The current refugee/immigrant situation in our country is heartbreaking and appalling and infuriating, if those words were strong enough to describe it, which they are not. I can’t believe we’re choosing to treat people this way. I can’t believe people are ARGUING for it and JUSTIFYING it (as if there were ANY circumstances that would justify treating ANY people that way), instead of briefly imagining themselves and their children as the refugees/immigrants (it is how most of our ancestors arrived in the U.S.; it could happen to us again) and then immediately realizing through the power of empathy that the situation has gone from dicey/unkind to actively inhuman/cruel/evil.
All over the place I see people saying we MUST help, we MUST act, it is immoral NOT to help/act, and I AGREE—and yet, I’m not seeing many ways to FUNNEL these whipped-up feelings into effort except to write to my government representatives and donate money to RAICES and the ACLU and ActBlue Kids and Families at the Border. Those are good things to do, but they feel tepid: they don’t have that ring of HELPING/ACTING I’m looking for and that activists are calling for. The urge, I think, is to go to a camp and take care of the babies, or to sneak food through the camp fences, or to bring towels/sheets/food/clothes to a refugee family setting up a new home here, or to offer up a section of my house as temporary shelter, or to be a lawyer/doctor and donate my services, and those more hands-on options are not currently available to me.
I looked up what IS available to me in my area (@TheRaDR recommends typing “immigration justice” plus your location into a search engine), and the options seem limited to fundraising/advocating. I can make calls, I can answer phones, I can show up to protests, I can volunteer at a fundraiser, I can talk other people into having a fundraiser. This brings me to despair: those are mostly sales/marketing skills, and sales/marketing is the opposite of my skill set. Not only am I very, very bad at it, I HATE it. It is fine for me to experience some misery for this cause, but the misery has to MAKE SENSE: if I am miserable and not raising a single dime, it is a giant waste of time for everyone.
Which made me think, what IS my skill set? What can I DO? I can’t lawyer, I can’t doctor, I don’t want to make phone calls, I don’t want to knock on doors. I am good at caring for babies, but I can’t go to the camps and care for the babies. I am good at shopping for household bargains, but I’m not seeing anywhere near me that is collecting for that (maybe in the not-too-distant future!).
What do I OWN that I could use/give? I have about twice as many sheets and blankets as we need, and I have extra food in the pantry—but again, I’m not seeing anyone near me collecting those. I have some money, and I can give that—but seeing how large the need is, my contribution is puny, a drop in the bucket; I’ll do it, but it’s not enough. I have TIME, but I need to find a way to use it. I have two blogs, which gives me two platforms. I have a box full of Swistle Skirts.
I have a box full of Swistle-made pottery.
I have a box full of brand-new cloth napkins. I have a giant box of postcards. I can write baby-name advice. I can bake. I like to make care packages. I like to send postcards/cards. Can I turn these things I have and can do into what is needed, which is MONEY for LEGAL AID and MEDICAL CARE and REFORM?
Even though I hate the usual kind of fundraising (phone calls, door-to-door, arbitrary emergency goals/deadlines, making children sell overpriced items so that the school gets a teeny percentage of the profits and the merchandise company keeps most of it), that’s not the only kind of fundraising. You know what my favorite fundraiser is? The kind where you make a donation and you get a little prize or treat for doing it: maybe you donate $100 and they send you a t-shirt as a thank-you. My top favorite is where you get to CHOOSE your prize/treat from a selection. Like when NPR says that for THIS donation level they will thank you with your choice of a bird mug or a bird tote, but for THIS donation level they will thank you with a bird mug AND a bird tote, and for THIS donation level they will thank you with a t-shirt. I love that. I know the cost of item gets deducted from my donation—but I end up increasing my donation to get the item, which is what is supposed to happen. The organization gets more money than they would have; I get my bird mug; seeing the bird mug daily reminds me of the organization so I’m more likely to donate again; we’re all happy.
