When Love Says NO

Leading With Love

Who is the most powerful person in any room?

Is it the wealthiest? The strongest? The smartest? The most beautiful?

No.

The most powerful person in the room is always the most loving person.

We are energetic beings and the measured frequency of love is more powerful than that of pride, hate, or fear.

Love is often confused with an emotion, romance, attraction, or dependency. More on this next week, but as we close in on Valentine’s Day let’s remind ourselves that true love is none of the above.

Love exists as an energy in the universe.

It’s the most practical and mystical force available to us.

Vedanta is the teaching of the Upanishads, a collection of dialogue, stories, and poems that go back to at least 800 B.C. Sophisticated Hindus do not think of God or the Source that created us as a special and separate super-person who rules the world from above, like a monarch. Their God is “underneath” rather than “above” everything, and he (or it) plays the world from the inside. Hindus realize that not only are they God in disguise, but they can only be that if it’s also true of everyone else.

In Vedanta philosophy, nothing exists except God.

A Course In Miracles seconds this notion. That God or love is all that exists in Reality and can’t be threatened by the “unreal”.

Jesus is the living embodiment of this teaching, and yet it’s such a complete subversion to what most of us as Christians have been taught or even as a secular society, our minds are so filled with mythology and ideas about being shot by Cupid’s arrows and eros trying to make sense of love for ourselves but we may have missed the mark completely.

Beyond the well-intentioned fear and fundamentalism, a golden thread is weaving through all religions and natural science to a deeper truth and trust that is easily missed.

“When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below…then shall you enter (the Kingdom).

I am the Light that is above them all, I am the All, the All came forth from Me, and the All attained to Me. Cleave a (piece of) wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there.”

Jesus

Genuine love comes from a deeper knowledge, not from a sense of duty, guilt, or sexual desire. It also can’t come from just saying or believing something intellectually.

It is FELT.

The first time I understood any of these sayings of Jesus was when I had my spontaneous spiritual awakening. Something I still can’t adequately describe except to say that in a single moment, I finally understood the true meaning of love and it’s inconveniently not at all what we’ve been taught or sold by Hallmark.

To me, love is so beautiful, non-judgemental, and otherworldly beyond all of our religious concepts of God that all I could do in its presence was weep in awe.

We may never be able to grasp it or describe it with words or language, but whatever it is, everyone can tap into true love because we already live and move and have our being in it. It’s the most practical power available to us if we can pierce the veil of our ego.

In my personal experience, it can’t be preached, it has to be experienced.

Growing up most of us learn to view ourselves as distant and separate from the world around us. But this sense of alienation -from other people, places, and things- is dangerous. That separation is a myth, and we need to deconstruct who we are beyond separate egos with competing desires enclosed in bags of skin.

We need a sense of our existence in accord with the physical facts which overcomes our feelings of alienation from the Universe and our true nature.

When I think of someone working for real transformation and change practically using this love that resides in all of us, I think of Jesus.

If I had to name someone from this past century, the person that comes to my mind is Gandhi.

Neither Gandhi’s political ideology nor his life is beyond criticism, but he committed himself to freeing his Nation from British oppression in a peaceful but powerful way.

Martin Luther King Junior went to India in 1959 to study his ways and they inspired the non-violent Civil Rights movement. A new way to oppose. To protest. King wrote that Gandhi was a "guiding light" for him.

Ghandi was very aware that to do this, he needed to access what he called “Soul Force”. Gandi said that one of the most powerful words we have in English is the word NO.

No. We will not be a part of a nation that denies the divine imperative of granting access to refugees who need sanctuary.

NO. We will not sanction the demeaning of women or the feminine.

No. We will not be a part of a lack of care and concern for the less fortunate. For the hungry and people experiencing homelessness.

No. No. No.

Gandi is well known not to have tolerated injustice to himself or anyone else.

He taught all of humanity with his life and faith that sometimes…

Love says NO.

And yet according to Gandi, undergirding this “no” is an even STRONGER more powerful word…

The word YES.

Saying YES to the true essence of one another and ALL of life.

Saying yes even to those with whom we passionately disagree.

