Pam Wheelock said she had always voted but had never been politically active — until now.
“I will never, until the day I can no longer walk or talk, I will never not be politically active again,” said Wheelock, of Chesterton, “and I believe that there are many, many people like me.”
That’s what brought Wheelock and a group of mostly women, joined by a few men, to Neighbors Place in Valparaiso Thursday afternoon for a small, closed, personal discussion with U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-South Bend, that those who attended said felt went “really well.”
Julie Storbeck, of Valparaiso, who set up the discussion between Donnelly’s office and Hoosier Women on the March, a group that’s been active in Northwest Indiana since the national Women’s Marches in January, said that Donnelly and other legislators “need to hear women’s voices and get women’s perspectives.” Each person who came to the discussion had a different reason for wanting to talk to Donnelly, Storbeck said.
Christina Zacny, of Wheatfield, came “because I’m one of those people that die without protections of pre-existing conditions with the Affordable Care Act, without those lifetime caps,” she said. Zacny pointed to a backpack her daughter was carrying “of medications I have to have with me at all times.”
Zacny has Mast Cell Activation Syndromes and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which can affect her tissue and joints causing her to “tear and break things quite easily,” she said, as she held herself up on crutches.
“We are like the original bubble girls,” Zacny joked.
Paying for her surgeries and medications are expensive, so possibly losing her insurance “is a very very big deal for me and people like me,” she said. In what she described as a “productive” and “civil” conversation, she said that Donnelly “spoke to me personally” and “wants to make sure that I don’t fall into that crack” with any change to the ACA.
Ayesha Mohiuddin, of Dyer, said she feels Indiana has to change with the times and “needs more representation of ethnicity, different faiths, women, in particular” throughout the state.
Raising her children in Northwest Indiana with her husband, Mohiuddin said, “I truly feel like a Hoosier.” But as a proud Muslim woman, she feels that the Muslim community needs “to be understood better in the state of Indiana because it’s basically the barriers that we have with each other that does not allow you to know who I am, and me to not know you.”
When talking with Donnelly, she wanted to emphasize that there need to be lines of open communication to better educate people and leaders need to reach out to ethnic and religious minorities to get more people engaged and voting.
With tears in her eyes, Wheelock, who leaned Republican in elections for decades, said she came because on with the election of President Donald Trump, “the world changed.” As the owner of a small company that makes organic pet toys, Wheelock said she “completely” believes in capitalism, but her “capital is not just my cash. My capital is where I live, whether I can breath, whether I can drink water.”
“These are true sources of capital,” she said. “Capital being something that you value, being something that contributes to your life, something that you have to have to survive.”
Being concerned about the environment is “not just hippy dippy,” she said. Wheelock pointed to the recent chemical spill that closed three area beaches, wondering what that spill will mean in dollars and for the tourism industry.
“If I ran my business, disregarding the outcome of an action … disregarding what would happen to my business a year from now … I wouldn’t have a business. You have to consider what you do today and how it will affect tomorrow,” she said.
Wheelock said she has “a lot of faith in (Donnelly’s) position” but feels he “needs to be a little more courageous” and would like to see him do some town halls.
“I hope that we prove to him that women and people like me are out there, in the thousands, and we want to be involved,” she said.
Donnelly said he felt a sense of engagement from the discussion.
“What I heard from that meeting with all of those individuals was how much they want to be part of making the process work, moving our country forward and making sure their fellow citizens vote. Because it really is in many cases, you go to healthcare, it’s a matter of life and death,” he said.
While talking with Donnelly, Storbeck said she got the sense he was absorbing what the women were saying.
“He’s clearly listening,” Storbeck said.
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Continuing efforts
Beyond the conversation with Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, Hoosier Women is collecting new, small blankets and washable, pocket-sized stuffed toys until the end of the month for Syrian refugee children.
“As part of the Women’s March, we feel it is important to bring emotional aid and support to the most vulnerable in this conflict — the children,” Julie Storbeck said. “For a traumatized or wounded child who has lost everything, oftentimes even their parents, a soft blanket or toy to hold can bring great comfort.”
Donations will be collected at Blackbird Cafe in Valparaiso and Something’s Brewing ReChic Unique Boutique coffee chose in Demotte.
