie, and Alex is the head of Pitt Students for Bernie. Basically if you've been to a Bernie event in the city of Pittsburgh, chances are you've probably met us, bought a t-shirt off of us, and/or received a high-five from us. And we think you are awesome!Alex and I were both fortunate enough to be elected to serve as pledged delegates to Bernie at the Democratic National Convention this July. So before we say anything else, thank you for giving us this YUUUUGE honor! We will do our best to represent you all, to be your voice on the Convention floor, and to stand strong for our platform and our candidate! Not only will we continue to fight for Bernie until the very last vote is cast, but we promise to continue to push Pittsburgh's Progressive movement long after this election cycle is over.Now, "regular" people don't usually get picked to be delegates. This is an honor reserved for mayors (our own Bill Peduto is a delegate for Hillary) and the political elite. It's viewed as a status symbol, or a reward for helping the Democratic Party to raise a lot of money. Each delegate is required to pay for their own transportation, food, and lodging. We know you're thinking, "Yinz only gotta go across the state, how much could it cost?!"We have a friend who's going to New Zealand and her plane ticket across the world is cheaper than our trip across Pennsylvania. For most middle-class folks (like Beth) or amazing, single dad-slash-Air Force Veteran-slash-fulltime college students (like Alex), the cost of the trip is too much. But the Sanders campaign chose us as delegates because they know how passionate we are about the cause, and because they know that we will do everything we can at the Convention to push Bernie and his platform through to the nomination.