My Journey to Joy

In this first monthly newsletter, I kick things off by sharing the story that brought me from a

recent dark time into joy. Yes, joy. Even now. In future newsletters, I'll share more about The

Neighbors Trust as well as the journeys of other people and other projects.

Here’s a wild story for you on this wet spring day. Almost two years ago now, I became unconscious while traveling in a foreign country, in a very rural area no less. It seemed to hit me out of the blue and lasted for several days until, through a combination of good luck, a marvelous family, and some resources, I was able to get safely back to Philly for emergency care. I will always be grateful for the talented and compassionate people, there and here, who helped me in that moment of crisis (and continue to help me now) not only survive but actually become stronger, healthier, and more active than before. I’ve even started rock-climbing!

After the crisis passed, I did some soul searching. I thought about how we go through our days unaware of what’s actually happening in our bodies until they demand our full attention. I thought about my mother, who passed away in the middle of it all and who was a child of immigrants, a fierce and lifelong feminist, who lived her life on her own terms. I tried to understand the connection between these elusive threads.

In January, when our country entered this particularly dark moment in its history, I thought of my immigrant ancestors and my feminist mother and generations of hard choices. I thought about the fact that I am still very much alive. I thought about the people, many of them total strangers, who helped me survive my own moment of crisis with compassion and it became clear to me. This was a moment for me to step forward with intention and an open heart. And without fear.

Knowing how tight money can be in immigrant communities and how even seemingly small gaps can seem insurmountable, I landed on the idea for a fund that would move money directly to some of our particularly-targeted immigrant neighbors. I seeded it with my personal funds. Partnering with the marvelous immigrant-serving medical clinic Puentes de Salud, we decided to serve their prenatal patients, giving them 18 months of direct guaranteed income, no strings attached. We named the program Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby (or Mama Saludable, Bébé Saludable). In fact, Puentes just enrolled the first cohort of five pregnant women at the beginning of May. Hoorah!

My thought and hope, supported by lots of research, is that these consistent payments provide something like financial respite care for the pregnant participants and their soon-to-be-born babies, helping them buy groceries (adequate nutrition), pay rent and utilities consistently (stable housing), and buy newly-needed items like cribs, diapers, and baby clothing that might otherwise break an already-precarious household budget.

It’s been a whirlwind since January but I’ve learned so much and been delighted to meet so many inspiring, generous, and badass people so far. In these monthly newsletters, I will shift attention to them, introducing you to some of those people and share some of what I’ve been learning.

And of course I will keep you updated on our Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby partnership! In coming months, as I start to get stories of the impact of these payments for the women and their babies, I will share those here as well.

I will also share the fundraising journey that I am now on, as I seek to leverage my own gift to grow this program, enroll more pregnant women and help more babies, and in so doing also (I hope) provide a way for those with the ability to do so to meet this existential moment with immediate, direct and concrete support for neighbors.

And no real surprise, I am finding that helping real people in real time has been a total joy and is a pretty good way to move through the darkness.

So yes, joy. Joy is my guiding principle for building out this program, especially in these times. And joy is my promise to you. I will try my best to bring joy to all of this. Keep your eye out for line-dancing, dinner parties, chef events, and more. Let me know if you have other ideas too.

If you want to join me in supporting our neighbors, you can donate directly to The Neighbors Trust now or start by reading more about the program, including some ideas for other ways you can help. And if you’re feeling excited about this, please help spread the word by sharing this email with your interested friends and neighbors.