ShiftHappens: Our Blog:
The stories behind the grants
Waging Peace: Mary Liepold and Eli McCarthy
In the midst of so much chaos and confusion that descended on America’s capitol last week, it brings us hope to know that The Pollination Project’s spirit of peace and kindness was also present on that day. In 2017, Mary Liepold and Eli McCarthy received seed funding...
A Hidden Ecosystem: Tamara Blazquez Haik
One day several years ago, photographer and animal activist Tamara Blazquez Haik was walking home when she came across a poisoned opossum lying dead on the sidewalk. Many people might have kept walking and not given this a second thought, but Tamara couldn’t help but...
Dorcas Apoore: Hope by the Basketful
Dorcas Apoore grew up in Northern Ghana, in a remote village so small that it isn’t even on a map. Her mother was married at a young age and never got to finish school, a cycle that Dorcas saw repeated for a great many girls in her village. Most often, this is an...
Birthing a New Dream of Equality
When she became pregnant at 18, Maria del Mar Jaramillo felt her dreams come crashing down around her. She spent her pregnancy full of worry, wondering if the life she had envisioned for herself would still be possible. With the loving support of her husband and...
Live to Give
The wisest thing I ever learned was to take advantage of every opportunity. By this I mean not the opportunity to expand your own sense of mastery of the world, but the opportunity to expand your service to the world. If you gain something external it can be taken...
Save the Food, Feed the People
In a shed in downtown Merced, California, there is a random refrigerator overflowing with an ever-changing bounty of persimmons, lettuce, celery, and other locally sourced whole fruits and vegetables. Everything in the fridge is free; twenty-four hours a day, anyone can visit to pick up what they might need. “The People’s Fridge” is a volunteer labor of love, organized by Erin Meyer and Steve Roussos.
Going the Social Distance
Growing up, Jenna Bardroff’s best friend was a potbellied pig named Arnie. When she made the connection between what her parents were putting on her plate and her love for Arnie, she became a vegetarian at the age of five. She started college at the age of fourteen,...
Forgiveness
Last week, the comedian Dave Chapelle hosted Saturday Night Live. Addressing the deep division in America following the most recent political election, he urged Americans to find a way to forgive each other. I was talking about this with a friend, who took issue with...
Invest in Kindness
We are now beginning to realize what you may have already known would be true: a political election is not a miracle cure for COVID-19, racism, poverty, or anything else. Our deepest divisions, inequities, and suffering will not vanish magically overnight. We can’t...
The Vilka Chess Club
Sohibjamol Rakamova is an unlikely chess champion. In her native Tajikistan, chess is a game of status and nobility. Many children are enrolled in chess training at the same time they go to nursery school, but this wasn’t the case for Sohibjamol. She grew up in the...
The Fine Line Between Success and Failure
In a world of outcomes and data points we often measure success externally; How much money? How many people? How quickly? Success is so often viewed quantitatively rather than qualitatively, with the underlying assumption that big means better. This reminds me of an...
Immunity Gardens: The Painting That Came to Life
Nearly ten years ago, Bethany Fancher packed her bags and flew to Hyderabad, India, and then continued into the countryside to the village of Chandrakal. She didn’t know what to expect; only that the orphanage where she had agreed to teach art was home to about sixty...
Totis Viribus
Today I learned a new phrase – “Totis Viribus,” which means “with all one’s might.” Living life purposefully takes effort. It takes work to focus our path in an intentional way; being consciously compassionate is a daily and deliberate practice. It takes all our...
Raoul & Jali: Keepers of Memory
This is a story of brotherhood. Raoul Vecchio is an architect and engineer. One day in his native Italy, Raoul had a chance encounter with an artist named Jali Diabate. As they talked, a synergy emerged that would meaningfully shape both their lives. Jali is part of...
Friendship Blooms Eternal
When the pandemic came, some people drank about it, some people wrote about it — and some people planted potatoes about it. In the heart of South San José, next to a housing project for low-income seniors, is a small community garden on land belonging to St. Stephen’s...
Humility is a wise teacher
Humility is a wise teacher. To be humble is to admit when we may not know everything, which is a prerequisite to learning and growth. It allows us to listen, which is a state of openness that assumes something new and valuable is being shared. A structural challenge...
Sides To a Story
How many times have you heard someone say “there are two sides to every story?” We are taught to frame our thinking in these dualistic terms, with even our most significant and complex cultural conversations unfolding on this binary framework. Pro-life versus...
Tiffany Kirk: Building Community for the Formerly Incarcerated
Before she was a banker, Tiffany Kirk was an elementary school teacher. She never really stopped being an educator, but her classroom looks very different today. These days, Tiffany spends a lot of her free time teaching financial literacy in the community. Her work...
What makes you happy?
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Last week, we shared the...
Gratitude Goes Big: Laura Lavigne
Earlier this year, Laura Lavigne awoke from a vivid dream about contagious red hearts. In the dream, anyone who received a red heart was filled with a deep sense of peace. The hearts were spreading quickly throughout the world. This vision of something that “went...
It’s the little things
My father had a friend, I call him my uncle but he is so much more than that. His name is Vijay and he remains the happiest man I have ever known. He founded a large accountancy firm in his region, employing many people. He was successful and well respected in...
A “to-do” list, not a wish list: Fontoh Desmond Abinwi
Fontoh Desmond Abinwi did not grow up in a home or country that had great material wealth, yet he knew that the rich biodiversity in his native Cameroon was something much more valuable. Cameroon is home to plants and animals seen nowhere else in the world; the black...
The Direction of the River
It has been said that a person cannot step in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and you are not the same person. In case we needed a reminder, 2020 has shown us the relentless constancy of change. In theory, change is a hopeful thing that many of us...
Direct Giving Promotes Diversity
For much of history, giving happened directly. You saw a neighbor in need, and reached into your pocket to offer what you could to help; or perhaps a friend told you about a worthy idea, and you banded together to build a new community center or dig a well. Service...
Compassion Made Visible: Animal House
Jessica Gonzalez Castro is a reader. One book in particular has shaped the trajectory of her life. After reading “Animal Liberation” by Peter Singer, Jessica was moved to learn how she could be a more effective activist for animal rights. So it was with great...
Racheal Inegbedion: Building A More Inclusive Nigeria
Racheal Inegbedion was visiting a home for people with disabilities when she saw something that changed her life. “When someone visits, the residents sing a welcome song and share in a prayer with their guests,” remembers Racheal. “One of the young women, who had a...