INDIVISIBLE Lambertville NJ / New Hope PA

Category: Activist Spotlight

  • Reflections from ILNH Leadership

    Reflections from ILNH Leadership

    Contributed by Deb Kline.

    The big stand out for me this year was how fierce and unapologetic Indivizzies are about their love of democracy and humanity. It makes them brave and generous and it makes me believe that virtually anything is possible. Cindi Sternfeld

    What stood out for me was that every time I felt despair over the direction that T45, McConnell and Ryan and his evil, inept cabinet were taking our country, there was this team of dedicated Americans that took our values seriously. That our hard work could make a difference. That all over the country, we the majority rejected hate, ignorance and fear.  That I in my somewhat crippled state could work to help save our democracy. Priceless. Elycia Lerman 

    I have been extremely thankful for the grounding effect this group has on my jangled psyche.   I learn something (about myself, how to approach or frame an issue, how to be considerate of other viewpoints) at every LT meeting as we discuss, from our disparate backgrounds, matters that are important to us and to our work.  ILNH has allowed me to feel good about my contributions to the resistance – beyond the fact that I’m doing SOMETHING, to the fact that I’m part of group that does lots of somethings to good effect. Thank you all. Karen Mitchell

    I was warmed by all the new people who got involved with the election this year, and the not-new people who came back again & again.  We’re unstoppable, and we’re caring and smart and funny, and we’re unstoppable. Olga Vannucci

    Over the past year, I’ve been so grateful to be part of the ILNH community and have been continually inspired by the level of our constituents’ commitment to our country, positive change, and each other. Sarah Gold

    I am honored to have spent 2018 with a group of fierce and tenacious activists who have  fought tirelessly and succeeded in making real change in our country. Hats off to you my friends! Grateful for each and every one of you. Liz Peer

    Although I live very nearby, I feel isolated in my “red dot in a blue state.” I found a community that motivated me, inspired me to act – more than I ever have and I made beautiful friendships along the way. Beautiful. Nancy Boelter

    My first meeting was December 2017.  Cindi had on her famous red shoes. First I thought, “ I’m gonna like this chick.”  But more importantly (and even though I was already motivated to become more engaged as a activist) it was something Cindi said that struck a chord with me, she said something to the effect, “Don’t wait for someone to show up and do the work because that someone you’re waiting for is you.”  Well, dang. I was all in. And I love all of you for your zeal and commitment to a more humane and just world. Peace. Paige Barnett

    Amazed that providing community the space and direction enabled more political activation than seen in years, or decades.  We all worked in a integrated process that promoted optimism and empowerment. Diane Abatemarco

    We didn’t know if it would work – but we needed to try. I don’t know if I would have done half as much as I did if I didn’t feel the force of the ILNH community with me. On the second Sunday before the election, I took an early shift to canvass. There were only two groups that came at that time but we went on knocking on doors and, greeting people in pajamas excited to cast a Blue vote. Then, on returning to the staging site for the noon shift, the weary back road was jammed with cars like rush hour on Rt. 78.  Carloads of people pulling in to get their marching orders. I yelped and cried. I knew we won, regardless of the outcome of the election (although I still held my breath). We won because you all believed in the Blue Wave and knew that each of us played a critical role. Love wins. We win when love wins. Deb Kline

  • Before, During and After: What Comes Next?

    Before, During and After: What Comes Next?

    Contributed by Cindi Sternfeld. 

    October 21st

    It’s three weeks and two days before the midterm elections. I’m working at a canvass launch site and we’ve just sent out a bunch of canvassers to go knock on doors and spread the word about people who are running for office.  More than half of the people we’ve sent off this morning have never canvassed before, and if you’d asked them two years ago they might not have even known what the initials GOTV stood for. But today they know and they are reaching outside their comfort zone to do the work of Getting Out The Vote.  We train them, connect them with partners and send them out. They don’t need to know it all, they just need to be willing to learn some basics, spread their wings and see what happens. Show up, connect with others, learn what you need and take action. Pretty much what we have done all along.  It’s a rinse and repeat kind of thing.

    October 30th

    It’s one week before the midterms and days after the murders at Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  My heart is broken. Many of us learned about the shootings when we were at a postcard/canvassing event.  In retrospect, I wish I had stopped, learned more and let everyone there have a moment to absorb this horrible news, but I felt I would have fallen into a puddle on the floor – and we had so much work to do.  In the last few days, I’ve been beating myself up because as a leader in this group, I believe it is my job to offer encouragement and hope, but also to offer a place for people to bring the hard stuff and feel it in the safety of our embracing community.  

