We may tend to be a little over the top in appreciating folks on this mail list. Truth is, though, every day we are reminded to be thankful for smart, caring people who step up to serve our communities, and for those who do all they can to bring them together across interests and perspective to get to know each other and endeavor together to make the best of things.
It’s a joy, privilege and humbling honor to know you.
What’s more, over the course of writing this newsletter we have become evermore aware that, despite years spent learning about and connecting the helpers of Long Island, we only know a tiny fraction of the good folks all around us who go out of their way, every day, to make this world a better place.
This is good news.
Over the past few weeks, our gratitude has surged as we see you folks give it your best to provide good information, to urge folks to calmly and collectively take this situation seriously from a multitude of angles, to help each other navigate a million tough decisions, and to keep in mind the myriad ways people and organizations will be physically, economically and emotionally impacted by the current situation.
You are advocates, artists and spiritual leaders. Small business owners, leaders within larger enterprises, influencers and decision makers. Teachers, scientists, caregivers, and a full range of service providers.
While we know this is a time when some of the most intelligent, caring stewards of our communities feel the most powerless please know:
YOU ARE A GIFT. LONG ISLAND IS BLESSED TO HAVE YOU. EVERY THOUGHTFUL, LOVING ENDEAVOR YOU ARE UNDERTAKING MATTERS. THANK YOU.
Above all, we are beyond grateful for the health care workers and emergency service providers who are not only facing this thing down from where they are now, but stepping up to get back into service where they might be needed. For teachers who up until last Friday kept going into school every day to help prepare our children, and who now are scrambling to prepare for a roll out of learning methods that make the Common Core launch look easy and well-managed; for the professors who are trying to figure out how to keep the lectures going and standing up for so many students they know are being pulled in more directions than they can fathom. For the parents and the business owners figuring out what to do with those they are responsible for.
For the cashiers, transit workers, pharmacists and millions of other service-oriented folks we take for granted every day who have spent the last few weeks being a new kind of hero.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
Like just about everything it seems, the plans we had for this edition suddenly changed. We figure the best we can do is offer a rundown of resources we’ve come across that are relevant to the current situation..
As always, this is but a sampling of people and organizations that we are blessed to have some personal familiarity with. We invite you to use it as a resource and an inspiration to seek out others.
Let us know what’s going on and of other items worth sharing. Together, we will all get through this. As we do, we will regularly update our Facebook Page
We are grateful for all the good you do.
It matters. Deeply.
Thank you.
