Gloria Hudson volunteers her time at the Pelham Senior Center and has never considered herself very politically active.

However, she and her husband of four years, Dick Paxton, ventured to Hoover Thursday afternoon “because we wanted to see what a Tea Party was like.”

Hudson, Paxton and hundreds of others – many of them politicians seeking support of voters – were at Hoover’s Veterans Park for a Tea Party, organized by the Birmingham Rainy Day Patriots group.

Similar events were held around Alabama and across the country Thursday.

“The whole thing just makes me sick,” Hudson said. “I don’t know how three people can take over a whole country.”

Hudson said the three to which she referred are President Obama, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed – all Democrats.

“I’ve never been politically active, but I’ve been a Republican all my life. I voted for George Bush,” Hudson said.

Her immediate concern is health care.

“When you’re a senior citizen, that’s very scary,” she said.

Michael Petruzella, 12, is far from a senior citizen, but the Berry Middle School student is just as concerned as Hudson about President Obama’s leadership and where the country is headed under the control of Democrats.

Petruzella joined his mother, Denia, at Thursday’s Tea Party in Hoover. He carried around a sign proclaiming what he thinks are Obama’s failing grades so far as president.

“I think Obama hasn’t been making the best decisions or spending our money in the best way or appointing the best people to office,” Petruzella said.

Randy Watts, who lives in unincorporated Shelby County, is a new member of the Rainy Day Patriots party and was helping out organizers at Thursday’s event.

“I’ve been getting into politics in the past couple of years. I’m really concerned about where our country is headed and I decided to see what I could do here at home to help.”

Watts said he joined the Rainy Day Patriots group because they “call themselves non-denominational, so to speak. They are all about the constitution.”