As one of my Celtic teachers John Philip Newell likes to say “At the heart of their being and the heart of all beings is the image and the likeness of the one from whom we all come”.

“You are a Masterpiece. You are a piece of the Master.”

Rabbi David Aaron

When we say YES, and when we LOVE another we are calling the other back to himself or herself, rather than calling the other to become like us.

Prophetic movements for change can undermine themselves through self-righteousness.

Instead of separating ourselves further, we are calling one another to access that true SOURCE.

This highly intelligent organizing love is at our core.

This Soul Force.

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Today let’s take a closer look at the nature of this fierce indescribable love that has the power to dismantle all that we’ve created in fear…

Here are 7 powerful human examples of what aligning with this love can do in a lifetime.

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Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. Until that bending happens, the prophetic call goes out to all of us that something is off.

Something is radically wrong in society when we see or feel injustice or a visceral “NO”, this is not right. This happens when our systems are shaped by politics and defined by error.

The canaries in our coal mines are often ignored by the majority of us in our busy lives, but if we’re aligned with LOVE, we will always answer the call.

First to say NO and then to get to the much more powerful YES.

This power in all of us will compel us to move beyond our egoic desires to serve our own best interests to make things better for others and ironically in the process we feel the fulfillment and joy that we’ve been seeking all along.

There is a new Netflix series that I recently devoured called “Live to Lead” which was inspired by Nelson Mandela’s life who came out of prison empowered to lead and speaks to this love on a macro level perfectly.

Each episode highlights the life’s work of someone who said no to some kind of injustice, but they did it with LOVE and forgiveness.

Not with hate, coercion, fear, or force.

I’ll give you a quick taste, but I highly recommend the series if you enjoy this piece today and are looking for some edutainment.

1. GLORIA

Gloria Steinem’s life is a testament to her belief that what matters most in life is to make empathetic connections with others.

“It’s the heart of each of us that gives power to the sum of us.”

Gloria Steinem

One of the first female astronauts was reportedly overheard whispering under her breath as she was boarding her first rocket heading into space… “God Bless Gloria Steinem”.

Her view of women’s roles in society changed how we all think about ourselves.

GLORIA SAID YES TO EQUITY FOR ALL.

“It’s just possible that Historians will look back at this time and say that the human animal stopped dividing itself up according to visible differences, according to race, according to sex and started to look for the real human potential inside.”

Gloria Steinem

(She also added an enthusiastic “Right on!” at the end…it was the sixties:)

2.

Do you recognize this beautiful woman?

When she graduated from college she found out she was pregnant and was torn about whether or not to go to Harvard Law School, she wasn’t sure she could manage both and her father-in-law gave her this wise advice that she claims she used again and again whenever she wanted something:

“Ruth, if you don’t want to go to law school, no one will think less of you. You have a very good reason not to enroll, but if you really want to be a lawyer you will stop feeling sorry for yourself, you will pick yourself up and you will FIND a way.”

This woman was Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.

RUTH

Ruth wanted to make things right. She was one of 9 women out of 500 in her class at Harvard Law School and she excelled in her classes. But when she graduated, no one in New York City wanted to hire her.

She describes the three strikes against her:

“I was a woman, I was Jewish and I was a mother”.

She experienced firsthand the painful inequity in our society.

She noticed that there were no women judges, engineers, police, or firefighters.

This wasn’t right. Something in her wanted to make this right. Something deep inside her wanted to make things better for others. So…

Love said NO.

She spent a decade as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties in the 1970s which led to her career fighting for equal treatment for men and women in the eyes of the law. She had the opportunity to help a movement for change so that daughters would be cherished as much as sons.

“What’s the difference between a woman who is a bookkeeper and a woman who is a Supreme Court justice in Brooklin?

One generation.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth was one of many women who blazed the trail and were instrumental in helping women around the world see that they are blessed with certain talents and that we could make things a little bit better for people who are not as fortunate as we are. She knew that putting women at the helm alongside men so we could become equal partners on the global stage would help us change the world.

