Mel Allbright opened her Arizona home to Jama Adams for five weeks before the 2024 election, not because she's a professional organizer, but because she believes in showing up for people.
Mel Allbright opened her Arizona home to Jama Adams for five weeks before the 2024 election, not because she's a professional organizer, but because she believes in showing up for people. A retired Kyrene School District professional and baseball coach, she and her husband Al, an Air Force veteran, embody grassroots democracy: meaningful welcome, homemade meals, looking out for each other at rallies, and maintaining relationships across political divides. We talk about respecting differences and meaningful dialogue, bridging divides, and the joy of 'finding our people.' Through Mel's story, we discover how small acts of care sustain movements, why respect means standing against bullies, and how eight years of community building in Serbia enabled people to stand together against Milosevic. Strong communities built on trust and care are how we get through tough times, together.
Mel and Jama's shared philosophy:
"You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it." —Maya Angelou
• How hospitality becomes organizing: The small generosities that sustained a movement
• Connecting across political divides through shared humanity
• Looking out for each other at rallies: Mel's gift for keeping energy up and making sure everyone feels cared for
• Standing against bullies: Why respect matters in leadership
• Quiet resistance: Republicans like Al who voted their conscience without public confrontation
• The Milosevic example: How eight years of community building created enough trust that people stood together when it mattered most
• Living the Maya Angelou principle: Using anger productively without becoming bitter
• The joy of finding our people in challenging times
While Mel created joyful, welcoming spaces at rallies, she also maintains something remarkable in her everyday life: genuine relationships with people across deep political divides. When someone attacked Mel on Facebook, her defenders came from both sides of the aisle: "Wait, have you even met her? Back off, she's a great person!" This is what community built on trust and care looks like: relationships strong enough to protect you even when you say brave things.
In Serbia, when Milosevic tried to steal the election, it was eight years of community building that paid off. People had built enough trust that when the moment came to stand up together, they did. They challenged him as a united community even when things got intimidating. Mel's everyday practice of building relationships now, across divides, with care and trust, creates the foundation for communities to stand together when democracy needs defending.
Mel Allbright spent over 24 years with Kyrene School District in Arizona. Before that, she was a Lead Document Specialist at BP, held positions at Alaska Airlines, and has had jobs across the spectrum, including bread truck driver, experiences that taught her how to connect with all kinds of people. Now retired, she and her husband Al (a Navy veteran and longtime volunteer umpire) are beloved in their community as baseball coaches who've spent decades building relationships across divides. When Mel opened her home to organizer Jama Adams for five weeks before the 2024 election, she demonstrated what grassroots democracy looks like, with welcome messages, homemade meals, and genuine relationships built on shared humanity. Her gift for connecting across political divides shows the joy of finding our people in challenging times.
