Thread by @LisaDemands

I'm the DC Chapter co-Lead of @MomsDemand. It's really a lot of work. There's a lot to do in this city and our advocacy is 2-fold. I'm gonna tell you about it. Because there are so many layers. And the past week has almost taken me out of this role.

3 years ago, my then-4 yo was in preK4 at the public school 2 blocks away. I was working full time and shootings were regular national AND local news stories. I was lamenting to a client that as Black Americans, my kids are 10x more likely to die by gun than their white peers.

At that time I didn't think my son was participating in active shooter drills. She told me he was; and she gave me the right words to ask him about it so I could know for sure. That day when picked him up I asked and cried as he gave me the answer I didn't know to assume.

That was the moment, quietly crying in the driver's seat, glancing back at my sweet little boy telling me about hiding under a table and being "bery,bery kwi-uht" that I decided that I had to take action. Demand Action.

I'd donated to @Everytown and @MomsDemand. And I truly believed if anything in this country was going to have a REAL impact on violence culture or gun culture it would be because of @shannonrwatts and the red shirtted @MomsDemand vols. And I do still believe that.

I frantically connected with one of my besties, @MsLaurainDC, and she told me how to track down @rachdc7 and get started. And, boy howdy, did I. See, @Everytown gives it's leaders tools, and resources, and access to any and every way you could want to get involved in this work.

So I took virtual training on how to #BeSMART and how to encourage my neighbors to use an #ERPO if they needed it; to ask my kids peers parents if there were guns in homes where we had play dates; to listen to EVERY #GVSurvivor I could; to be strong,brave,knowledgeable.

I moved from Outreach Lead➡️Membership Lead➡️Data Team➡️Meeting Planner➡️Jill-of-all-Team➡️really good listener➡️problem try-to-solver➡️show-er-upper. And it was hard and scary and overwhelming and I went to places I didn't feel safe to hear stories that changed me. Forever.

And I was suddenly all in.And I started to focus less on the national platform of GVP and more on the devastation in my own town. My HOME town. 4th generation town. And @rachdc7 and @PeaceForTom started @PeaceforDC and me and @emdemandsaction took over the DC @MomsDemand chapter.

And I was (co-)steering the ship. Nominating partners doing boots on the ground violence prevention, intervention, interruption, reduction work for grants and funding and support and amplification. Spending all my time listening to where our advocacy could be most effective.

This all happened during covid. I was forced out of my full time (paid) career. And I took on this enormous, all-encompassing, all-consuming, blurred-lined (UNPAID, 30-60 hrs a week) undertaking. Because it matters and #DC @MomsDemand has the ear of the council and stakeholders.

And you know what? This past budget passed budget line items(while we didn't get *most* we advocated for)that we can pursue next year and so on.And there was a line item that never existed before and I was the first and only public witness to testify its need in a budget hearing.

And I learned about, immersed myself in, and advocated full heart for HVIPs in DC @TheHAVI; and I learned about where I can be effective and how meaningful both budget advocacy and amplification of public safety programs can literally save lives right now.

I just want to close by restating how crucial volunteers are.*I have not received any compensation for the last 2 years of full time work and labor I've put into my community*I've been SCREAMED at by partners who assume that because @MomsDemand have a (often correct) reputation

for being middle class/wealthy white women, we have endless funding and tons of money and get paid handsomely. We don't. We do this from the heart. My amazing partner-turned-good-friend told me I need to make that clear. He told me to clear that up.

We are the grassroots arm of a very successful National GVP Advocacy organization. We are all volunteers. We are given opportunities to apply for pockets of funding for partner orgs. They won't all get it. And we aren't happy to be gatekeepers.

But the labor? The time? The heartache? That's ours. That is real and I don't regret or take a moment back. I don't take back a single tear I've shed listening to survivors or families or partners. The pain is real. I'm not a paid and kept housewife with a savior complex.

I work my ass off every day. And I get yelled at and keep going. I get knocked down and keep going. I get told no (a lot) and keep going. I'm in trouble often. I'm a volunteer and will be until we're all safer.

Gah!! I shoulda known the Moms would show up to this thread!!🧡🧡🧡 ummm. I should have mentioned how FUCKING 💣the #DC team is. And join us in amplifying some smaller but creative and amazing community orgs in Ward 8 at our #WearOrange!!