And that is something I can do. It is shopping and it is mailing and THAT IS SOMETHING I CAN DO. And I can do it NOT USING A PHONE. I don’t know if what I have is what you would want, but if it is, you can have it as your prize/treat/thanks for making a donation to one of these charities. And instead of the organization having to take the cost of the incentives out of the donation they receive, I will pay for that part.
I am very concerned that even after explaining it in the paragraph above, someone reading this idea will still misunderstand the concept and think that I am valuing the things I am offering at the donation amounts I am pairing them with—like, that I think a birthday card from me is WORTH $20. *HUGE PAINFUL CRINGE*. So I want to emphasize, perhaps OVERemphasize, that when NPR sends you a mug for donating $60, no one is saying the mug is worth $60: the mug is a little $6 thank-you gift for donating the $60 to a good cause. If NPR sent you something WORTH $60, it would eat up your entire donation and not make any sense for them to do that; if I sent you something WORTH your donation, we’d both be better off if I just sent the money directly to the charity and didn’t get anyone else involved. So that is all I am doing here: sending small gifts as thank-yous/incentives. The main difference is that I am not the organization receiving the money, so nothing gets taken out of your donation, only out of my bank account, which is nicer for the organizations: this is me buying you the $6 mug for your $60 contribution to the charity, so the charity doesn’t have to buy it.
Here is how it will work, if you want to participate: you will make a donation directly to RAICES or The ACLU or ActBlue Kids and Families at the Border. (DON’T SEND ANY MONEY TO ME.) [Edited to add: Amy in the comments section reminds us all to see if your employer has a matching program for donations.] You will email swistle at gmail dot com a screenshot of your donation confirmation, plus the name and mailing address you want to use for the thank-you token, if applicable. You will choose your item, and I will send it to you (or I will put it in a spreadsheet so I remember to send it to you at a later time, if applicable).
If you would like to donate a certain amount of money but would prefer a prize from a lower category (say for example you’re going to donate $100 but what you want is the Calendar Twins prize from the $75 category), you can do that. You could also donate $100 and choose Calendar Twins + Greeting Card, or choose FIVE Greeting Cards. Maybe it’s already obvious that you can do that. But I wanted to say it specifically, so that I don’t accidentally reduce someone’s donation with the prize categories.
Some rewards are limited; I’ll make a note of it here on this same post if they are no longer available.
As usual with giveaways, they’re a real bummer for anyone who doesn’t live in the same country as the giver-awayer (in this case, the United States of America), because international shipping prices make things impractical to the point of ridiculous. I know this sucks. There are only three that work internationally: the greeting card, the every-other-month postcard subscription, and the Swistle’s Favorite Bee Earrings. Or you can have the item shipped to someone you know in the U.S.
$20 donation option:
• Greeting card. I will send you (or someone you choose) a greeting card on the occasion of your choice: birthday, wedding, congratulations, Valentine’s Day, anniversary, Christmas, Easter, pretty much whatever though let’s not test the limits of that. I will write something Swistley in it; you can specify what you want, if you have a preference, though I’ll have override power on what I’m willing to write in my own handwriting and then sign. (But, like, if it’s something I said on the blog once and you liked it, that’s a likely Yes.) This one can be international.
$50+ donation option:
• Treats. I will fill the smallest flat-rate box (it’s quite small: 5-3/8 x 8-5/8 x 1-5/8) or a similarly small box (I’m still working with the logistics on this one) with your choice of homemade cookies, homemade brownies, or an assortment of store-bought treats from my own secret stash of favorites that I hide in a cabinet on my personal sunporch (DO NOT TELL THE CHILDREN). I will send it to you, or you can choose someone else for me to send it to. We might want to wait for cooler weather for shipping.
$75+ donation options:
• Calendar Twins! When I choose my annual wall calendar for the year after the usual long deliberation via blog post, I will have the same one shipped to you. It will be a surprise: I won’t say on the blog which calendar I’ve chosen, not until after all the calendar twins have received their calendars.