    Today I realize that it would have been okay to let myself fall into a puddle of sadness if I needed to, because I know who we are.  I know what we are made of. I know what fuels us. It is the vast power of all that we love, it is our hope, our passion. And sometimes, it is also the sum of our sadness and grief as we bear witness to these senseless acts of hate and oppression.  We may not be able to prevent bad things from happening but I know we will be here to support each other when they do. The day after the tragic event, I connected with my Rabbi and friends, and showed up at the service in Richboro, PA, surrounded by Indivizzies and the larger community.  It was healing and helpful. There it was again. Show up, connect with others, learn what you need and take action.

    To the question at hand: What’s next?  I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what will happen next.  I do not know what will happen on Election Day. It feels as if we need to create an intricate decision tree: If we win the House but not the Senate; if we win nothing, if we win it all.  But what’s next is not about what happens on November 6th.  It’s WHO WE ARE that will determine what’s next.   

    After the election we will take a breath and rest for a few minutes.  Then we will be looking for you to step forward, identify the issues you care about and volunteer to work with others to learn and ultimately help the group to take the next steps.  While the issues we delve into and the answers to them might vary, the machinery of how we do it will stay the same. We will show up. We will connect with our community. We will figure out what we need to know and learn together, and we will take action that aligns with our values.

    So while I don’t know exactly what’s next, I promise you this, if you keep showing up, I’ll keep showing up.  Let’s show up together – for all of it, the days we feel like a puddle and the all more frequent days we can celebrate this fierce community and the democracy we love.  

  • Out and About – Adventures From the GOTV Road

    Contributed by Amara Willey.

    Many of our members have been canvassing door-to-door in support of our endorsed candidates. Sometimes, however, the road to voter turnout is a little rocky, albeit rewarding in opportunity to connect with potential voters and make a difference. Here a few stories from the trenches — quite literally:

    Olga Vannucci, a self-labeled “klutz,” had been telling her canvass partner that she is very careful about all the various steps leading up to people’s front doors. At one house she took a shortcut through a corner between the driveway and the walk to the front door.

    “I didn’t see that there was a single small mud puddle right there. My shoe slipped, and I went flying,” Olga reported.

    Although it was a small mud puddle, her whole right side was filthy. Instead of going home, however, the intrepid Olga took some plastic grocery bags put them on the car seat, took a short break and a few deep breaths and kept right on going door-to-door.

    On another occasion, Elaine Clisham had a meet-up with the resident dog.

    “I was about to go back down the steps when this little dog came running around the side of the house and up the steps, barking like crazy. It was just big enough for me to take it seriously, and I could tell it was extremely serious about getting me off that porch, so I went back down the steps very slowly, one step at a time,” Elaine explained. “I got to the bottom when the dog’s human came around the other side of the house and yelled at the dog, prompting it to jump up and bite me on the outside of my leg!”

    The human and his daughter, who had also come around the side of the house, were kind and apologetic, and administered first aid. But, before she left, the stalwart Elaine extracted a promise from the pair to vote for Tom Malinowski.

    Zoe Langdon noted, “The most gratifying moments are when we engage Dems that historically don’t vote in midterms or some Republicans who say, We’re fed up. I’m voting for sure.” Amara Willey had a lengthy conversation about policy with a Republican who was leaning towards voting for Tom Malinowski through his frustration with the current administration’s “shenanigans” in Washington. But what happens when Leonard Lance’s 12th grade Latin teacher answers the door? Cindi Sternfeld marked her down as “strong Lance” supporter.

    One of our members canvassed with a 16-year-old high school student whose guidance counselor had suggested she intern for the Malinowski campaign.  The student memorized the script along the way and by the end of the day, she was talking and engaging with the potential voters. Susan Shapiro said, “People were very patient with her and impressed that she was volunteering to do this work!”

    Susan as well as others who have been on the road say they believe in canvassing 100%.

    “It is very rewarding to see that you are getting through to people about the importance of voting, about needing checks and balances, and educating Democrats about the candidates,” Susan said. “Many don’t know [a candidate’s] positions and they appreciate me showing up to fill them in.”

