Kelsey Sandeno

Kelsey Sandeno, 38, Moderator for the Governing Board of the United Church of Christ (UCC) poses inside of Saint’s Rest Coffeehouse. (Rihaan Bhansali)

“I go to the UCC, and the Sunday after the election, a handful of us were sitting there – we have coffee time for parents while kids are at Sunday school, which is before church — and we were just sitting there staring at each other, like ‘What do we do now?’ And Liz Rodrigues being the amazing activist that she is, was like, ‘Well, let’s do something. Let’s not just sit here, let’s start a group.’ And so five of us sat down and we planned the first meeting, the idea being: let’s not reinvent the wheel. What is going on around us that we can join in? And then if there is a space where nothing’s being done, that’s where you start something new. But don’t start something new just because you want to start something — because there are so many amazing people out there who are already doing the work and who just need more bodies.”

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The Scarlet & Black