Just Curious: Thanksgiving and Serendipity
With this year's pandemic, events of social injustice, contentious elections, wildfires, hurricanes and more, have there been any serendipitous moments for you? In spite of it all, I'm curious what you might be giving thanks for this year? I'm grateful for some tremendous co-workers who have all grown closer through all of this, and for a new grandson.
Comments
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Hi Rand, beautiful post. Congratulations on your new grandson. What is his name?
Serendipitous moments: many more low key evenings with my family and not always being in a rush, spending quality time with my old golden retrievers who are my 2020 office mates. they are 15 and 14.
Giving thanks for: employment, working for a company that is compassionate, my health, and our frontline healthcare workers.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Anne
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A thought provoking post, for sure. Thank you @RandMorgan!
Serendipitous moments: Being able to introduce this community earlier than planned and seeing how it is bringing people and ideas together. And, same as @annehossner, enjoying all the bonding time with my two canine besties, Barkley and Shadow.
Giving thanks for: Living in beautiful Montana where there's room to socially distance, working with all the awesome people of Foundant and getting to know our amazing community members, and everyone who voted.
Have a wonderful, safe holiday! 🦃
Kara
Kara Adams, M.Ed., CAE (she/her/hers)|Community Manager|kara.adams@foundant.com
Headquartered: Bozeman, MT| Remote Location: Chicago, IL | Direct: 312-802-1374 |www.foundant.com|
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Serendipitous moments: Getting hired full time with Foundant at the end of July (woohooo!) and completing a 34 mile mountain bike ride that I wanted to do last summer but made happen this summer for my birthday ride. Coincidentally, it was also on this bike ride where I had a few minutes of cell service and got the call that Foundant wanted to offer me a job! Pretty great birthday despite what a whirlwind 2020 has been.
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Awesome topic, Rand - thanks for sharing/starting!
2020 has been a challenging year, for sure. But it also has given me some room for reflection, trying new things, and rediscovering things I love.
Giving thanks for: rediscovering reading for fun once more (I crushed my Goodreads goal and have read 41 books this year!), Trying new recipes/cooking fun, and a growing Puzzles and Board Game collection (ask anyone at Foundant - My quarantine puzzle stack was getting pretty impressive at one point). I'm appreciative of a supportive employer and the philanthropy community who always asks "how can we help?".
Happy Thanksgiving, all. Eat lots of turkey! :)
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@RandMorgan Great post and thoughts. Congratulations on your new grandson - I hope you live close enough to see him and his parents!
For me add on to the global/national upheavals, With: my husband had a minor brain bleed in February, and the end of May I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck.
But I am so thankful that the brain bleed was very minor and did not need surgery. Thankful that my pinched nerve was treatable with a non-addictive nerve pain medication and physical therapy, and that through all of this, I was still able to work on a laptop at home with the recovery, and able to get back into the office by the end of August/September - at least partially. Thankful for the health we do have.
Serendipitous - we went live with our Foundant SLM in February so it made handling the scholarships remotely once the schools closed that much easier!! And as a community foundation we were able to quickly pivot and use the GLM for an Emergency Response Fund going live with GLM 2 months earlier than expected and doing it all remotely.
MIssing - being able to get to Montana for another You Fly/We Buy (really just miss getting to Montana and Wyoming - the latter of which is where my son, daughter-in-law and 2 grandsons live.)
Wishing everyone a safe, restful and Happy Thanksgiving holiday!
Bettie
Bettie Stammerjohn
Executive Director
Community Foundation of Greene County, Pennsylvania
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There have been some serendipitous and silver lining discoveries. One of note: Whenever I talk to someone over the phone, regardless of where they are in the country, and whether I've spoken to them before or not, we just say few words ("staying safe" or "covid") and we instantly have a shared connection and feel connected together.
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Hi Rand! It's great to hear from you and I'm thankful that we're fortunate to work with you and other amazing clients that are doing such important work in your communities. This year has had it's share of challenges but it's been rewarding to watch our team and our clients rally to the many causes. ...and it's been humbling to get reminded that I rarely have a right to complain about anything when so many people are facing so many real challenges.
-Daren
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Hi Rand,
I'm glad I checked in and saw your post and question. There have been many times in 2020 where I've relied on inner peace and hope, and I have seen it in others. The smiles came back (even if usually masked), and people here are talking slower and listening more.
I met grantees through virtual tours and walked a few through our grant process via Zoom. I've learned a lot from them, and their clients, and I saw many of them turn things anew. We are resourceful beings.
My son got married. My daughter came to visit. My brother made the long trip down when we lost our step-mom. I accidentally became a vegetarian and am so much healthier than I anticipated.
There is so much going on around us grabbing our attention. I am thankful for the tiny flowers that bloom in my uncut grass.
The sun pokes through every day.
Thank you.
heidi
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My thanks to you all for brightening my day. Thank you for helping me see many, many things things all around us -- large and tiny -- for which we can be grateful. We're certainly surrounded by a fantastic community of colleagues, and we're so much more alike than we are different, no?
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