Nine women inspired by last month's Women's March met last Monday at the home of Old Lyme Realtor Julia Rathkey to discuss what they could do to make a difference.

They talked about protecting the environment, ensuring adherence to LGBT rights and getting more women elected to government positions. Some are making plans to help Syrian refugees who have settled in the region, as well as the homeless population.

Two days earlier, 23 women and men gathered at another "huddle" at the Human Services Building in Stonington. They plan to stage a rally at the IRS building in New London to demand that President Donald J. Trump release his tax returns, according to the organizer, Ellie Corey.

In coming weeks, a newly formed group called Rise Up Mystic will hold a rally at the Velvet Mill in Stonington in defense of immigrants. Another group, called We Stand Together, is planning a rally in New London on the Affordable Care Act.

Grass-roots activism is on the rise in the Trump era, and social media is enabling organizers to mobilize a wide audience quickly. The "huddle" meetings are part of a specific action plan set out by organizers of the Jan. 21 Women's March in Washington, D.C., and around the world. As of Friday, 5,197 huddles had taken place across the country, according to the Women's March website.

"I thought voting was active enough, but that is not true anymore," said Corey, 51, the daughter of a political scientist. "I think what's required now is to make sure lawmakers know when you support them and when you don't."

Much of the new grass-roots activism centers around opponents of Trump and his administration's policies, though many who are taking part are uncomfortable that the country is so divided.

"The consensus from the meeting was that we need to reach out to Trump supporters and understand their perspective more rather than just being filled with anger," said Rathkey, organizer of the Old Lyme huddle.

She said there would always be "fringe" groups, but "we need to do something to bring people together."

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said in a phone interview this week that he has never seen this level of communication from constituents. Since Trump was inaugurated in January, his office has been "overwhelmed" with phone calls, emails and letters, Murphy said.

"It's so important," he said. "What President Trump is doing is reckless and hateful and not what's best for our country. The fact that this movement is organizing and it's got staying power will help us to fight back."

Murphy said he has been trying to show constituents he is fighting the Trump agenda "with every ounce of my being" and he's making himself available on weekends, when he returns to Connecticut, to let people know they are being heard.

"I met with teachers about (Secretary of Education) Betsy DeVos," he said. "I met with environmentalists on the threat to the climate. I met with dreamers (young immigrants) on the immigration order."

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said it has been "all hands on deck" for the 18 staff members and four interns that work in his office. They organize issue groups to respond to writers, many of whom are sharing personal stories along with their concerns about a myriad of policy issues, including public education, the appointment of Steve Bannon as Trump's top aide and problems at the National Security Agency, Courtney said. Constituents also are anxious about the Trump administration's plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"Our Facebook and social media has really stepped up in terms of trying to share information," Courtney said. About 80,000 people now subscribe to a weekly e-newsletter that his office publishes, he said, and thousands of people have been calling in to participate in his "telephone town hall" meetings. 

"It's an historic time to be here," the six-term congressman said.

Courtney said he's seen other periods of intense constituent participation, including in 2008, when the government bailed out financial institutions through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the two-year period around the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act.

'People are waking up'

The new activism is not limited to the older adults who have been attending huddle group meetings and postcard parties, organizing rallies and suggesting daily action items on their Facebook pages.

East Lyme High School history teacher Rose Ann Hardy, also a longtime Democratic selectwoman, said that in her 50 years as an educator, she has never seen students so excited to be involved. One group attended a Bernie Sanders rally during the election season, she said. Others have gone to debates in the area, and to the Women's March. Some are Trump supporters, some supported Sanders and others wanted Hillary Clinton to be elected, she said.

"If anything positive came out of this, it's that people are waking up and paying attention," Hardy said. "It's been helpful the kind of communication we have been able to have online. It's more prevalent than it was four years ago."

Students in her Contemporary Issues course belong to chat groups where they get together online or by cellphone to keep one another informed, she said. In the past, students had limited access even to their student friends, with just one or two telephone lines in their homes. Now they can sit in their beds at 2 a.m. and correspond with friends, and their parents have no idea, she said.

One of Hardy's students, senior Emily Bohmbach, said she registered to vote for Sanders in the primary and even before she was 18 she drove up to New Hampshire with a group of friends to attend a Sanders rally. The group ended up being called onto the stage and appearing on Good Morning America, she said.

She liked Sanders' overall message — "He was honest and kind and different" — but environmental issues are No. 1 for Bohmbach, who plans to attend Colorado State next year to study biology in a program for those preparing to become physician's assistants.

Bohmbach did not stop participating after Sanders lost the nomination. In January, she and her mother, Michelle, a registered nurse at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, attended the Women's March along with an aunt.

She carried a sign with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"I still keep up with what Trump does on a daily basis," she said. "I don't believe anything he has done so far has been right. I was against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and right away he signed to revive that."

k.florin@theday.com