It's been nearly eight years since I started as the Executive Director of OneAmerica.  At times it's been difficult and exhausting, and at times it's been inspiring and energizing, but always I've felt that this is where I'm supposed to be, leading, building and supporting the leadership of others.

It's a strange kind of privilege to be working with folks, including those facing the crisis of this pandemic.  It's meant listening and drawing on my own resources and the resources of others to help families meet their own basic needs.  And it's meant pushing these same folks to imagine what it would look like if things were different, if the injustice and racism imbedded in our society weren't there to be laid bair in the next disaster.

This is the community we're building - optimistic and hopeful, understanding the world we live in but imagining a better one.  I know what it feels like to be excluded, isolated, alone, depressed, crushed.  That's why having a community means so much to me, and why OneAmerica is my community.