Before I had this job, saying thank you often got forgotten. It was a lost relic in my busy life.
Over the past year, I have gotten to say thank you more than ever before in my life.
And I have come to love the privilege of getting to say thank you more than I ever thought I could.
You see, how our work goes is that, in order to be able to do this full time, we rely on a large team of other people to make our work possible. Without other people's creative ideas and execution, prayers, financial backing, and time spent with us in South Dallas, what we do and how we do it would simply not be possible.
So in everything we do, we don't feel like we do it alone but rather that we are empowered and enabled to care so committedly and passionately for homeless men and women in South Dallas because we have a team around us at all times.
Even when others are not present with us physically on the streets, we carry a keen sense that they are part of our work.
A year ago, when I began fundraising to be able to do this work full-time, I was terrified of the journey ahead. You see, I had always worked business jobs where I got paid a salary for my time and the job I did. Back then, the thought of being reliant on other people's generous hearts to help make end's meet made me feel like I was somehow less than.
After a year of watching people give in so many different ways, ways I couldn't have even imagined, I see fundraising totally differently.
Our dependence on others has become a privilege.
We are dependent much like our brothers and sisters on the streets are dependent. And we get to work with a huge team of people who, though they can't always be present with us on the streets, literally allow to do the work we believe in so much. Our lives our changed and so are people's lives on the streets.
And now, one of my absolute favorite parts of my job is getting to say thank you. And so I say it now:
Thank you all for your support of us over the past year.
Thank you for reading our stories, for funding our causes, and for creating your own ways to help the homeless.
Thank you for your love and support for us as people.
Thank you for sharing our work with others.
This month, we will be launching a new website. It is called
The Human Impact
. We look forward to sharing more information about it soon! Happy New Year!
