About 150 Peoria-area people were among the 500,000 to 800,000 who attended the Women’s March on Washington Jan. 21, according to Terry Mathews, who talked about her march experiences at a recent League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria Drinks & Dialogue event. (Photo courtesy of Rita Dinquel) 

Membership in the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria has been climbing since the November election with more new signups after attending a recent League event that focused on the Peoria and Washington, D.C., women’s rallies.

“Our League has had 41 new members join since the start of the League year, July 1. Of those, 63 percent (26) have joined since the November 2016 election,” said membership chair Pat Landes. “I think people want and need to get involved, and they see us as a viable way to do that.”

The local League’s current membership is 152.

About 30 people attended the League’s recent Drinks & Dialogue meeting at Peoria’s Lariat Steakhouse. Landes said that’s more than double the usual attendance for the monthly event that aims to discuss local, state and national topics related to the league’s mission of  encouraging citizens to be informed and active participants in government.

League member Nora Sullivan, one of the organizers of the Peoria women’s rally, discussed her experience with that event, while leaguer Terry Mathews told about marching at the Washington, D.C., rally. Both events took place on Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration.

“Marching for women is nothing new,” said Mathews, who recalled marching for equal rights and against the Vietnam War during her college years in the late ’60s. “It’s been many years that I’ve been protesting this same crap.”

Mathews, who rode one of two buses from Peoria to the Women’s March on Washington, called the rally a fusion of advocacy groups.

“Over 650 groups co-sponsored the Women’s March on Washington to stand up for social injustice and human rights issues,” she said. “There were probably over 150 people from Peoria that went to Washington. We were mostly women, but there were some men on our bus. We were all ages. We had a 10-year-old and we had an 80-year-old.”

Terry Mathews (left) and Nora Sullivan, both members of the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria, hold a sign Mathews carried in the Women’s March on Washington. The women spoke about their experiences marching in the Washington rally and a local women’s rally at a recent LWVGP event in Peoria. (Photo by Elise Zwicky / for Chronicle Media) 

After a 15-hour bus ride and then standing in one spot for six hours listening to speeches, Mathews said the march began. “When you’re moving a million and a half people, it was a very slow march. It took about two hours to go two miles,” she said, recalling the signs and chants that punctuated the event. “The bleachers along the route were filled. There were people on rooftops all along the route. It was a great day. Please join me next time.”

Nora Sullivan said the Peoria Rally in Support of the Women’s March came together fairly quickly, though the planning and execution was “intense.”

“Truly, I thought we’d have maybe 150 people. We think there were about 2,000 people there. They were positive and peaceful,” she said.

“To me I think it showed how much we care about this country, that we’re not going to allow our country to turn into something that we don’t want and we don’t believe in and that we’re going to fight for it,” Sullivan added. “Because we know from history what has happened. For our generation, we know what it means to get on the street and to fight and to make a difference. If that’s what we have to do again in our retirement years and we’re dragging our children and our grandchildren along with us, I think we’ll do it.”

Sullivan noted the power of social media in spreading the word about both rallies.

“How many remember making mimeographs in the ’60s and posting it and then having three people come to your event because no one heard about it?” she said. “When the executive order on immigration was issued, less than 24 hours later a rally was posted on Facebook and we had over 300 people protesting at the (Peoria) courthouse. You have to be plugged in to hear about these things, and you have to have the energy and the desire to go out and make a difference.”

Public discussion after the presentations focused on how and why to get involved.

“Identify your passion and find and strengthen the group that’s supporting it,” said  a woman who described herself as being new to the League.

At-large Peoria City Council candidate Amr Elsamny, an Egyptian-American, recalled marching in Egypt during the Egyptian revolution in 2011.

“That experience inspired me to get more involved locally,” he said. “A lot of my friends and family grew up not being privileged like us, not having a voice, not having a vote. We should really never take democracy for granted. I was so glad to see the Women’s March on Washington. It was very inspirational and amazing. But now the question I’m asking is what’s next? Do we have a plan to keep up the momentum and be able to change things on the ground?”

League President Cheryl Budzinksi said the League of Women Voters does have a plan at  both the national and state levels. “I can’t think of a League position that isn’t aligned with what was going on at the marches,” she said.

Farrell Davies, who will become president of the LWVGP in May, noted the need to get younger generations involved.

“It’s really important that we pass this along to our daughters and sons and our grandsons and granddaughters. We can disagree (on issues) and still understand that democracy is something we should cherish and not take for granted. That’s a concern I think we all have,” she said.

For more information about League issues and events, visit the Greater Peoria League of Women Voters Facebook page or website at www.lwvgp.org or call (309) 253-9594. The next Drinks & Dialogue event is set for 5:30 p.m. March 15 at the Lariat Steakhouse.

— Protest rallies spike interest in Peoria area League of Women Voters —