Red Wine and Blue names local Blue Storm Action Group as “Community Heroes”

Red Wine and Blue: Pennsylvania has named Adams County’s Blue Storm Action “Community Heroes” for the month of August.

Blue Storm Action is a civic group of Adams County activists committed to electing representatives at all levels of government who are committed to choice, democracy, equity, and integrity. Blue Storm Action formed in 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Originally a local book group of Adams Countians, the group’s literary discussions turned more to politics after the Roe decision.

“We decided then that we needed to act. The result was Blue Storm Action,” said steering committee member Angela Sontheimer, one of the group’s co-founders. “We started small, by protesting for one hour every Friday in front of the Gettysburg office of 33rd District state senator Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate then running for governor against eventual winner Josh Shapiro.” The protests ran for 19 straight weeks. “The first week there were ten of us,” Sontheimer continued. “The next week there were fifteen — all the way up to the election when more than 100 women and men came out of the woodwork to peacefully protest in support of reproductive, civil, and voter rights.”

Steering committee member and co-founder Meghan O’Brien said that “a high-stakes battle was fought here years ago, and we came to realize that with the political discord today in our country there was a parallel crisis on another level. We’ve given a lot of thought to this, and came up with a very specific strategy – intentionally emphasizing common concerns and cross-party appeal. We have incredible camaraderie. Momentum and excitement are growing – including among young voters – who haven’t been engaged in the process until now.”

Blue Storm Action has grown to over 250 Facebook followers and nearly 200 members who are actively involved in the 2024 election with voter registration, postcard writing, canvassing, and fundraising.

According to steering committee member Edie Jardine, “A key focus for Blue Storm Action is to meet member-identified needs such as training on key skills like canvassing, the details of the Republican blueprint “Project 2025,” and candidate positions. Our goal is to empower members to be informed, confident, and credible advocates.”

“We are here and are not going away,” said O’Brien.

Red Wine and Blue, headquartered in Ohio, is an empowered community of half a million diverse women working together to defeat extremism, one friend at a time. They train and connect women in Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and across the country with a network of half a million suburban women of all political backgrounds – including many who have never been politically active before – to organize in their communities and address the growing threats of extremism to public education, reproductive freedom, and democracy.