Christine Forbes' eyes were clenched as she swayed, her voice oscillating while leading a chant. "We are ACORN, mighty mighty ACORN," she sang as her body shook with sincerity, such that she could have been singing to the Lord. But she wasn"t. She was serenading state House Speaker John Perzel.

Last Thursday morning, 29 low-income and, for the most part, retired Philadelphians mounted a yellow school bus headed to Perzel's offices on Frankford Avenue as part of a campaign to support a bill that would raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.15. Armed with matching visors and homemade signs that read "raise the minimum wage" in blue marker, the sparse but animated crowd spent about 20 minutes outside the office.

There, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) member Anthony Overstreet presented Perzel with his invitation to "walk a mile in minimum-wage workers' shoes." He also offered Perzel a pair of wrinkled, black boots. When Perzel answered with the story of his three-year job at a place called Moe's Delicatessen earning 95 cents an hour, the crowd seemed unimpressed. Even as he stated plainly his support for Rep. Mark Cohen's bill, several weren't consoled. "What can we do when people 65 years old are getting $7 an hour?" asked one. "How am I supposed to by food for my family?" queried another.

Perzel then told another story of how he worked his way up from Moe's to college to the House of Representatives. Again, the protestors were not moved.

"How you gonna give yourself a raise and not us?" called one shaky voice. Clearly frustrated, Perzel said, "What I make is irrelevant." He started to explain his position on the legislative pay raise, but stopped: "What else do you want me to say?"

The event ended when Perzel went back into his office. However, Overstreet still felt that "things went well." An active ACORN member with his wife and three children, each of whom earns the minimum wage, he added that "people care and want things to happen. Nobody knows what's going on if you don't say anything, and that's why we came here today."

As a member of Philadelphia's Coalition to Raise the Minimum Wage — a larger effort aimed at bringing the issue to the table — ACORN has called attention to the issue through petitions, neighborhood forums and trips to Harrisburg. (Members recently traveled there to give Cohen an award for sponsoring the minimum-wage bill). While organizers wanted more time with Perzel, their aim is getting the bill on the floor. Their next event, still in early planning, is a trip to a Sept. 6 Senate hearing on the matter.