Stepping Out for Justice with ‘Walk for a New Dawn’

By Sherry Zitter Every great journey begins with a vision. The Walk for a New Dawn began with a seed in Western Mass on June 16, 2026, when MA Catholics for Indigenous Rights were discussing how to raise awareness of indigenous concerns. Member Linden Jenkins said, “We should walk across Massachusetts to the Statehouse,” and David Detmold said, “I would do that!” It was he who came up with the name Walk for a New Dawn to emphasize the ways in which we want to deeply change life here for the better. And when I heard about the Walk, I…

Walkers and Singers Bring Their Passion to No Kings 3

By Jeana Edmonds Throughout the U.S. and in other nations as well, No Kings 3 was a truly powerful tribute to our embrace of humanity and our love for our fragile and imperfect democracy. From large cities to small villages, like West Brookfield, crowds gathered on March 28, 2026 to speak about dignity, people power, courage, and the view that in the U.S. neither oligarchs nor kings will prevail. Each standout and rally expressed these ideas in its own unique way, and participants in the West Brookfield No Kings 3 Standout, organized by our sister group Brookfields Fight Fear, were…

Remembering Beautiful Souls Taken: 2025 Trans Day of Remembrance

Reflection by Karen Nothe-Valley “We remember those we’ve lost Who died from fear and hate, Let’s give deep support to those of us still here… For Love, there’s no time to wait.”   -Trans Day of Remembrance Song, by Sherry Zitter Recently, members of Grassroots Central Mass and friends gathered at the Sturbridge Common Gazebo on a chilly late afternoon — Thursday, November 20, 2025 — to acknowledge a solemn Trans Day of Remembrance, stand in solidarity with the trans community, help raise awareness, and most importantly remember and honor those trans individuals who have been violently killed solely because of…

Let’s savor our wetlands, as we do a good meal

By Maureen Doyle If I made a fantastic meal, you'd want the whole thing, right? A fragmented meal isn't as satisfying or fulfilling. Similarly, a fragmented landscape is missing elements that make it satisfying to its animal, insect, and plant inhabitants. The construction of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) proposed for Oakham, Mass. will fragment the wetlands there, and therefore has the potential to threaten the entire watershed that provides essential water for millions of Massachusetts residents, and essential habitat for animals and plants. AND you wouldn’t want that delicious meal poisoned or spoiled, right? The danger of such…

Shining Light on Immigration

By Shannon Teabo “No one leaves home unless homeIs the mouth of a sharkYou only run for the borderWhen you see the whole city running as well” The words of poet Warsan Shire burn through the body and soul; igniting compassion and empathy for those who are forced to flee from the people and places they love. This was the simple ask of the devoted members of Grassroots Central Mass, a division of Indivisible; to feel for the people who have no choice but to run from the horrors or else be swallowed by them. The presentation on the myths…

Central Mass stands united for No Kings Day

By Colin Brown On June 14, 2025, Central Massachusetts rose up and joined the nation for No Kings Day, a powerful day of protest against authoritarianism, the Trump administration, and any attempt to undermine our democracy. From small towns to our cities, Grassroots Central Mass members showed up in force to say NO to authoritarianism. NO to Trump. NO kings—then or now. Hundreds line the sidewalk in West Brookfield for the No Kings Day protest. A massive THANK YOU to Brookfields Fight Fear (BFF) for organizing the West Brookfield protest, where over 400 people made their voices heard. Worcester saw…

Grassroots Central Mass pays tribute to our beloved friend Sarah Heller

Sarah Heller, left, with Jeana and Lynne at the Climate Cafe. By Jeana Edmonds On March 12, 2025 members of Grassroots Central Mass and friends gathered at 6 p.m. on the Brookfield Common to honor and bid farewell to our dear companion Sarah Heller. Sarah was absolutely central to the founding and development of Grassroots Central Mass. She was one of the original members of Brookfield Indivisible back in 2017 when we were first hit by the horrors of the 45th president. Sarah often hosted in her home the meetings of Brookfield Indivisible and shared her commitment to making this…

Hooray for our 6th Annual Trees Are Treasures Celebration

By Jeana Edmonds Another fantastic Trees Are Treasures celebration occurred on May 18, 2025, and it was one for the record books!!! What a great day we had. The weather was chilly but gorgeous, and it didn't rain — amazing! The trees were beautiful — including paw paw, redbud, and tupelo trees. Our tree expert and her two able assistants did a fantastic job selecting the trees and preparing them for the giveaway. All three engaged everyone entering the Mill Pond path at Wells State Park with information about why trees are crucial elements of our environment, how to plant…

Thank you, Jamie Raskin, and thank you, IMC

By Regina Edmonds Many of us in Grassroots Central Mass were really excited when we learned that Indivisible Mass Coalition (IMC) would be hosting Representative Jamie Raskin on their Statewide Call on August 27, 2024. And we were even more fired up when we learned that our own Grassroots Central Mass colleague and IMC Board member from CD-1, Karen Nothe-Valley, would be one of the three chat monitors on the call. In this role Karen and the other monitors fielded questions placed in the chat, organized the questions seen there into themes, and related the questions to elements of the…