Dear valued and respected clients, colleagues, and friends,
Taking in the news recently has been incredibly difficult, made worse by the helplessness many of us feel.
Our hearts break for the people of Haiti, the world’s first black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state, as they face natural disaster yet again –not one, but two.
The human suffering we watch unfolding in real time in Afghanistan is almost unbearable.
The tremendous loss inflicted on the victims of the “once in a thousand years” flood in Tennessee is agonizing.
And it continues — we had to revise this email blast when Louisiana was hit with the third major hurricane since August 2020.
In the background to these specific events is the ever-lurking stress and frustration of being forced out of a few delicious months of tasting Normal Times (almost, anyway) and back into definitely “Abnormal Times.”
We humans are social beings, designed to care for one another. It is excruciating to bear witness to each others suffering at such levels. Feeling like there’s nothing we can do to help can make it nearly unendurable.
But every one of us can help!
Not all of us are superheroes, like Alicia Kae Miller, founder of our client, Empathy Uprise, who deploys with the Red Cross to assist survivors of natural disasters (and is in Baton Rouge at this moment in response to Hurricane Ida). But:
Each one of us can make a difference.
Together, we can make change. (Barbara Mikulski)
Together, our donations of money and/or time can help change the lives of those who so desperately need a safe, secure future. Here are just a few suggestions:
Afghanistan Refugees
No One Left Behind
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (seeking volunteers as well as donations)
Committee to Protect Journalists
International Refugee Assistance Project
Mercy Corps
Women for Women International
Women for Afghan Women
Afghan Journalists Safety Committee
Haiti
Save the Children
Team Rubicon
Doctors Without Borders
Americares
International Relief Teams
Direct Relief
Project HOPE
Haitian Health Foundation
Tennessee
Tennessee Emergency Response Fund
Community Resource Center wishlist
Mercy Chefs
Hurricane Ida in Louisiana
American Red Cross
World Central Kitchen
All Hearts and Hands
Americares
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Doctors Without Borders
World Health Organization
UNICEF
Doctors Without Borders
Direct Relief