As President Donald Trump took over the White House on January 20, many Eugeneans and people across the nation started to stand up and join together, forming activist groups and hitting the streets. On the No Kings Day protest June 14, approximately 10,000 people joined together marching through Eugene. Ongoing protests are taking place around town all week long, and people are marching, holding signs and meeting people with shared wishes. 

You may wonder where those signs are coming from, or how people make them. Some signs are painted, printed or made using materials that stand out, such as flags and balloons. 

Rogene Manas, a member of the Eugene Message Makers, spends her Wednesdays at a table at MECCA, Materials Exchange Center For the Community Arts. Eugene Message Makers are a group of women volunteering to help people make signs for protests and activism. They provide free supplies including paints, brushes and paper for people coming in to make protest posters. 

“Some of us can’t necessarily go to protest because of health and other reasons,” Manas says, “but we want to be part of it and support.”

All the supplies are through donations. Manas says that some women in the group have special paper that work well for signs. She and her colleagues at Eugene Message Makers make signs and bring them out to protests to give out as well. 

On a recent Wednesday, Yonah Riel, another Eugene Message Makers member, was painting a sign reading, “Supreme Court Supreme Betrayal. We Welcome All…” 

She also began engaging in activism in the time since Trump took office. 

Manas and Riel say that they expect more people to come to MECCA to work on signs prior to major protests.

Protest sign making is 11 am to 1 pm Wednesdays at MECCA, 555 High Street. Paint up to four signs for a donation of $5 to $10.