“I wanted to be there to show solidarity,” said Russell in an interview Sunday evening with The Huffington Post as she was driving through New Hampshire. “I’m coming because if the levees break in Madison, everyone gets flooded.”

Russell has been raising money through her website for the trip, which includes providing protesters with hot chocolate, coffee and hand-warmers — cold-weather necessities for standing outside for hours in Wisconsin. She said that she had raised more than $1,000 in total. She is also tweeting and posting updates about her trip.

In an e-mail to her supporters she made clear that she believes what Walker is doing doesn’t have anything to do with closing a budget gap. “This war isn’t about the unions: it’s a class war,” she wrote. “This affects every worker and every member of the Middle Class — what’s left of it.”