“Being born into a world that does not see you, that does not believe in your potential, that does not give you a path for opportunity or a clear path for education and despite this to be able to see beyond the world you are in to imagine that something can be different. That is the job of a prophet and it is the rare prophet who not only imagines a new world but also makes that new world a reality in her lifetime. This was the brilliant vision of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.”

Memorial Service Eulogy for RBG - Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt

RUTH SAID YES TO THE EQUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN.

She was right.

There are so many to choose from even in politics it’s hard to pick just one but I confess that I have a girl crush on the Prime Minister of New Zealand…

3. JACINDA

Jacinda Ardern seems like one of the most compassionate, intelligent, and empathetic leaders. Not only is she the youngest female world leader she’s the 2nd elected leader in history to have a baby while in office. She’s quick to make a bold decision. After the Mosque shootings, she announced that New Zealand would be banning all military-style semi-automatic weapons and she did it within three months. Her quick response quelled Covid-19 in its tracks in a way many other countries did not.

When she was asked to distill the ONE concept that they are pursuing in New Zealand do you know what she said?

Kindness.

“What if we change what us means? Instead of fierce nationalism or self-interest, we seek to form our tribes based on concepts that can and should be Universal. What if we no longer see ourselves based on what we look like? What religion we practice or where we live? But by what we value. Humanity has an innate sense of connection to each other. And a belief that we are guardians, not just of our home and planet, but of each other.”

Jacinda Ardern

This impressive list of female leaders is the standard of courage, intellect, kindness, and heart. I hope that a qualified and wise woman will lead Canada and the United States in our lifetime, but for now, there is work to do because in the West we are voting with our wallets and money is still our bottom line.

We need to earn equal pay to have money to play in the game. A war chest is needed to fund a full campaign.

In the Democratic lineup, Marianne Williamson’s 2024 grassroots Presidential Campaign in the United States is an example of an intelligent wise mature woman currently running for President who can’t even get her foot in the door. Or coverage on the news.

I’d love to see her in a debate with Trump or Biden but it’s still an old boys club.

Nikki Haley seems to be the last Republican woman standing. A former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor is the only woman in the bunch. Women make up more than 50 percent of the population but they are underrepresented in public office, whether at city halls, state legislatures, or in Washington.

We could use more women alongside men in politics at the highest levels of government in every country because where women are leading, countries are thriving in new ways and young girls everywhere are recognizing the possibilities for themselves soon.

Seeing these women representing entire countries is inspiring.

Sometimes in the West, it feels like we’re slipping backward and it’s not just my imagination, the World Economic Forum has the reports to back this up. It covered 102 countries from 2006 to 2023, the gap is 68.6% closed in 2023, recovering to the level reported in the 2020 edition and advancing by a modest 4.1 percentage points since the first edition of the report in 2006.

Our progress continues, but it has slowed.

If you’re interested in where other countries land on this list below, here is a link to the full World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Gender Gap REPORT:

At the current rate of progress, it will take us 131 years to reach full parity. 

In my community, I recently learned that our International Women’s Day funding for 2024 has been canceled. Last year our council released this statement…

About the 2023 International Women’s Day Theme #EmbraceEquity
For International Women's Day and beyond, let's all fully #EmbraceEquity – Equity isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a must-have. A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society's DNA. And it's critical to understand the difference between equity and equality.
Learn more at: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/18707/Equality-versus-Equity-What-s-the-difference-as-we-EmbraceEquity-for-IWD-2023-and-beyond

Out of the town council’s approved $71.3-million operating and $71.1-million capital budgets, they’ve outlined the town's key priorities, and honoring International Women’s Day is no longer a “must-have” priority. There may be other initiatives for women that I’m not aware of to be fair, but even just this one symbolic day is a huge loss for women in closing this equity gap.

“I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong. This stardust won't settle, because none of us should settle. Taking on a leadership role doesn't mean that you only have to be personally ambitious. Everything I've ever thought about doing has been, in some sense, about helping people.”

Jacinda Ardern

4. GRETA

Sometimes the smallest and youngest among us to stand up pack a surprising punch to wake us all up.

This Swedish climate activist needs no introduction.

