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April Showers and the Early May Ask

I wanted to be sure I was telling the truth, so I waited for Marlise to confirm my math: again, for the second month in a row, we hit Goal in Partnering with our Community Organizations. The final numbers will be in the Weekly Newsletter, so you can see how much each org received, but I cannot stop grinning–the overall goal was met, and our impact will be felt.

This is beginning to be one of my very favorite things.

I hate Asks!

But I love Thank You’s!!

Two years ago, if someone had told me we would be learning on-the-ground object lessons in stark disparities, white entitlement storming Statehouses, and rapid response, I would have laughed.

Yet, here we are. In a pandemic that is currently ravaging us all, but disproportionately in Black and brown communities; under stay in place orders which protect some more than others, and heroic workers; medical personnel, grocery workers; civil servants and others who work and serve at great risk to themselves and their families.

If you had told me that not a month after I attended a conference populated by homeschoolers, that virtually all parents would now be deputized teachers, whether or not they had the high speed internet or the latest computers or the emotional bandwidth or the time to teach with focused attention, I would have smirked. Yet, again, here we are, learning lessons, with or without formal lesson plans; with or without Zoom.

And our children are learning other lessons not codified in a PowerPoint.

They are learning who our leaders are. They are learning who really is essential. They are learning the value and dignity of every kind of work. They are learning who the ‘Makers’ truly are.

And they are learning who we are. They are learning if we wave at our elderly neighbor from a safe distance, as we value and protect her fragile immune system, or if we flock outside with no consideration for who will bear the ramifications of our actions.

They are learning the difference between ‘fearful of‘ and ‘fearful for‘, and how these two stances are radically different; one engendering a hardening of the lips and a narrowing of the eyes; the other softening the face and creasing the forehead with care and concern.

They are learning a deep lesson about our country, and about the families they find themselves in.

This is will be over; who knows when. And when we look back we will be changed. Of that there is no question.

The only query that matters is, how, just exactly how, we will change.

We are all about change here. Studied change. Intentional change. Internal change.

That ultimately enables and drives world change.

So Thanks.

For April Showers. And for the blooming that May will bring.

I ask you to help me water and nurture our communal orange trees, even as you each nurture your own trees, and the trees of others we will never see.

I am humbly and explicitly asking for your financial engagement with Lace on Race of the month of May. As with last month, I would quietly love to get to Basic Budget as soon as possible so that we can then pivot to our all new Community Partners. Last month, we achieved that Pivot in nine days, and then we focused on engaging outside our walls.

Sustainers, if you have not yet fulfilled your commitment, please do so; and as always, my thanks.

If you are not a Sustainer, and would like to be, please fill out the form below; our Admin staff can walk you through it.

But it is by no means necessary to be a Sustainer to live out this important part of your praxis. This form of engagement ensures that LoR will be here for the long haul; allows us to offer our staff a richly deserved, though minimal stipend, and to compensate outside writers.

I cannot believe what we have done together. If we continue the trend of March and April with our new Org Partners, it will be amazing.

Be on the lookout for our new Partners for the month of May. We have discussed and vetted each of them, so you can be confident that your engagement will go to good use.

Every month I am so blessed to continue to walk with all of you. Sometimes it takes my breath away; what you have allowed me to do and be for you all.

We need to keep walking, now more than ever.

With deep love,

Your Lace

Sustainer Form:

https://forms.gle/H6UoFU2XANsmFfAB7

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