Facebook Publication Date: 7/8/2021 8:07

It’s the beginning of July and time for the Early Ask. It’s Catherine Seaver, and as I sit here thinking about Lace, the leadership team, and the Lace on Race community I’m reminded of the work of weeding, and gardening, and tending that gardens need. Right now I have dirt under my fingernails because I’ve been digging and planting as we visit family in Maine. The flowers are everywhere and there’s more lettuce than anyone knows what to do with… and all of this new growth, all of this possibility requires engagement, it requires my attention. There are weeds and slugs that all need to be removed and just like white supremacy, they keep showing up in our lives unless we are consistently tending.

When I joined Lace on Race and first read about the crucial part of financially engaging I was struck by the different language – the emphasis on intentionally engaging financially, of not using the word donate but instead asking people to delve into the internal work of showing up with their energy, time and resources. Learning again and again how white supremacy is a financial construct has made this part of my praxis all the more important.

Financially engaging each month feels like part of the consistent watering and tending our gardens need.

As we work to lessen and mitigate the harm endured by Black and Brown people, perpetrated by white people (me!) and white supremacy, join me in financially engaging.

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And this brings us to the by-now-familiar boilerplate, which I hope one day will be unnecessary because the Ask itself will be unnecessary:

Very simply, I would like to continue to serve you with my utmost. I thank you in advance for allowing me to do so.

I also thank those of you who have financially engaged without the prompt of the ask, and for those of you who are aware of the shortfall that has been endured post Holly. If you would like to earmark engagement specifically to address that shortfall, you can designate and we will see it, and again, your thanks for your faith in me, in us, and your commitment to our Western Star, even in the midst of adversity.

To Sustainers, Sustainers in Training, those who have registered for the Lace on Race Cafe, and those who aspire to be part of Chef’s Table, thank you in advance for your fulfilling your monthly commitment. It is you all who allow us to serve and influence and mentor and teach and abide. Every month, especially in these recent challenging months, my heart swells because of your continued faithfulness.

For those of you who engage a la carte at the Takeout Window, I hope you have seen and appreciated the value in the fare we offer you and directly invite (and gently and lovingly challenge) you to partner with us.

If you would like to know more about becoming a Sustainer or a Sustainer in Training, or if you would like to be seated in the Bistro, links are below. I look forward to walking with and abiding with you in ever deeper ways.

What we do is different from what you will see anywhere else. What we offer to you is different; and what we ask for and from you is different. We are grateful for you. You will find our walking with you will never waver.

Sometimes it’s hard to say variations of the same thing at least twice a month: but the truth is here every day: what we do here is important and needed; your financial engagement is what allows it to happen, and this: we have only scratched the surface of what could be and what reach we could have.

Thank you to those who are now and or are considering walking with me in this way.

And a candid thank you, and an invitation, to those who are considering re-engagement who have not since February. I hope you have seen our faithfulness to you individually and to the community as a whole. Our faithfulness and resolve will continue; on that you can rest. I look forward to your renewed commitment with anticipation and with deep gratitude and appreciation.
With deep and unshakable Hesed,

Your Lace
PayPal: paypal.me/LaceonRace
Sustainer Form: https://bit.ly/SustainerForm
Sustainer in Training Form: https://bit.ly/SustainerInTrainingForm2021

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