At the age of 11, Greta became seriously depressed. She was so sad that she temporarily stopped speaking. She was slowly disappearing into some kind of darkness and little by little, bit by bit, she seemed to stop functioning. She stopped playing the piano. She stopped laughing. She stopped talking. And she stopped eating. It was eventually discovered that she was being bullied at school. Badly. She was shutting down. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Asperger’s, high-functioning autism and OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Also, something called “selective mutism” which may heal in time but she jokes that unlike most people, she only likes to speak when something important needs to be said.

Greta’s Mom describes that she simply couldn’t reconcile the contradictions of modern life. Things simply didn’t add up for her. We, who live in an age of historic abundance, who have access to huge shared resources, can’t afford to help vulnerable people in flight from war and terror.

She saw what the rest of us did not want to see. How can we entertain ourselves and take trips when people are suffering?

She couldn’t understand why the adults weren’t doing everything they could so she decided to strike by not going to school.

At first, she described that what made her feel powerless was that no one else seemed to be listening or as passionate about it. Not her parents or teachers. People walked by her and barely noticed her.

With patience and “stubborn persistence” she demonstrates what is possible when others resonate with our firm loving “no”. It wakes them up to their knowing and they feel compelled to join the cause.

She describes two distinctive steps:

STEP 1: No one seems to care or even notices you…

“The step from one to two is always the hardest”.

Greta Thunberg

STEP 2:

Eventually, the news cameras helped expand her reach and her efforts went viral with people worldwide. People from 165 countries on every continent knew her name and left their homes to march. Even in Antarctica.

She was told to stop. She faced heavy criticism, much of it mocking her as a naïve teenager. People send their feces to her in the mail. She was urged to go back to school even by her parents and teachers who loved her dearly and were concerned.

But something in her told her to keep going because it’s not okay what we’re doing to the planet and …

LOVE says NO.

And Greta says YES to our contribution to the whole and her message is that EVERYTHING we do matters.

“We have to make a change in every way in our daily life not just in the environment, but the way we treat other people and the way we see life.”

Greta Thunberg

5. BRYAN

Another incredible example of someone who has stood up to social injustice in a quiet, gentle, and deeply inspiring way is Bryan Stevenson.

Bryan has had 140 wrongly condemned prisoners released from death row.

“Change does not happen. Justice does not happen if you only do the things that are comfortable and convenient because we’re human and we’re biologically and psychologically designed to do what’s comfortable.”

Bryan Stevenson

This love will have us choosing to do uncomfortable things. Like the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse, harassment and rape culture. #Blacklivesmatter and thousands of stories of police brutality and racism that came to light after the murder of George Floyd.

Ray Anthony Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, in a 5x8 cell. He was convicted because of what was wrong with the system—racial profiling and being poor. Bryan Stevenson wants us to acknowledge and change taht the current system seems to treat you better if you are rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.

In 1972 in the United States, there were 300,000 people in jail, and guess what that number is today?

2.3 million.

That is not a typo. More than any other country in the world. A total of 8 million are under the control of the criminal justice system. The system doesn’t do the right thing even when the right thing is apparent.

For every 10 people killed on death row, 1 is later found innocent.

To Bryan, THAT is not ok, and…

LOVE says NO.

Bryan says YES to fairness and the Humanity that resides in each of us.

Bryan and his social justice team saved Ray’s life. His release was both a happy and tragic day. He went in a young man and came out elderly.

Bryan’s work and book which was turned into a movie.

If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie, I highly recommend it.

“I’ve come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.”

— Bryan Stevenson

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6. SIYA

South Africa’s Siya Kolisi’s story aligns beautifully with this truth.

Siya grew up poor in the Townships in South Africa—no television, no parents, and often no food.

But he transcended his life circumstances and led South Africa to the World Cup finals in 2019 as the very first black Team Captain for the South African rugby team.

The nation was moved to tears. He represented hope for reconciliation and hope for a new generation of young boys. The impossible became possible and he was living proof.

“Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governance in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

Nelson Mandella

And yet it was his philanthropic work off the field that is the most important part of his life.

His father was an alcoholic and he abused his mother. When he was 5 years old Siya remembers picking up his mother’s teeth off the street and he knew then, that it wasn’t right.