  • I March For Our Lives – A Young ILNH Activist’s Perspective

    I, and a handful of other students like myself were fortunate enough to attend the March for Our Lives in Washington D.C., thanks to the scholarships gifted by generous ILNH community members. I groggily got on the bus at 6:25 A.M. with recurring scenes of my time at the Women’s March and the March 14th Walk Out slipping through my consciousness. I think most people tend to feel excited on the road to these events, and although I am no exception, I can’t shake the strange way that foot-stomping anger and the elating feeling of unity seem to harmonize among almost every attendee.
    The presence of colorful, creative, and impactful signs are always a favorite element of these types of events, allowing for heartfelt expression and arguments to be made in a captureable, photogenic method. Protest signs are the perfect visual for me, and left me with a silent (though the surrounding space was anything but quiet) affirmation that I was not alone. When I’m feeling demoralized, I like to look back on my photos from events like these, and let the sentiments that fueled that day to return to me. It’s a type of nostalgia that I can feel looking at posters from Affordable Care Act walks to the Women’s March, serving as a digital representation the words and sentiments that cannot be created or easily expressed to others.
    I don’t mean to paint these marches as flawless occasions to be held on a pedestal, chocked full of wonder and love and purity. I was sunburnt, I was cramped and pressed into strangers, I met people I didn’t particularly like, my knees ached, I was uncomfortable. But these “shortcomings” are an important piece of the experience. They are almost symbolic in the way that they remind you that you’re there to fight against injustices along with people you may not particularly enjoy, which is not easy, and neither is the struggle against oppressors for any individual. If your fun outweighs the sentiment of anger and dissatisfaction with the status quo, you’re probably not angry enough.
    Unfortunately for young people, there is an underlying irritant that can be found in many areas of activism. I would like to utilize this platform that I have been given to share my experience to add a quick PSA on behalf of “the young people”: Please do not put another burden of “fault” on our shoulders. I’m sure when you were young you scoffed at the judgments and presumptions of older generations. (I know that the Beatles and their long hair weren’t satanic, I’m sorry your parents hated that “noise” too.) A woman stopped my friends and me to tell me that if everyone our age voted, Trump would have lost. I told her if less white women voted for Trump, Hillary would have won. I know that these statements are from a good place, but they are often not received well. Instead of putting all of the work on the youth’s shoulders, please make sure you’re focusing on every age group’s participation (And how they’re participating).
    Despite this, I have immense gratitude for the people of any age that choose to donate their time to good causes, whether it affects their life directly or not. Every effort made towards a progressive future is cherished by those in my generation who know that the future will eventually be on their shoulders. We know that your advocacy will ultimately benefit us and following generations, and together we will all pursue a better, and safer, future.
  • Confessions of an Accidental Activist

    Confessions of an Accidental Activist

    As our new newsletter was conceived and as a new year begins, I thought it would be kinda cool for us to be able to share some thoughts and ideas about our work. Then came the time for me actually to put hands to keyboard and it all came to a grinding halt. What the heck do I have to say? I’m not even a real activist. Or am I?

    A year ago, we had a choice. We could stay in a pit of despair, or we could do something. We chose to do something. A bunch of women and one man came to Giuseppe’s in Lambertville to do something. (See ILNH member Olga Vannucci’s limerick on that, below!) Then, a bunch more people came to Dig! Yoga a couple weeks later, to do somethin

    Before any of us had a moment to wonder if it was a good idea, or if we had time and energy to change the very nature of our lives, we were activists.

    On a daily basis, I find myself pleasantly surprised and completely terrified.
    For the past year, I have thought of all of us who are part of Indivisible Lambertville-New Hope as kind of “accidental activists.” After the reality of the 2016 election sank in, the only thing that made sense was to come together and fight and work and push back against the daily stream of assaults to our democracy. And we did!


    Our mighty little community tried everything. We all stretched ourselves to do things we had never done before. We hosted postcard parties, we got out the vote, we taught ourselves the issues, we learned social media, we got a website, we got incorporated, we marched, we protested, we wrote, we called, we resistbot-ed we texted, we 4-H’d, and so much more. Heck, when one of our Congressmen called us “ruffians,” we knew we were doing something right! As we get ready to start 2018, two things are clear: First, we are now intentional activists; Second, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We have some big fights ahead of us, and while they will test our determination, we can and will show up with the same passion and dedication that we brought to Year One. We will have some days that feel like a gut punch and others that feel triumphant. We will sometimes feel exhausted and we will need our Indivisible peeps to step up so that we can sit down and rest for a minute. I don’t know what 2018 will bring but I have no doubt that it will be amazing.