• Cloth napkin starter/supplement kit. I will send you eight assorted cloth napkins from my unnecessarily vast collection of brand-new extras. (I like a non-matching assortment, so I buy a four-pack of cloth napkins on clearance, put one or at most two from the pack into rotation at my house, and put the others in a box in the attic to use as replacements when napkins get lost/stained—and/or, more realistically, to wait for the executor of my estate to deal with them.) If you want to, you can mention preferences (colors you like, whether you prefer solid colors or patterns, etc.) and I’ll see what I can do, but let’s be frank about how hodge-podge the results are likely to be. (VERY.)
• Favorite Christmas book. Nearer Christmas, I will send you a used copy (new copies aren’t available anymore) of my favorite Christmas book: This Year It Will Be Different, by Maeve Binchy. I will write a gift inscription in it if you want—like, “To Marigold, Christmas 2019. I hope you will love this book as much as I do! Merry Christmas! Love, Swistle.” Or I can leave it unwritten-in, if you prefer. I can send it to you or someone else of your choice. My default will be to gift-wrap it in Christmas paper, but I can also leave it unwrapped, wrap it in birthday paper, wrap it in non-Christmassy wintery paper, etc.
• Favorite baby-naming book. I will send you a new copy of the latest edition (just came out this year) of my favorite baby names book: The Baby Name Wizard, by Laura Wattenberg. I will write a gift inscription in it if you want—like, “To Megan, July 2019. Happy baby-naming! Love, Swistle P.S. Your friend Jen says USE MINERVA!” Or I can leave it unwritten-in, if you prefer. I can send it to you or someone else of your choice. If it’s a gift, let me know: I have some cute baby gift-wrap I haven’t had a chance to use yet.
$100+ donation options:
• Postcard subscription. I will send you one postcard every month for a year (twelve postcards total) from my unnecessarily vast collection. If you want to, you can tell me a list of your interests and I’ll see if I can find any postcards to match; it’s fun for me to search through my supply for any owls/wine/trees/medicine/books/stamps/flowers/cows/Christmas/Harry-Potter postcards. I can stamp/write them if you want, or if you prefer I’ll send them blank in an envelope so you can use them yourself.
• Postcard subscription INTERNATIONAL! I will send you one postcard every other month for a year (six postcards total) from my unnecessarily vast collection. If you want to, you can tell me a list of your interests and I’ll see if I can find any postcards to match; it’s fun for me to search through my supply for any owls/wine/trees/medicine/books/stamps/flowers/cows/Christmas/Harry-Potter postcards. I can stamp/write them if you want, or if you prefer I’ll send them blank in an envelope so you can use them yourself.
• Bee Twins! I have three favorite pairs of bee earrings and I have three different vinyl bee stickers on my car. I will send you (or someone you choose) your own pair of bee earrings matching a pair of mine and your own vinyl car sticker matching one of mine (you don’t have to put it on your car; it also works on laptops, notebooks, etc.). [Edited to add: OR, if you would prefer a bee Christmas ornament instead of the earrings, you can have ornament + sticker instead.] There may be a shipping delay, because I’ll get a break on shipping costs if I order multiple pairs of earrings / multiple stickers at the same time, so it would be worthwhile to wait a bit and order all together once I know how many people want this one. ALSO, one of my three favorite pairs of bee earrings ships from England, so it takes extra time. (If you need your Bee Twins kit earlier for any reason, though, like if it’s for a friend’s birthday and it’s coming right up, say so and I will see what I can do.)
• Bee Earring Twins INTERNATIONAL! My top favorite pair of bee earrings can be shipped internationally, it looks like. I checked half a dozen countries and they were all reasonable. So this would be JUST the bee earrings, NO bee sticker, but it looks like it can go anywhere!
$150+ donation option:
• Swistle pottery. I’ll send you (or someone you designate) one of the pieces of pottery (pictures on those posts) I made in my beginner wheel-thrown pottery classes. (The key word here is BEGINNER: these items are…let’s call them “charmingly imperfect.” Or “thick and uneven.” Or “frankly childish.”) You can have me surprise you with which one I send, or you can say which pieces you like best from the pictures and I will attempt to send you one of those—but some of the pieces have already been given as gifts (frankly: most of the best ones), and the seriously defective ones (big cracks, or entire bottom of piece missing) have been discarded, and others may go to people who beat you to the donation option, so if none of the ones you mention are available, then I’ll revert to the idea of surprising you. This option has a risk of breakage: I will package each piece well, but it is still possible it will break on the way, and we will accept that as the universe’s decree of what is for the best.
