Dear Friends,
Another year in the rear-view mirror. A chance to reflect and consider: What did we do best in 2020, that year marked by so much change? What did we learn about ourselves, our community, our human fragility and our resilience? What will we take with us into 2021?
This past year pressed us to rearrange our priorities as survival issues took precedence. Our programs adapted, and then adapted again. Most significantly, we massively stepped up our rental assistance interventions to stop evictions for families who were falling behind on rent, mortgage, and utility bills.
Our work continues to increase in the wake of COVID. The pressure to grow and adapt moves with us like a dog at our heels. We strive to meet the overwhelming need while at the same time remaining open to opportunities for new, innovative, long-term capacity building efforts in our Food, Youth, and Housing programs. As we navigate this tension in 2021, we hold tight to one of the greatest reminders of 2020: That we are intricately bound to one another.
It is the bond at the heart of Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision for the “Beloved Community,” a reality that God invites us into as co-creators. In the Beloved Community, we take a keen interest in one another. Our steps are guided by more than the knowledge of where our neighbors are presently, but an understanding of where they’ve been and where they desire to be. People are not only fed and healthy, housed and safe, but living into their giftedness.
Despite the lows of 2020, we saw our community recognize and respond to this bond like never before. We saw it when Sunshine Laundromat stepped up to offer affordable laundry services after Sacred Suds was forced to close its doors. We saw it when neighbors came together to provide tools and headsets for remote learning, and bikes for students to safely travel to their summer jobs. We saw it in farm volunteers. We saw it in the YEP Mural. We saw it in new relationships between local agencies, all in the name of keeping neighbors housed.
I see it in the dedication and compassion of Community enCompass staff, who continue to put one foot in front of the other in pursuit of justice, inclusion, equitable outcomes, and deeper connections. Today, just as always, they walk by faith--faith that as each of us finds and knows our gifts, and are met with opportunities to share them, we make this Beloved Community of Muskegon stronger, vibrant, and whole.
I am enormously grateful for the many committed friends who have sustained Community enCompass as we meet this moment. As you look through these numbers, know that you helped make every bit of it possible. Thank you for being neighbor.
Together, seeking SHALOM in the City!
Author: Chelsea Tanis