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Have you ever considered beekeeping or wondered if it was for you; well, here's your chance to find out. The monthly meeting of the Cherokee Beekeepers Association will resume on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 7:00 P.M. The meeting location is the AgCentral Farmers Cooperative located at 920 Congress Pkwy. N., Athens. You do not need to be a member to attend. The public is always welcome.

Monroe County Friends of Animals wishes to remind you that January is “Unchain a Dog” Month. Dogs tethered for long periods can suffer from numerous health issues, both physical and psychological, such as boredom, loneliness, depression, and even aggression. As the cold winter persists, we urge you to bring your dogs indoors where they can stay warm, safe, and part of the family.

Indivisible:

How To Form Your New Indivisible Group

So you’ve decided to start a local group dedicated to making your electeds and your community aware of the local opposition to the MAGA agenda. Awesome. Thank you. We need you. This might be a subgroup of an existing activist group or a new effort — it really depends on your circumstances. Start where people are: if you’re in a group with a lot of people who want to do this kind of thing, then start there; if you’re not, you’ll need to find them somewhere else. The most important thing is that this is a LOCAL group. Your band of heroes is focused on applying local pressure, which means you all need to be local.

Here are five recommendations as you pull your new group together:

1. Identify co-founders. Identify a few additional co-founders who are interested in participating and recruiting others. Ideally, these are people who have social networks that do not overlap too much with your own so that you can maximize your reach. Make an effort to ensure that the group's leadership reflects the diversity of opposition to Trump.

2. Email your contacts, post to your social networks, and let your group chats know. Actively let folks know that you’re starting a volunteer Indivisible group for folks in the area looking to counter Trump and MAGA's coming threat. 

3. Invite everyone who has expressed interest to an in-person kickoff meeting. Use this meeting to agree on a name, principles for your group, roles for leadership, a way of communicating, and a strategy for your electeds and community (use Ch.2 to help!). Rule of thumb: 50% of the people who said they are definitely coming will attend your meeting. Aim high! See below for more thoughts on how to run that kickoff meeting. Don’t overthink your principles or objectives, as these are things that need to evolve over time. Some groups spend hours mulling over a mission statement that they dutifully ignore. You have too much real work to do to spend that much time on this. On the other hand, every now and then, it is a good idea to have a group meeting to refresh your raison d’etre. 

4. Register the group here so we can get you on the map. This is a people-powered movement, and we’re strongest when there are more of us. Your life will be easier and your group more powerful if you create a welcoming, fun space, with opportunities for people to invest their own skills and expertise into managing, growing, and leading the group. 

5. Have fun. Seriously. If this is a drag, people won’t do it. Indivisible groups started nearly a decade ago and are still going -- not just out of a commitment to democracy but because of the warm, supportive, fun environment they became for like-minded folks. Fighting fascism is serious enough -- our community spaces to organize against fascism should make us feel happy, challenged, proud, supported, and loved -- not judged, less than, controlled, insignificant, or unwelcome. 

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Coalition Calendar: (click on the calendar)