He remembers crying and thinking to himself, NO.

Siya’s LOVE says NO to abuse and violence and YES to helping others and equal opportunity for all.

He was raised by his Grandmother and he felt very loved by her. She was everything to him and she did her best to provide for him. Even though he often went to bed hungry or was given sugar water to tide him over to his next meal his heart was full.

He tells a touching story of how if she went to have tea at a friend’s and cookies were offered she kindly accepted and instead of eating them herself, she’d tuck them away in her purse to bring home for him.

After she passed, he was alone and had to grow up quickly.

He sold vegetables and worked in a Tavern when he was 15 and tried to keep positive but would go days without eating. One story that speaks to his character even at 15 was when he was trusted with the cash till in the bar and tear gas was thrown into the bar and he didn’t run. He stayed with stinging tears streaming down his face and never left the till unattended.

Soon after he met a teacher named Eric at some rugby tryouts and received a scholarship to a private school called Grey. He joked that he stood out because he didn’t even have shorts to wear, he had silky boxers on.

His life was changed by this opportunity in every way imaginable, but he still remembers watching kids being picked up or dropped off at school on holidays and being hugged and kissed by their parents.

And how no one came for him.

He decided to create that love and stability in his own family.

His grandmother told him that if you love someone bring them home and that is exactly what he did with his wife, his two half-siblings, and now children of their own.

He and his wife were planning to start a Foundation to give back and ended up opening it a few months before they expected it because of the wildfire spread of Covid 19 across South Africa.

With no work, there were food security issues so when they planned to feed 6,000 it quickly turned into 41,000.

They have both noticed that the more people they help, the more joy they experience.

“I think if everybody just put aside what they want for themselves, and think about what others need as global citizens that’s how we’d solve the world’s problems.

Do all you can now and worry about the problems later.”

Siya

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7. ALBIE

The final story is about freedom fighter Albie Sachs who recounts his activism journey, the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, and how a car bomb planted by the South African security service nearly cut his life short.

He lost an arm and the sight in one eye but Albie was nominated as a Judge and appointed to serve in the Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela.

Years later, when he was asked what the world needs more of, do you know what HE said?

Kindness.

He believes that when we connect with others and our energies are pointed in the same direction we can change anything.

Albie remembers what was written on his first report card when he was 6. It said: “Albert is a dreamy boy” and more than 70 years later, he confesses that he’s still a dreamy boy.

One thing that struck me about Albie is that he was a white South African male and even as a teenager he knew that apartheid was wrong.

Love for Albie said NO to apartheid and YES to kindness and forgiveness.

He became a freedom fighter and was often the only white person in sight at the meetings and rallies.

He was twice detained without trial, imprisoned, and put into solitary detention and 24 years later, when Nelson Mandela was released he was appointed to be the “conscience” of the court.

His lack of bitterness was moving. He gave others faith and Justice Yvonne Mokgoro gave this teary tribute when she said with tears in her eyes…

“Alby is what is possible”.

His capacity for forgiveness and love after what he’s been through seems miraculous to everyone around him.

He claims that he’s working for ALL of us because he realizes that we can’t separate ourselves.

We can’t hold others in darkness and align with this love.

What we put in the light creates more light and what we damn, damns us back.

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It seems like ALL of these leaders had a key ingredient in common….

THEY FELT UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED BY AT LEAST ONE PERSON IN THEIR LIFE.

They were put in the light by another. Not always a parent, but by another.

That is what we can do for one another.

Walk each other home to this life regardless of our past.

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Bryan Stevenson tells a moving story about his Grandmother and how she was worried when Bryan was a young boy and was being switched from a segregated all-black school to a public mixed elementary school for the first time. Every morning she would hug him long and hard until it hurt. An hour later she would say… “Do you still feel me hugging you?

If he said no, she’d do it all over again. Hug him as hard as she could.

When he spoke to her on the phone or saw her in person when she’d ask… he’d affectionately agreed, “Yes Mama…I always feel you hugging me”.

But it wasn’t until years later that he fully appreciated what it was she was doing.

