She designed a shirt with a statement she says is "as obvious as a red stop light." She painted on a simple 3 words, "VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM." She often wears the shirt in public.
 
Maurine wears her shirt at the grocery store, the library, everywhere she goes. She's even worn it at Joshua's school!

The majority of the responses have been positive. She said that those who strongly disagreed probably chose not to confront her. A few have made comments such as, "You're endangering children," or "You are so wrong." She's surprised that lots of people still don't know there is a controversy . They say things to her like, "I didn't know that," and "You mean to tell me that vaccines can do that?" She finds it very gratifying to be able to enlighten others.
 
One mom with two children told her, "Oh, I know that. Neither of my children have ever been vaccinated and they're never sick."
 
Maurine never preaches. She gives people websites where they can educate themselves and make better choices.
 
One day, a young man working at Earth Fare serving burger saw her shirt and said, " I like your shirt. Last year during my senior year in high school another student did his senior project on the dangers of vaccines. When he finished with his power point, the whole class gave him a standing ovation and the teacher remarked that it was the best paper she'd had in class."
 
Just the other day, another young man stopped her in a department store to say that he totally agreed with the comment on her shirt. He said he would never get another vaccine because he knew what side effects were like.
 
Encounters with the older generation usually didn't come off so lightly. Their ideas about vaccines are more "old school" and require a bit more patience on her part. One elderly woman came up to her and commented, "Vaccines saved us from terrible diseases like smallpox and polio."
 
These kinds of comments are more difficult to respond to, but she tries to answer with kindness and accurate information without inciting anger.
 
Maurine continues her message, whether she's wearing her shirt or not. The other day, at her optician's office, she noticed an obviously pregnant woman. Very casually, Maurine started a conversation with her. After some pleasantries, Maurine said, "I'm just going to say this one time and then I'm going to close my mouth. Educate, before you vaccinate."

The woman relied, "Oh, we are, we are."

A couple of minutes later woman asked, "What do you think?"
 
Maurine answered, "I had two vaccine-injured grandchildren, so you can guess what I think."
 
The lady said, "Be more specific."
 
Maurine said, "If we had to do it again, we wouldn't vaccinate at all." She gave the mom-to-be the name of Dr. Sears' book.
 
The mom-to-be then asked, "How you avoid them?"
 
Maurine told her that in South Carolina they have a religious exemption from vaccinations and she explained how she could do it.
 
This grandmother also has a bumper sticker with her message. On her front and back bumpers are stickers she got from Bob Catalano that say, "Say No To Forced Vaccinations." Recently she came out of the supermarket and found a woman copying the website from the sticker. They ended up talking for a half hour. The woman said she was a nurse at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and that all health employees there were being forced to take the yearly flu vaccine. She already knew of its danger and wanted to opt out, but didn't know how. As luck would have it, Maurine was taking a call from me at the time on her cell phone. She handed her phone to the nurse and I gave her some websites that would be good sources of information.
 
The impact of Maurine's message goes beyond the relatively small number of people who actually talk to her. Many more folks have read the words and thought about them. I'm sure they reflect on them later and maybe even research things for themselves.
 
Finally, Maurine is an excellent role model for anyone who wants to somehow counter the massive cover-up surrounding the damage being done to a generation of children. It's not expensive to do and it doesn't take a lot of time. She's shown us the power an individual can have in their own community.
 
KEEP UP THE MESSAGE, MAURINE!