Many people become passionate about a cause when they are personally affected by a particular event or incident.The Newtown Bee that she was amazed at the voter turnout. While chatting with a friend who recently relocated to Michigan from Brookfield, Ms Ondak learned that her friend had become very engaged in the voter registration movement in the Detroit area.lwvnfc@gmail.com.

For Newtown resident Andrea Ondak, it was the 2016 Presidential Election outcome that spurred her to not only get involved with the League of Women Voters, but to support reactivating a defunct chapter of the national civics and political education organization in her own home town.

As a result of her participation in the League of Women Voters of Northern Fairfield County, Newtown has become the latest town to be included in that regional chapter. Ms Ondak, along with LWVNFC Chapter President Judith Griemsmann, are hoping that more Newtown residents will become involved along with like-minded women, and men, who hail from other member towns.

Thinking back to the days following last November's election, Ms Ondak tole 

"So she urged me to get involved in that sort of thing going forward," Ms Ondak said. "So I went to the internet to look for the league that I knew had been active in Newtown for years, only to discover that it had closed its doors in 1999."

A couple of clicks further brought her to the next closest active chapter serving several neighboring communities in Northern Fairfield County.

"I sent an e-mail off to them and began going to meetings this past January. Then I became a member," she said. "I'm primarily interested in voter services, like going out into communities and trying to register new voters or help people update registrations who may not know how to do that."

Ms Ondak admits she is not from a particularly political family, but she remembers while growing up in western New York State that her mother used to occasionally go to LWV activities.

"She liked to go to things like debates, but I never tagged along," she said. "I started voting as soon as I could, but I was never really interested beyond that level of engagement - I was never a person who closely followed politics. I wouldn't call myself a keen student of the political process, especially what's become of it more lately. So I don't consider myself a typical League member."

But that did not stop Ms Ondak from becoming fast friends with Northern Fairfield County chapter members who are.

"There are a number of members of this chapter who are impressively knowledgeable about it, so it's been a good education for me so far," she said.

Lacking a deep background in political education, Ms Ondak said she does not consider herself the person to lead a League of Women Voters chapter in Newtown, but she is pleased that the regional chapter decided to bring Newtown into the fold.

"I did track down a contact who was active in the Newtown League who now lives in West Virginia, and after she left Newtown she continued to be active in League chapters. We talked about what happened locally and came to the conclusion that many of the most active members had either moved or passed away, and a newer group of interested people has not stepped up," Ms Ondak said. "I think it may have a lot to do with the demographic shifts - so many people are involved with other activities, schools, and their kids."

If a number of willing residents do come forward, Ms Ondak believes an eventual reactivation of the Newtown LWV chapter is in the cards. In the short term, she does not see a lot of LWV activities happening ahead of this November's municipal election, but hopes enough residents get interested that league activities could ramp up significantly in 2018.

She has obtained the last good mailing list of former Newtown LWV members, and will combine doing some outreach to them with getting in touch with others through established organizations like Women Involved in Newtown (WIN), and other local Women's Clubs.

Newtown Bee Candidates Forum on October 24 at Edmond Town Hall.

Ms Ondak and regional LWV members are also interested in having a presence at the upcoming 

The Newtown Bee that she grew up in a home where current events were a frequent subject of conversation. She studied US History as a major, and went on to teach US History and American government at the high school level.

Ms Griemsmann told 

The Danbury resident said that a former regional chapter serving her community and Bethel also disbanded a few years ago, and relaunched what is now the Northern Fairfield County Chapter in March 2016.

"We were originally launched serving Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, and Sherman. And we added Newtown officially this past summer, due to the fact that Andrea was coming to our meetings, and was very enthusiastic," Ms Griemsmann said. "So we thought the best way to reactivate interest about the League in Newtown, and maybe at some point reactivate Newtown's own League, was to bring the community into our regional league."

Currently that group has a core group of about 15 highly active members, and circulates a chapter e-notifier to about three dozen people, she said.

"Currently we meet monthly, the second Wednesday, at 7 pm, in Warner Hall at WestConn's downtown Danbury campus," she said.

In fall 2016, the chapter dug right in, hosting candidate forums of its own, which included the only Fifth Congressional District debate featuring incumbent Elizabeth Esty and challenger Clay Copes, with about 220 attendees and a number of media outlets covering.

"Now we're setting up candidate events in our towns, and we're planning a League study," she said. "The league is nonpartisan, but we do want to see as many people voting as possible, and we also want those people to be informed voters. So we want to plan activities to educate voters about the issues, and about what people running for office think about the issues. So we will be doing a study about education funding in the state and how it affects the towns we serve, and its ramifications."

The study will involve talking with regional school superintendents, political leaders, members of Boards of Education, and others engaged in the issue of education funding.

Adult LWV members are asked to cover annual dues of $30, and Ms Griemsmann is in the process of setting a deeply discounted rate for students. To learn more, Ms Griemsmann invites interested adults and students to come to one of the regional chapter meetings, or reach her at

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