His grandmother was a domestic cleaner who lived well into her 90s implanted a deep seed in him about why we’re here. To lead all of our dealings with love.

Thanks to her planting this love in him, he’s able to speak up when others are shushing him.

To stand when they tell him to sit and to stay hopeful after being told no.

It’s an orientation of spirit.

“Ultimately we have to stay on the side of love. Anger and hatred disrupt our ability to act. To change the world and change justice we have to get proximate to the people in need.”

Bryan Stevenson

His Grandmother demonstrated that love in the face of fear and anger.

Many years later when he was in College his Grandmother was dying of cancer so he came home to say his final goodbyes to her and to thank her for loving him the way she did and how it made him feel.

He sat by her bed picked up her hand and told her how much he loved her.

He wasn’t sure she could hear him as she couldn’t respond, but just as he was about to leave the room the last thing she said as she opened her eyes and squeezed his hand hard and said… “Bryan, do you still feel me hugging you? I want you to know I’m always going to be hugging you.”

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His beautiful story reminded me of a moment I’ll never forget with my husband Scott after losing his own beloved Grandmother “Elsie” who was a legend in the Morrow family. Through his rare tears at her funeral, he smiled and said to me with heart-sinking sadness:

“I feel like I just lost my biggest fan”.

This is the kind of love that permits us to be ourselves AS we are.

Not when we behave, win medals or awards, or please our parents or teachers.

This love connects us all. It gives us personal power and conviction to do what is right, not what is popular. It compels us to look outside of our dire circumstances and stand up for people who cannot help themselves out of their unjust circumstances.

None of these modern-day heroes were perfect people.

They were JUST like you and me filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubts.

Let’s stop denying ourselves this natural gift. Love and a subtle sense that deep down we are all innately deserving and good. To undo the damage done by our man-made doctrines of “original sin”.

And when ANY of us behave otherwise, help us all see that it’s our fear or simply a call for love.

It’s not for us to judge others. We’re all in the process alongside one another.

This is what Jesus tried to teach us. We don’t even know what we’re doing and that’s why we’re forgiven.

It may look different on the surface, but there is a strong thread that weaves through the family foundations of these leaders. A kind of deep spiritual love that was gifted to them through a spiritual faith…not always in the form of a religion but in spiritual care and uncommon concern for the wellbeing of the whole.

They all had something else in common, they said that they never even imagined their lives could have unfolded the way they did.

They wished their younger self could have known that everything was going to be okay and wished they could have dreamed bigger now that they could see the possibilities. They claimed that it all just sort of happened naturally as they aligned with the love and were guided.

Love pointed out what needed to be done at every turn. The right people or resources came to them at the right time.

Their failures taught them along the way.

Instead of focusing on the ugly, painful, and hateful…or the NO’s we all encounter…they focused on the beautiful, inspiring, and energizing YES’ and that empowered them to do all they needed to do.

In honor of Bryan’s grandmother, today I’d like to leave you with a hug. The BIGGEST kind that lasts a bit longer and is a bit firmer than you first expected.

The kind that heals whatever is ailing us, even for even a moment but stays with us long after it ends.

I love seeing different species of animals being affectionate with one another.

Love. This most beautiful and powerful energy in the world that is so easily dismissed by our egos and intellects is the overlooked essence of who we are.

If you still don’t believe me, ask your dog:)

With love,

Rev Nona

This week’s challenge -

1. If you subscribe to Netflix please check out Greta’s episode (#2 ) on the “Live to Lead” series.

2. If not you can watch this Ted Talk.

What’s your NO?

What is your… “THAT’S IT I’ve had it! …or your “not on MY watch!”.

No to canceled Women’s Days, No to polar bears dying from melting ice caps. No to 200 new species becoming extinct every day. No to food insecurity while we keep throwing food out every week. No allowing the less fortunate people in our community to slip through the cracks.

From your no, what’s ONE thing YOU CAN SAY YES TO?

Here is some “Black-eyed Peas” to help us get loosened up and past the first step to… GET STARTED.

Let’s answer the call.

ps. Do you still feel me hugging you? :)