Hi neighbor,
I’ve been trying to write this email for a couple of weeks now (and failing, obviously.) (It’s going to be a little longer than usual, because of it.) Mostly I think I’ve been struggling with irritation at my own party – which is tough as a party officer to be so conflicted.
I hope that you haven’t been getting as many emails and texts as I have from all over the country with donation demands, but I figure you likely have. And by and large they have been demands, instead of requests – especially the ones from other states – many of them with mercenary undertones that make me really uncomfortable. Yelling about the price of eggs and tariff-increased costs and the impact on Middle America followed by, “so give me your money with no real indication of what I’ll do with it,” is just…
Well. It feels gross. Even knowing factually that we cannot do our work without money, I don’t like this way of getting contributions and we will not join the trend.
So, let’s do something completely different as a county party and direct our own work in better and more community-minded areas. We Are Broomfield, and that will always mean something good, and bold.
We’re launching two ongoing projects this month: the first is to send thank you notes to every donor for the county party in the last year. It’s a small thing, perhaps, but in these uncertain times an acknowledgement for the efforts we as activists have already taken can mean a lot. If you’ve been missing writing postcards in the last few months this would be a great way to contribute to putting some positivity into the community. (If you’re like me and have been collecting little thank you cards for years “just in case” and would like to share them for the cause that would be really appreciated too.)
And second, we’re going to collect high-need items for Broomfield FISH food bank at our monthly meetings from now on. You can find the PDF list by clicking here. (cooking oil is usually a huge need, and individually wrapped snacks, broths, toothpaste & brushes, etc.)
Every bit helps, and every donation goes directly to assisting our most vulnerable neighbors right here at home.
I know we’re all stressed and afraid of the truly scary things happening in our nation’s capital – reasonably so – and it feels like a constant driving need to fight back. But there’s not a lot we can do at that level singularly; what we can do is take care of our neighbors (even the ones we don’t like, honestly) because collectively we are always stronger.
They want us afraid. They want us to freeze in despair and isolation. Living our best lives, taking care of each other, and staying in contact with our elected officials is truly the best way we fight back. We don’t do Doomerism in these parts, we become the helpers Mr. Rogers taught us about.
Alright, that’s my two weeks of thoughts. I hope to see you on Thursday so you can share your thoughts. And we’re continuing our new feature: we’ll close out the meeting with Community Joy – what have you been up to lately that’s made you feel good? Whether it’s direct action that you’re proud of or a really cool project you just finished, anything else that keeps your spirits up on the rough days, we’d love to hear about it.
With affection,
Sasha Davis, Chair
I love you. You’re probably thinking, “You don’t even know me.” But if people can hate for no reason, I can love. – anon
