It’s time for small things to become bigger. When we collect like-minded people around us and work together, we can accomplish BIG things by each doing our part, however small, on something important.
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While the country continues to reel after disastrous Trump decisions that are too numerous to count — mass government layoffs, deportation of people here legally, and tariffs levied on the world at large, including uninhabited islands — we are seeing small gains.
For example: Every Wisconsin county moved to the left in the special election for a state Supreme Court seat. Despite Elon Musk literally paying voters to rally for the conservative, Trump-backed candidate, the Trump-Musk pick lost by 10 percentage points. And in my home state of Florida, where the two red districts in which special elections were held remained red, the Democratic candidates gained 15 points on their Republican opponents. Counties where Trump won by more than 30 points in 2024 saw his picks elected by only half that margin.
Chaos may be the point of the Trump administration, along with gratuitous cruelty, but we can fight back with solid organization and undiminished morale. Here are some small things you can do to make a difference this week.
1) Download and use the Hungry Friend app.
This app shows you which restaurants in your area support important causes by donating a percentage of their proceeds to specific activist groups. So every time you eat at a participating restaurant, you give money to a good cause.
I signed up to support Al Otro Lado, a group that helps migrants and which I’ve supported in the past. You simply download the app and link a credit card; then whenever you use that card to pay for your meals at a listed restaurant, you automatically donate to your chosen group. In my area, only two restaurants are participating, but I’ll be sure to patronize them more frequently now — and, hopefully, more restaurants will soon be joining up.
2) Donate to Beat Malaria.
Malaria kills a child a minute worldwide. It’s one of the most devastating diseases in human history. Malaria may not be top of mind for many Americans, but climate change is paving the way for this mosquito-borne illness to invade our southern states. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot to stop malaria in its tracks. The best defense against malaria is mosquito nets — which are cheap and easy to provide and set up. I donated $10 to Nothing but Nets through Beat Malaria. People everywhere deserve to be protected against this deadly but preventable disease.
3) Fill out local leader surveys, such as the Working Families Party form.
Joining up with already existing organizations is the quickest way to get in the fight for a better world. I filled out the Working Families Party survey to help this nationally active group expand its local outreach. Anyone can fill out the survey. Getting in touch with like-minded people and groups in your area is key to building a nationwide movement.
4) Sign up for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is the most pointed tool we have to defend women’s bodily autonomy. In states where abortion bans have taken effect, the fund helps people travel hundreds of miles for needed healthcare. The fund also helps stockpile resources for women with an unwanted pregnancy who cannot travel. I donated $20 and signed up to receive email bulletins, because with so much going on, I want to make sure I’m always up to date on the causes closest to my heart.
5) Educate yourself on the law behind Trump’s actions, using reliable information from the Brennan Center for Justice and other nonpartisan think tanks.
I watched the Brennan Center’s recorded talk on voting rights, titled “Presidents Don’t Control Our Elections.” You too can join the thousands of people who have watched this highly informative hour-long presentation. If you don’t have the time, here are my notes:
- President Trump is too impatient to wait for Congress to pass the misleadingly named SAVE Act — which would actually erect new barriers to voting. So his recent executive order tries to force the US Election Assistance Commission to require everyone to show documentary proof of US citizenship to be allowed to vote.
- But the Brennan Center says the president has no authority, under the US Constitution, to do that — making his executive order little more than a threatening memo.
- The Brennan Center also says Trump cannot force states to discard mail-in ballots that arrive after election day. The Constitution reserves oversight of elections, including those to select the president, exclusively to the states themselves.
- Overall, the message is clear: Presidents cannot seize control of our elections through executive orders.
- As much as they downplayed the threat posed by Trump’s executive order, the experts who spoke at the Brennan Center are very concerned about the proposed SAVE Act, which would seriously curtail voter registration, including registering online or via snail mail. The Brennan Center says that, if passed, it will be the worst assault on voting rights ever.
- What can we do?
- Use your platforms to speak out about preserving our right to vote.
- Congress is already feeling heat from the public about the SAVE Act. Add your voice: Write your representative to reject this voter suppression legislation.
- And when it comes other issues:
- Share stories of people you know who are affected by Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant policies. If you know someone who has been fired, or someone who has lost a loved one to ICE, tell people what is happening.
- Pay close attention and actively support the work of resistance organizations by signing petitions and donating to causes you feel passionately about.
6) Brainstorm — and use your networks to turn small ideas into big ones.
Recently, feeling overwhelmed by the events of the day and having trouble sleeping, I had an idea in the middle of the night.
It was prompted by my perception that our elected officials are ignoring us. I don’t think they record our phone calls. I don’t think they read our emails. I think they have everything on auto-reply, and they either delete our messages or put them in a folder somewhere never to be seen by human eyes.
And yet, even so, I think writing and calling our local, state, and federal reps is important. Let me explain. It’s important for the people who do it. If you send an email or make a call, you invest yourself, just a little. Having done so, you’re more apt to vote against the person who ignored you or spoke down to you. That’s important.
But how can we ensure the issues we care about gain a hearing in the public arena, if our reps pay no attention to our communications? If your congressional rep, like mine, won’t even hold a town hall?
So, my middle-of-the-night brainstorm was this: Let’s Miracle-on-34th-Street them. I sent a text to all the leaders I know in my town — Gainesville, FL — outlining the idea:
What if we used the real mail, while it still exists? For instance, we get all the people in all the local groups in Florida District 3 to send letters to Kat Cammack, our representative, instead of (or in addition to) calling and emailing. But we don’t send out the letters one by one. Instead, we collect them all in a big pile. A massive pile of constituent communications.
We call the news organizations, because a literal mountain of mail makes for good TV footage. We put the letters in sacks and drive them to the post office and mail them all at once. Hopefully with a reporter or two in tow, who will be delighted to cover an event with strong visual impact.
If 100 people sign 10 letters each, that’s 1,000 letters from verified constituents dispatched all at once, with abundant TV footage, to Rep. Cammack. I’m guessing it gets her attention.
After we workshopped the idea a little, we decided we didn’t need to use the US Postal Service at all (which saves $730 in postage). Instead, we collect the letters and deliver them in person. I can table at activist events coming up, and take the letters to protests and gatherings for signatures. Make no mistake, this is going to be a big thing, not a small thing, but you can chop big things into small chunks and do them a bit at a time. That makes them easier to accomplish.
Once I got the go-ahead, I posted about the idea on social media, to try to gauge which of the myriad of issues facing us was most important to people in my locality. Much as I expected, there were way too many for anyone to really narrow down, so I started brainstorming a bunch of topics on my own. Next week, I’ll continue this project with hard copies of letters and hopefully signatures and zip codes. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
As I’ve been saying, each of us has a role to play, however small, in trying to build a better future for all of us. See you next week.
Past weeks of “One Small Thing” can be found here.