• Swistle skirt. Here’s the first mention of it, back in 2008! I was mourning that it was out of stock, but I’ve since found a number of them on eBay. All of them are in nice used condition; not perfect, but good enough that I was willing to spend money to acquire them. Here’s a picture of my niece wearing one many years ago. I have at least one of each of these sizes: 14, 12, 10, 8, 6x/7, 6, 5 [size 5s are gone], 4T [4T is gone], 24m, 18m, 12m, 6-9m; or if you don’t care what size, I’ll pick one for you; or you can say “I don’t care about EXACT size but would prefer a larger/smaller one.” I strongly suggest emailing me BEFORE making the donation to make sure I still have the size you want, and to reserve it, so that you don’t make a donation and then find out the one you wanted is gone.
$300+ donation options:
• Private baby name consultation. A single emailed response, similar in style and length to a post on the blog. (If you like, you may choose instead to have the consultation posted on the blog in order to get reader feedback as well.) A letter with fewer issues will have each issue addressed at greater length and in more detail than a letter with a larger number of issues; i.e., if you have twenty issues/questions/concerns, you will get a whole bunch of quite short answers and I’ll divide my total thinking time among them; if you have only one or two main issues/questions/concerns, each one will have a longer and more thorough answer with more time spent on each. (And keep in mind that I am not knowledgeable about baby name usage in other countries/languages, so if for example you live in France and you need a baby name that works for your U.S. and Spanish relatives, you may not get good value out of this.)
• Swistle care package. [Closed for now.] Timing/type up to you: birthday, Valentine’s Day, Christmas-stocking-items care package so you don’t have to fill your own stocking again this year, etc.; or you can ask for a randomly-timed delivery of care package so it’s a surprise. (If you want chocolate/melty things included, we should wait until fall at the earliest.) I can send to you or to someone you choose (one fun request so far: a care package for a new college student).
I have been reading your blog from Germany for many years and never commented.
I just wanted to say thank you.
What a smashingly brilliant idea! I just love all your options. :)
I’ve donated to Glennon Doyle’s non-profit, Together Rising. They also do good, direct, on the ground work and are ALL OVER this horrific situation.
I was going to comment the same thing. One, thank you for doing this. Secondly, Glennon Doyle has an amazing non-profit that has been working on this issue, as well as others. Just last week, they smashed their fundraising goal.
There are lots of us out who are heartbroken who want to help. It truly exemplifies the idea of all of us who can do a little can make a huge impact together. https://togetherrising.org/you-shattered-our-goal/ Together Rising also has helped foster kids about to age out and kids in Syria, as well as others. Just a thought. :) But I love that you are literally putting a part of your life into this idea.
Enthusiastically thirding Together Rising. Great organization, great heart.
This is a beautiful idea. WOW.
I’d like to also say that there is one other thing folks can do: write to your elected officials. This is the perfect opportunity to use a post card:
“Dear [Elected Official];
I am a constituent of yours and I’m appalled/horrified/choose your own adjective that our country is putting people, including children, in concentration camps. I expect you to use your influence to make “Never Again” mean something.
All my best,
[Your name]”
Postcards are good for this because they don’t have to open it to read it.
Your elected official’s address is available through Google. Send it to both your Senators, your member of Congress, and your state-level electeds. Heck, even your county Board of Supervisors or your Town Council. It’s not their jurisdiction, but they have influence and they should use it.
I would give an extra donation for Swistle to write the postcard for me! With appropriate rage, of course, and sign my name. Swistle, would you consider this as a premium?
I also live internationally and I’ve donated to a US organization working on the horrendous border issues. I don’t need a prize (although they are all wonderful!) but just wanted to say that this post will prompt me to make another donation to one of the 3 orgs you reference.
