‘We have to go out and touch people’: how activism is tackling the US loneliness epidemic

Most people join social movements to try to change the world, but many also find community and a greater sense of purpose

When Lani Ritter Hall's beloved husband of more than 40 years, Gus, died in 2022, she felt a bit unmoored. Taking care of him had been the thing that got her out of bed in the morning, and with him gone, the 76-year-old felt she'd lost her purpose.

That is, until she found organizing.