Freedom Rally organizer uses bi-weekly events to unite his cause

September 8, 2022 · 0 Comments

Written By Brian Lockhart

Jeremy Glass knows that some people are opposed to his ideology – and they show it by yelling and occasionally delivering disagreeing hand gestures.

Glass is one of the organizers of a freedom rally that takes place twice a month in front of Shelburne Town Hall, protesting against vaccine mandates for COVID-19.

While he knows some people don’t agree with him and there are others who support the rally, he decided they could still do some good that will be supported by everyone, through donating to the food bank.

“I started the Freedom Rally here in town,” Glass said. “I went to Ottawa and did the truck rally there as well. I came back to my hometown and decided to do a Freedom Rally every two weeks. It’s for all of us. Our numbers are growing lately, substantially. The people we have out there are nurses, teachers, and people who have lost their jobs. We thought we should start doing donations for the food bank. Our support grows from the community, and so does our opposition. It’s a very controversial cause.”

Glass said that he has had some complaints from nearby business owners about the noise from the rallies, but he tried to turn that around by encouraging people to pay a visit to those businesses after the rally and spend some money.

He said that last thing he wants to do is harm local business.

“We’re here to help our community,” Glass said. “We want to help businesses open. They won’t survive another lockdown.”

He got the idea to start collecting for the Food Bank since people would be arriving at the same place during the rallies.

“This is one cause that everyone can agree on right now – that we’re all heading into rough times with the shortage of food and what is going on with our government,” Glass said. “My main thing is, we want to show people that we are regular people, we don’t hate anybody.”

People have been generous and he fills up his pickup truck with food at the end of the rally and brings it to the Food Bank.

“My main reason for doing this is, it’s a good cause, and to show that we are regular people who care about the same causes that they do. We’re nurses, we’re teachers, we’re roofers, I’m a roofer myself. We leave our differences at home, when collecting for the food bank. The government considers us radicals with unacceptable views.”

Glass and his associate Mike Post brought a large donation from the latest rally to the Food Bank on Sept. 1.

The next Freedom Rally is scheduled for Sept. 10. There will be a counter-protest held at the same time, which will also act as Shelburne’s first Pride rally. People who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and allies are welcome to attend. Signs are encouraged.