You are a beautiful human being and I love this idea so much. Thank you for turning angst and anger into action.
With love and lots of solidarity!! xo
I love this idea. Thank you for doing it and for including your readers. I appreciate you extra today.
I love you. I love this. I hope it works perfectly smoothly with no hiccups or challenges and raises a TON of money to get legal assistance to children who arrived here through no fault of their own only to end up in horrifying conditions at the hands of my government. Shit, now I’m crying in my office.
The ACLU is one of my monthly auto-pay donation recipients! I hope this gets more people to donate.
Also I am very happy to know the origin of the Swistle-skirt, as I have long wondered why it was your avatar picture. I guess I still wonder how it got from “this skirt was sold out” to representing you on the internet, but.
I have already donated all I can to RAICES – at least for this year.
Hooray to you for finding a way to motivate more people to do the same.
I still find it hard to believe that the country we were taught about in school has been separating children from their parents to punish them for seeking asylum. Like you, I find it almost impossible to wrap my mind around it.
P.S. I was so excited about your idea and SO ANGRY about the situation I forgot to say that it brings me HOPE, because if you and the Swistle followers like me are taking action, then more people will be doing the same. We are not alone, and I have to believe there are more people who want to stop this, than the people who condone it.
I didn’t think it was possible for me to love you more, but I LOVE YOU MORE.
What an absolutely stupendous idea and clearly a great deal of thought went into it. Now I have to decide which prize(s) I want.
I love that you are doing this. I am not going to take any of your prizes, but I love that you are doing this. I totally agree with the terrible feeling of impotence, that the donation of money is NOT ENOUGH because we should be STORMING THESE CENTERS AS A NATION. How can this be happening. How. How. How. I have called two senators’ and my congressperson’s offices and cried at their staff, and I only hope that has made some kind of difference. I have donated to RAICES and to TOGETHER RISING and hope that that makes some kind of difference. And I will donate to RAICES again. I like donating to the people who can actually go into the centers and get actual action taken because that is what is most urgently needed.
You are the best.
This is so awesome, Swistle! I have donated to RAICES and set up a recurring monthly donation, which was super easy to do.
I also recently read about a humanitarian center on the border that helps refugees after they are released. They have an Amazon wishlist if anyone is interested in buying something off that. (Caveat: I read the blog post and shopped the wishlist, but I don’t know a ton about this center personally.) Here is a link: https://jillkrause.com/call-to-action-help-a-border-humanitarian-coalition/
Thank you Swistle for using your platform to help!
You are awesome. I rely heavily on the Flo Kennedy quote “Don’t agonize, organize”– I just like….whisper it to myself and then try to organize something and then rather than feeling soul-crushing despair, I feel “look at all these amazing people who want to help and give, LOOK AT ALL OF US WE ARE GOING TO BE OKAY.” I hope this gives you some of that feeling. Thanks for giving us a fun way to do some good.
I love this and totally signed up, although I feel a little guilty that it took this to make me.
And if anyone wants to be even more angry, I work for a Federal Agency (not Homeland Security) and a few months ago we got an email asking for volunteers to drive detainees to various locations. Our government is so inept that they are literally looking to sign anyone up they can to do their dirty work. It helps if you have a CDL license! Hours vary, but you could be driving anytime of day!
I love this so much. I am already giving to RAICES, but thank you for doing this. I love how you found a way to do what you can do.
This rules so hard, Swistle. I am delighted over how many of those skirts you accumulated and that you’re sharing them with the world in this way. LOVE.
Thank you! Made a donation but don’t need a prize. I kept being sad every time I helped my kids brush their teeth.
