Elder Power

The picture of a stereotypical activist is usually someone young, perhaps a student. But older folks also want to change the world for the better, and many have more time in which to do it. They bring decades of knowledge and lived experience—a boon to many causes. These three activists came to organizing work later in life and are putting their experience to good use in the name of social change. 

Lani Ritter Hall

Advisory Board, Third Act

Lani Ritter Hall’s husband of 40 years passed away in September 2021. The following spring, someone in the Supreme Court leaked the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which would overturn Roe v. Wade. Ritter Hall, whose husband was African American, recognized that constitutional protections for interracial and same-sex marriage were built on the same foundations as the court’s landmark ruling, which had protected abortion rights for nearly 50 years.

“I decided then I couldn’t stand by,” Ritter Hall says. 

She had read about Third Act, the new organization founded by climate activist Bill McKibben, devoted to organizing people age 60 and up, and decided to take part in a day of action.

She hadn’t been particularly cognizant of environmental issues, but on March 21, 2023, she found herself marching through downtown Cleveland to demonstrate in front of a Chase bank.

“I was amazed,” she says. “I was like, I’m really doing this.”

Being on the scene, handing out literature, feeling like she was making a difference… she was sold—on activism, and Third Act’s mission specifically.

Ritter Hall is a retired teacher in the Cleveland Municipal School District; she also created materials and led online training courses for educators’ professional development. 

“Some of those skills in online communities are ones I’ve been able to bring into Third Act,” she says. “That’s what’s so incredible. Everyone brings unique talents.”

Thanks to her skill and enthusiasm, Ritter Hall was tapped for Third Act’s advisory board, alongside Hip Hop Caucus CEO Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., author Rebecca Solnit, and longtime progressive activist Heather Booth. 

The biggest takeaway from Ritter Hall’s activism so far has been the sense of hope among activists trying to halt and reverse climate change: “We have to believe that we can make a difference, and we have to do that together.”

Maya Bairey

“Tech Granny,” Portland Raging Grannies

Maya Bairey’s turning point came when she turned 50 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was looking to be part of something bigger. She and her husband have always been very liberal, especially around LGBTQ rights and gender equity—she is bisexual—and neither of them are, as she puts it, “fans of billionaires and wealth inequality.”

“Mostly we limited ourselves to complaining,” Bairey says. “We didn’t think action could do much.”

But when George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis cop in May 2020, Bairey looked for groups taking action in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. 

“Suddenly we were living in the middle of protests,” she says. “We would go outside and join and see.”

It was an invigorating experience; Good for the kids! she thought, watching the powerful demonstrations. But that feeling soon evolved into a desire for more direct involvement—she wanted to feel that collective voice and agency firsthand.

She discovered the local chapter of the Raging Grannies, which, despite the name, doesn’t require members to be literal grandmothers, or even female (just be over 50). The Grannies staged a funeral march during protests against Floyd’s murder, dressed in black mourning clothes and carrying a cardboard coffin as they marched slowly through downtown Portland.

The act got media attention for its offbeat nature, as Bairey, who has a marketing and communications background, knew it would. That’s their goal. The Grannies—a decentralized international network of local chapters, called “gaggles”—show up to actions wearing frilly clothes, for example, to help draw attention to a cause. They do this in solidarity with actions for racial justice, protests against refineries, or unionization drives at Starbucks.

But Bairey realized the Raging Grannies needed more effective messaging—both among themselves and with the public.

“I come from a corporate background, and I could see that communications were a problem,” she says. “I said, ‘I know how to help you here.’”

The cliche that old people don’t understand technology isn’t true, she says—only a minority fit that description. But the Grannies did need the help of someone who knew how to optimize their use of technology. Bairey helped redesign the group’s website, facilitated coordination with other groups, and revamped their meeting tools. Other gaggles have recognized the Portland chapter as being one with highly active members and good outreach, she says.

As more Grannies age into the group, Bairey is confident that the trend will continue.

“I’m the first tech granny,” she says,” but I won’t be the last.”

Margaret Heldring

Founder, Grandmothers Against Gun Violence

Margaret Heldring’s change came about in 2012, after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Though she lived in the Seattle area, far from the event itself, she was collectively grieving the horrific event with three friends.

“We realized we were all the grandmothers of 5- or 6-year-olds, and it could have been our grandchildren,” Heldring says.

Deciding together to do something, the group set out to email friends, and Grandmothers Against Gun Violence was born.

The group’s membership rapidly grew to about 1,000 strong, mostly centered around the Seattle area. The group kept most of its efforts local, but took its work seriously, incorporating as a 501(c)(4) to take political action and a 501(c)(3) to facilitate fundraising.

Heldring, who was working as a clinical psychologist, says that the intent also was “recognizing that just because we were elders did not mean we did not have a voice, life experience, a wish to shape legacy, skills, time, and in some cases resources to provide toward an important cause.”

“We had confidence that the stage of life that we were in was valuable and could bring something,” she says.

The group’s first goal was to pass legislation restricting assault weapons in Washington state, which Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law in April 2023, making Washington the 10th state to do so. Heldring doesn’t claim full credit, as dozens of groups have lobbied for the ban over the years. But Heldring and other Grandmothers have testified before the Washington legislature every year for the past decade to help the ban reach the governor’s desk. 

The group’s second goal was to fund research that broke new ground. (For many years, using federal funds to do research on gun violence was prohibited by an act of Congress that was only lifted in 2018.) The group looked for talented academics, such as graduate students mentored by Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, a nationally known gun violence researcher in the University of Washington School of Public Health. To date, Heldring’s organization has raised close to $200,000 to fund specific research projects. 

Moving forward, the Grandmothers’ path includes showcasing and working with more groups founded by or focused on people of color, in recognition of the disproportionate impact gun violence has on communities of color. They will also continue campaigning to elect candidates working to reduce gun violence. 

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Chris Winters is a senior editor at YES!, where he specializes in covering democracy and the economy. Chris has been a journalist for more than 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the Seattle area. He’s covered everything from city council meetings to natural disasters, local to national news, and won numerous awards for his work. He is based in Seattle, and speaks English and Hungarian.

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