I'm often asked, "What's your next adventure? Where are you off to next?"
My next adventure, after almost 14 months of an extended adult gap year - is to go back to work.
Boo.
Just kidding. I'm actually VERY excited for my new role, which will be an adventure in itself, and the culmination of a lot of my recent volunteer work.
So if you'll indulge me, I'd like to tell you about a few amazing humans, how they influenced me in the last 12 years, and why I'm excited about my new role working as Campaign Manager for Brienne Brown, candidate for Wisconsin Assembly District 43.
My journey to this job:
December 14, 2012
Watch the news in horror: Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting (Newtown, Connecticut).
December 15, 2012
Shannon Watts, mother of 5, starts Moms Demand Action at her kitchen table.
February 14, 2018
Watch the news in horror, again: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting (Parkland, Florida).
February 17, 2018
Watch the "I call B.S." speech by 17-year-old X González, Parkland survivor. Motivated into action, I start researching gun violence prevention groups.
March 19, 2018
Call to order the first meeting of Moms Demand Action - Whitewater Area.
March 20, 2018 ---> now
Grow Whitewater team, act locally. We hold events, raise awareness, learn how to be organizers, activists and advocates for gun violence prevention. Meet amazing humans in the movement. Out there DEMANDING ACTION, but struggling to find WI legislators who will make the time to meet with us, let alone pass common sense gun laws. Either listen to us, or get voted out....it's that simple.
January 28, 2024
Create plan with Moms Demand Action - Whitewater Area Lead Team to support gun sense candidates in 2024 elections.
April 12, 2024
Talk with Sue Chandler, friend and Moms Demand Action volunteer, about Brienne Brown 2024 campaign for Assembly. (Sue ran Brienne's campaign in 2022. Brienne was not expected to win due to Republican gerrymandered districts - but with hard work in 2022, they closed the gap considerably.)
April 15, 2024
Step down from role as Whitewater Lead for Moms Demand Action (temporarily).
April 19, 2024
Start as Campaign Manager, alongside Sue Chandler, working together to elect Brienne Brown to Wisconsin Assembly District 43 (new district maps in effect)
So that's the outline. But wait...there's more. There's so much more...
I've already told you the story of my advocacy, but now I'd like to tell you the story of two other gun violence prevention advocates...Brienne Brown and Joan Fitzgerald.
The story starts in February 2018. After hearing that historic speech by X González, I looked around for the best way to get involved in gun violence prevention. That's when I found Moms Demand Action. I got in touch with the state chapter volunteers, and they encouraged me to start a local group. They quickly sent me a box of swag, provided online training, and I was off!
At our first local group meeting, in March 2018, there were four other women in attendance: two Whitewater friends from the neighborhood and soccer sidelines, Marjorie and Jodie, and two people previously unknown to me, Tracey and Joan.
I remember being very unsure of myself at the first meeting. I remember shaking. I remember crying. I remember asking each of them how they found out about this meeting, and why they chose to show up in that public library meeting room. Some of us were there for our children. Some of us were teachers. Some of us had personally experienced gun violence. Some of us had relatives who died from gun suicide. I definitely wasn't the only one crying.
No one had time to give to this cause - we had family and work obligations galore. And yet there we were anyway. We didn’t have the words of the movement down. We didn't really know what to do. But we were ready to try something …try anything. And we were going to help each other be strong enough to do it.
As we exited the library meeting room that day, we realized we needed to take a picture to document the moment. So we stuck our heads out into the hallway to see if we could find someone to take a photo for us. One room over, the library board meeting was just getting out. A kind woman named Brienne took our picture, and then asked us about the topic of our meeting. When she heard we were working to prevent gun violence, she immediately joined our cause.
Now back to the present...it's April 2024 and guess what? Two of the people involved in our first ever meeting of Whitewater Moms Demand Action are running for Wisconsin State Assembly!
Joan Fitzgerald - Democrat - is running for WI Assembly District 46. (New district map in effect.)
Brienne Brown - Democrat - is running for WI Assembly District 43. (New district map in effect.)
The two of them going to Madison together is the most beautiful thing I can imagine! Both are tough, smart, experienced women who will actually LISTEN to their constituents.
And of course, both have earned the Gun Sense Candidate Distinction from Moms Demand Action. (More info here about what it means to be a Gun Sense Candidate: www.gunsensevoter.org. Short version:Â It means they will vote with gun safety in mind.)
Can we normalize sending tough, smart, experienced women with common sense, empathy and listening skills into ALL areas of government please?!?! I am thrilled to be a part of adding that kind of representation to our statehouse in Madison. We are going to make it happen. If you want to be a part of it, please click on the links for each candidate and donate or volunteer today.
I've enjoyed exploring America. Now I want to help save it.
Won't you sojourn with me?
Sojourn on!
PS
Along the way, the fine humans involved in my Moms Demand Action volunteer network have become my dear friends, my life-supporters, my inspiration, and my role models. Tracey Scherr, extra shout out to you, for stepping into the role of Local Group Lead while I have to step away. You. Are. My. Shero.
We've spent the last 6 years holding meetings, hosting events, tabling, training, supporting gun sense candidates, presenting to community groups, writing and calling our legislators, partnering with local organizations, building relationships in our community, speaking truth at legislative listening sessions, growing and diversifying our supporters, building our leadership team, and going to the Capitol to demand action from our lawmakers.
Click here to see a gallery of more photos from those 6 years...(coming soon)
PPS
This week - while I was writing this story - there was a tragic incident of gun violence in the town where I lived for the first 9 years of my life, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. It made national news. And it nearly broke my heart. Every time this happens, we all get sad, we all can't believe it happened in our town, we all feel powerless. That's trauma. Gun violence is giving our entire nation - especially our children - so much trauma.
My best advice to you, if you are feeling traumatized by the news every day about the worsening gun violence epidemic in our country, is to find a local Moms Demand Action chapter near you, and sign up to get involved in this movement. When the news makes you feel powerless, Moms Demand Action helps you take your power back. Go to www.momsdemandaction.org to find your state chapter. We need you.
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