I’d like to recommend putting your representatives phone numbers in your cell phone contacts. Very cathartic to call them after listening to the news in the car. My friend who is a lobbyist (for green energy) says it really works. Every day reps get a read out on he number calls on an issue, the tenor of the calls etc. If I’m feeling extra sassy I like to have the person who answers the phone read my message back to me. I get a little kick out of hearing them say “senator so and so is a traitor to America’s values” or whatever strongly worded thing I’ve said. If they don’t repeat me correctly I make them do it again until they get it just right. I mean they work for me and all.
i love you, this is amazing :D
Oh oh. As someone who works for a politician please don’t do this! My job is so sad and stressful as it is! I woke for one of the good ones and the awful racist phone calls I get every day are so draining and exhausting.
What is it you’re asking for people not to do? “Don’t make awful racist phone calls to your representatives” seems reasonable (though sadly unattainable); “Don’t ask to hear your message read back to you to make sure it was taken down accurately” does not seem reasonable.
I love this! Too tired to expand on this comment right now but what an awesome use of your talents.
This is lovely. You are lovely. I donate to Raices and Together Rising. I’ve been calling my reps. But it doesn’t feel like enough. If you are interested, check out:
https://immigrantfamiliestogether.com/how-you-can-help scroll down and find the Facebook group for your part of the country. I joined mine and have been able to help with some need. It helped with the burning desire to do more than just make calls and donate money.
Swistle, this is amazing! I already donated money, but it looks like this might be an ongoing thing? I might have more to give in 3 weeks. You are so awesome; I aspire to your levels of thoughtfulness and compassion.
Great idea! I’m in Ireland, and I feel our problems are all our problems, so will take part. Thank you for galvanising me – we must take action. We must.
Way to take your passion and your platform and create a positive outcome that makes a difference! Without being condescending at all – I’m proud of you. I’m proud to be a long-time reader.
I’ve been following your baby name blog for years. I had no idea about the compassion of the “anonymous” woman writing it… until just now when I received your email and clicked over to this message. I will definitely donate, again, to one of the groups you mentioned. As I read about the plight of migrant children, I always think of my own dear children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My husband and I raised two children born to us and 7 children adopted from Korea and Vietnam from 1969 – 1982. They grew up and married individuals from the USA, Korea, Australia, Mexico and Ecuador. I can well imagine the devastation and emotional destruction of the little ones in our family if they were subjected to the horrific conditions of those children in the border patrol facilities and Trump Camps. Thank you for encouraging your readers to do as much as we can for migrant children and their families.
Excellent job figuring out how to use your particular (awesome!) talents to help!!
The way I found to use my shopping talents and crocheting talents to donate actual items for refugee families who have moved here and are trying to get settled is through Catholic Social Services, the Refugee Resettlement Program, in my area. My area has a list of the top items they need; things like: twin sheets and blankets, pots and pans, dishes, towels and shower curtains, household cleaning supplies, etc. They also have a program where you can volunteer to be a mentor to a certain family or help people practice/learn English. It is my understanding that this program is in other areas too.
Thank you for doing this. Every little bit helps.
Thank you, Swistle.
I donated and then I felt, for a moment, GUILTY that I was relying on Swistle’s Prized Napkins in order to donate to a just and worthy cause, and shouldn’t I just go ahead and NOT send you the receipt for my donation because really DOING THE RIGHT THING IS ITS OWN REWARD I THINK. But then I decided that YOU would WANT me to demand my napkins as part of SWISTLE’s feelings of DOING SOMETHING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND and I don’t know if that’s true but boy I really talked myself in a circle yesterday. I’m ridiculous.
YOU ARE RIGHT. That is, if you TRULY didn’t want any of the prizes, I would still feel happy knowing you had donated; but sending out the prizes makes me feel like I am DOING SOMETHING—and it is very hard in this situation to find something TO DO.
Plus, I am going to have fun choosing your napkin assortment! I haven’t done it yet because I am RELISHING the idea of it!
Oh Swistle, I feel this anger in my bones. I’ve had the same job for 23 years and because of what I do I’m prohibited from actively participating in politics (I can vote, but I’m not allowed to donate money to political causes or individuals, I can’t campaign for anyone, I can’t do political marches, I can’t even have yard signs or bumper stickers) for 20 years this was fine and then in 2016 it became not fine and it’s eating me alive. H makes donations and writes all of our representatives and such but I feel so useless and my pent up frustration is incredible. I never thought I’d get to a point where this particular stricture of my job would be so damned frustrating but here we are. Thank you for doing this and thank everyone else for doing all they can.
