April Newsletter
Hiiiii Hiiii,
We hope this newsletter finds you grounded, which is a big hope during these wild and uncouth times and also this chaos we are all witnessing/experiencing is not new or particularly special, just extra crispy loud + violent. The antidote to colonial crash outs is always to build community, connect with your neighbors, and support those around you. I personally find community care work to be soothing to my spirit in times of stress and unknown and as a seasoned movement worker I encourage you all to lean in with community work harder than ever. When folks use the phrase “we take care of us” that only works or makes sense when we are committed and consistent to taking care of one another.
Spring is the season of renewal and we have a lot to learn, hold, and activate with these lessons especially in this moment that feels like the end. The end to an empire definitely seems like the reality of the future and for many of us there doesn't feel like there is a lot we can do to help or stop national or global harm and while there may be some truth in that there is plenty that each of us CAN do in our day to days that positively impact our community and that is something we can all bring a renewed energy too. This is not a call out, this is an invitation. We have so much more power than folks realize and to actually engage or activate that we have to be in conversation with one another, we have to commit to stretching out of our comfort zone and need for treats or rewards. We must start prioritizing the collective and building new systems, Systems like EGC, where we are feeding and building folks through a regenerative model.
I have been thinking about all of this a lot and how the first six or seven months of COVID when the world thought the world was ending and everyone slowed down and started to care about their neighbors, their community, and systemic harm. It is wild to me in all the ways we have fast forwarded and forgotten all that we experienced, lost, and held during that time. I really hoped more lessons from that would have stuck but in many ways it seems we had a collective boomerang to the opposite spectrum even more intense than what we experienced pre covid. When I say I wish more of those lessons stuck I meant in practice, I wish we as individuals would have walked away from that experience to permanently reject capitalism and permanently committed to care culture. I still believe we can learn and change, which may be delusional but that is my delusion to hold. I will never stop rooting for humanity and I hope you don’t either.
We are starting to get into our busy season at EGC and that is always exciting, fun, and an invitation for everyone to lean in with us. We have been building this collective work for six years and working/striving to do more. I hope you all lean in with us because we are stronger together.
We have some fun events coming up:
Earth Day Events : April 11th at the Leach Botanical Garden
Join us for our annual Earth Day celebration. There will be activities, community, and snacks, fun for the whole fam! If you are a birder this is a must see garden cuz the birds love to hang out here.
EGC Virtual Giving Party : April 14th at 6pm : Please join us for a virtual Giving Party. This is a great space to come learn more about EGC’s work and how you can support and help sustain this work! This will be about an hour long and a space for you to learn more about our work. Bring a friend!
Walking Group will start back up soon, we are just waiting for the weather to be consistent! Stay tunned and follow along on our IG, we share there a lot.
Black Elder Garden Days are coming back in May, we will be moving the work parties to earlier in the day so stay tuned about these. In preparation for them, sign up to volunteer on our website.
Submit a recipe for the EGC Cookbook : we created a community cookbook last year and are elated to do this again. This is both to help preserve recipes within our community and also is a beautiful way to share new recipes for folks to try.
Donate Today : we talk about money and the need for more of you all to lean in and support and to be honest this message is ignored and it is infuriating. We don’t need you to empty your bank account, that would be ridiculous. We need you to give up a treat or comfort and support this collective. If EVERYONE on this newsletter list (6500 people) signed up as a recurring monthly donor at $25-100 (you pick your amount) we would be able to increase our service impact, we would become a solvent organization, we would not be having to beg for funds and we would be able to focus on the work in a much more sustainable and impactful way. This ask for financial support matters and we are pleading for you all to hear us and activate. If you are already a monthly donor (there are 750 of you) THANK YOU and please rally your personal circle to match your contribution. The number one reason people give is because they were asked. We need ya’lls support.
On behalf our team.
In joy,
AJ McCreary, EGC Executive Director