The cavalcade of causes continued Saturday in the Unitarian Society basement, 220 Main St., after the Women’s March.
There, an activist fair gave groups working for social justice a chance to let the public know who they are, and gave the public a chance to get involved.
“This shows there’s a desire to do more than march,” said Cindy Loiselle, of Belchertown, who is a member of Belchertown Voices for Justice. She said her group has been working for the past 365 days to fight against what they see as the injustices of the Trump presidency. She was optimistic about the group’s work and the march.
“Speaking only for myself, I believe optimism is a certain way to approach the world, not a reflection of the current state of things,” Loiselle said. “If there wasn’t optimism, we wouldn’t be doing this.”
Other groups, such as the Massachusetts Nurses Association, expressed that optimism about their causes. The Massachusetts Nurses Association had a table set up to forward its ballot initiative asking people to vote “yes” on the upcoming ballot question concerning “safe patient limits.”
A successful “yes” vote for safe patient limits would limit the maximum amount of people nurses should be charged with caring for. Nancy Stenberg, representing the association, said safe patient limits would increase the quality of care patients get. Rosemary Ware, of Florence, visited the table and was glad to see so many activists and activists groups come out for the march.
“We live in the happy valley and we’re optimistic, because what do we do? We can’t just walk away,” Ware said. “I protested the Vietnam War and since then I just kept going.”
Ware is a member of Our Revolution, a movement founded to advance the progressive agenda of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Our Revolution also had a table at the activist fair.
“We want to make it easy for people to get involved. The point is it’s our revolution,” said Abida Adhan, of Amherst, a member of the group.
Adhan explained that Our Revolution structures itself with focused and specific caucuses that allow people to advocate for a cause most dear to them. It also works collectively at the state level to further a broad set of progressive ideas.
“It’s really resonated with people,” Adhan said. “If I’m an immigrant and I want to fight for causes that mean a lot to me, then I want to join an immigrant caucus.”
Other groups at the activist fair included Rise Up Western Mass, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Climate Action Now.