Ah yes, the Hatch Act for federal employees and the “little Hatch Act” for state employees. Check your rules because they are only supposed to prohibit partisan election activities. You should still be able to take part in issues work, such as registering voters, or protesting gun violence. You can still contact your elected officials with your opinions orally or in writing. You can work at the polls on election day. You can still donate your own money wherever you want, you can put up signs on your home property (providing your HOA allows that). Double check, because you might be able to do more than you think you can.
Thanks Celeste! I’m going to check the rules today – anything is better than nothing!!
I don’t need a prize, but wanted to let you know that your post prompted me to make a donation. Thank you for doing this.
This is a great idea!
I LOVE YOU AND YOU ARE SO FLIPPING AWESOME.
I’ve been donating to RAICES about weekly at this point but will go make another donation right now in your honor. And also to ActBlue (ACLU is already one of my recurring donations) because OH MY GOD AMERICA WHAT THE HELL, SERIOUSLY.
Is it OK if I insert a tiny reminder that your money is yours to donate as you wish, but it never hurts to check out a charity on Charity Navigator or Guidestar?
In addition to this wonderful, excellent fund-raiser for which, Swistle, thank you so much, I wanted to mention a few other things that some of us may be able to do (depending on where we live and what feels appropriate). In my area, there are (a) an immigrant-community organized/focused credit union that is open to anyone. (I have put a bunch of my savings there, figuring they are doing good work. And it actually is a bunch, because unlike my day-to-day savings account which often holds, say $27, this includes my Roth). (b) our community has — as it sounds like Swistle’s does not — a “Latino Center” that works to aid new arrivals from Spanish-speaking countries. (c) I personally have taken to shopping exclusively (for some items, can’t get everything there) at a few spots in our community that I know are immigrant owned and operated (a gas station, a tienda).
For whatever those ideas are worth…
Thank you for this! Although it made me weep in the middle of my office, it was a more hopeful weeping than most I have done in recent days. We do what we can, but you have dug deep to figure out how your skills and gifts can help, and I can’t tell you how touched I am by that. So, thank you. You’ll have an email from me soon….
I always assumed you made that skirt in your icon!
I’m Canadian, so I don’t want to say too much about the political situation in the US, but I’m very concerned about what’s going on, and how many people seem just fine with it. I’m also concerned that our own next election will follow the isolationist trends we see going on worldwide…
Oh dear me no, I can sew on a button and that’s about it. Though I did make a tiered skirt when I was 12, in a group established by my religious school to teach girls to be good homemakers, and the skirt came out rather well. Er, with considerable help.
I love this post, this idea, and this community SO much! I am planning to give and will report back when I do, but just wanted to put out a suggestion (stemming from my decade of work with nonprofits). RAICES and some of the other well-known groups are flooded with donations right now, which is an amazing thing! But I encourage everyone to think beyond the deeply important instinct to help individuals in the near term, and consider supporting some less immediately satisfying, but just as important, groups that tackle other and future aspects of the problem. Journalists who raise awareness of these atrocities. Researchers who fact-check and create talking points for activists and politicians. Groups that create affordable housing and provide food and other resources that will sadly be needed for a long time to come. Note also that there are processing fees/work associated with donations, so I always recommend giving one or two large gifts as opposed to many smaller ones. Here are some orgs to consider along with RAICES: American Immigration Council (https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/). Various orgs that support social justice journalism (https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-for-journalism). An org that provides training for immigration lawyers (among other projects – https://www.ilrc.org/). If you want to confirm that an organization is successful and aligns with your values, you can look up any org on Charity Navigator.
I was going to donate $25, but then I saw your post and upped it to $50 so I could get the box of treats! Will email you the screen shot. Thanks for doing this!
Donated and sent a receipt. For those whose companies have donation matching programs, please remember to submit your receipts for any matching funds!