As voters across the country experience accelerating bouts of whiplash, particularly since President Trump's early-Friday announcement via Twitter that he and the first lady are among the alarming number of Republican elected officials and staff to have tested positive for Covid-19, those on the South Fork have an opportunity to support their preferred candidates and at the same time good causes.
Ron Fisher, who owns Fisher Signs & Shirts in Southampton, is offering yard signs for the candidates for president and vice president as well as those seeking to represent New York's First Congressional District. He donates the proceeds to the Butterfly Effect Project, a nonprofit organization based in Riverhead that seeks to empower and guide girls to emotionally stable and self-confident futures, and the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays.
Mr. Fisher, a Southampton native, explained the accidental origin of his involvement in the 2020 political campaigns. Indivisible North Fork, which according to its Facebook page is "dedicated to stopping Donald Trump's dangerous and authoritarian agenda" and has a "focus on resisting the agenda of our Congressman Lee Zeldin," sought yard signs from the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris. But the national campaign, Mr. Fisher said, is not supplying signs freely to those in blue states that the Democrats expect to win. (Yard signs cost $25 at joebiden.com, his campaign's official website.)
Indivisible North Fork turned to Fisher Signs & Shirts and held a fund-raiser, proceeds from which allowed them to purchase 250 yard signs, which they sell for $10. "They said, 'Would you sell some out of your store for our members on the South Fork?' " Mr. Fisher recalled. "I said yes." He displayed the corrugated plastic signs, which he also sells for $10, in and outside his store.
But one customer noted a lack of signs for the president's re-election campaign. "What about if I happen to support Trump?" Mr. Fisher said he was asked. "Why don't you have mine?"
No one ordered any, was the reply.
"They said, 'You're selling these, why not Trump signs, too?' Good point. Though I don't really support him for president, I thought, how can I spin this into a positive?"
The best way to do that, Mr. Fisher said, was to offer signs for every political stripe, "no question asked, all monies donated to charities of my choice." Alongside his store, on County Road 39, are signs for the Biden-Harris campaign, the Trump re-election campaign, Mr. Zeldin's re-election campaign, and that of Mr. Zeldin's Democratic challenger, Nancy Goroff.
The coronavirus pandemic has not negatively impacted Mr. Fisher's business, he said. "That's why we have a little extra to give to charity and help others." Offering these specialty items, he said, "is a way for us to fill a need without taking a side, and to benefit charities. That was the goal of this."
As of Tuesday, Indivisible North Fork had purchased a total of 425 signs for Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. Mr. Fisher had sold 30 signs for those candidates and seven more for Ms. Goroff, raising $370 for the aforementioned beneficiaries.
"To date," he said, "we still have not sold a Trump sign or a Zeldin sign."
