63 Magazine - Issue 4

“When I was 14 years old, I was working
in the fields with my mom and my sister
in California picking tomatoes in the heat
for 12 cents a bucket. I look at my mom
and my brothers and sisters, and I don’t
see [what Trump sees]. I see really, really
hard-working people who just want to do
better and want to pay their taxes and want
to make sure that they continue to progress
and give their kids a better life.”
Angel watched Trump denigrate people like
him and instead of getting angry, he did what
all good organizers do—he took action.
It’s not surprising to hear from Angel that he
has a laser-like focus on maintaining strong
relationships with his volunteer leaders.
He realizes how important these leaders
are to electing Hillary as president, so he
constantly thinks of new ways to recognize
their hard work and show them how
appreciative he is.
Angel’s passion and commitment is so
evident, it’s obvious to anyone that speaks
to him that he works almost non-stop
building an organization of empowered local
volunteers.
After applying online and speaking with
Chris Garretty, now his deputy organizing
director, Angel began organizing in an empty
room in Stevens Point. Angel still works in
the same room four months later, but it’s not
so empty anymore.
“I’ve worked as hard as I can locally to
convince people not to vote for Trump.
I want to make sure I continue to work
just as hard so that he doesn’t become
president, and so that we have Hillary
Clinton as our 45th President.”
Relishing the opportunity to build an
organization from scratch, Angel has worked
extremely hard to build relationships with
volunteers in his turf, identifying people
who can take on leadership roles and
working each day to organize himself out of
a job. He’s pretty close to accomplishing just
that—recently, a few of his volunteers have
come to him asking for more responsibility
so they can relieve some of the pressure on
him.
With organizers like Angel on her side,
I know Hillary will be successful this
November. Keep up the great work, Angel!
And thanks for all that you do. Δ