Community members from Centre County and beyond packed the community room Tuesday in Schlow Centre Region Library to share concerns and questions regarding the Trump administration.
Indivisible, a nationwide grassroots effort, helped organize the event.
“We've been organizing demonstrations and town halls across the country,” said Casey Truax, an organizer with Keystone Indivisible, which is the Centre County chapter.
Keystone Indivisible formed a few months ago.
“I emailed (the national organization) and they put together a mailing list of several people in the area who were interested in some grassroots activism to defend democracy and progressive values against the current administration,” Truax said. “We started off with very small groups of about a dozen people, and then all of a sudden it just really kind of exploded.”
Nearly a hundred people registered for the event, and several had to stand.
There were two guest speakers scheduled: Christy Delafield, a humanitarian aid worker with USAID experience, and Elliot Copeland, a staffer for U.S. Sen. John Fetterman. Copeland agreed a month ago to come to the town hall, but canceled hours before the event.
“(Copeland) did not give an explanation,” Truax said. “The news that he decided not to come or wasn't able to come is very sudden and very unexpected.”
Many in the audience booed when they found out Fetterman’s staffer did not attend. Some said the absence made them doubt their support for Fetterman.
Others, including Lee Ann Cook, said they were looking forward to sharing how they’ve been personally impacted by the Trump administration’s recent cuts to the federal workforce. Cook said her daughter recently graduated with a biochemistry degree and got her dream job working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“She found out that she’s not going to be able to keep that job,” Cook said.
Cook said her daughter was studying infant formula and premature infants.
“I really wanted to ask Elliot what Senator Fetterman is doing to stand up to these, what seems to me to be, corporate interests, that are directly impacting my kid and babies’ infant formula,” Cook said.
Fetterman’s office has not responded to requests for comment regarding the staffer’s absence from the town hall.
Delafield ended up sharing her experience with USAID projects abroad and expressing support for overseas humanitarian aid.
“Ninety-nine percent of the U.S. federal budget goes to domestic priorities. Less than 1% is USAID,” Delafield said. “And I would argue that that 1% also goes to domestic priorities, to supporting the American people.”
USAID funding has been held up in legal battles. Research at Penn State has also been affected.
The conversation in the room later morphed into ideas for community action. The Penn State Ukrainian Society shared its plans to host weekly rallies to support Ukraine at the Allen Street Gates. The group held the first of those rallies on Saturday, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s contentious meeting at the White House.
Local government leaders from Patton Township and Bellefonte also urged the community to participate in local affairs by attending meetings or by running for local offices.
Truax said Indivisible plans to continue holding town halls and other community action events. The group is partnering with other organizations, such as Centre County Democrats and Central PA United.
