Steve Dodge has a simple question.
If you could do something to make your community better, what would it be?
On Friday, Dodge and his “Do Something Tour” stopped in Augusta at Hildebrandt’s to ask a few people that question as well as get information about their community.
“About a year and a half ago, people were joining my show, and people were feeling overwhelmed and anxious and stressed out and, I just offhandedly said, ‘Can’t we just all do something to make our neighbors feel happy, or can we shovel a driveway or mow a lawn or volunteer in a community?’ I mean it’s taken a life of its own,” said Dodge, a content creator from Vermont who start his Do Something Tour in California at the beginning of October with a goal of ending up in Washington, D.C. on election day.
He’s been posting content along the way and plans to compile his interviews into a documentary.
On his Friday stop, he spoke with several people including Tom Robertson, Luanne Hildebrandt and Leonard Porkchop Zimmerman.
“What started as an idea to get involved in democracy, to stay engaged, to stay community connected, turned into this tour,” Dodge said.
When finished the tour will cover about 6,000 miles and 15 states.
He’s met people from all walks of life on the tour, he said.
“It has really turned into more of an inspirational thing for me,” he said. “It’s realizing that there is so much more that connects us than divides us and that we live in a beautiful country. We have a lot of things that we have to fix. There are a lot of communities that are underserved, minority communities, marginalized groups, the homeless the disabled, the LGBTQIA community, black and brown people, immigrants, women, we’re all in this fight together,” he said.\
Robertson said Dodge asked him questions about Augusta, but for the magic question, Roberson said that he quoted Lord Robert Baden Powell who founded the Boy Scouts and charged people to leave places better than they found them.
Zimmerman, who is known for the Happy campaign, said Dodge asked about the importance of the arts.
“I didn’t go into detail, but the arts basically saved my life,” he said.
And when asked what Zimmerman would do to make the community better, he spoke about the origins of Happy which came during an election cycle and a simple poster of a robot with the word “Happy”.
Dodge said he’s been inspired along his journey by people who have asked that question and answered it by action. Learn more on Instagram @TheDoSomethingTour.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here
