When I saw the email from ninety-nine girlfriends announcing our 2020 Awardees, I smiled and for a few moments basked in positive emotions.
Gratitude: For all the members who worked so hard to redesign and shorten our grant-giving process, who reviewed all the applications, who designed and managed the voting process, who made the Meet the Finalists videos (below) and hosted the event, and everyone else who made this happen.
Hope & Awe: Every year, every month I find out more about the work so many amazing nonprofits do in our communities. They help people, help families, advocate for changes to increase equity and justice. And they do it day in and day out, in some cases 24 hours a day, every day.
Agency: At a time when I often feel the challenges facing the world are so big that I don’t know if I can do anything to have real impact, our grantee partners and ninety-nine girlfriends offer me agency to help make real change possible.
Community: I have never met most of the ninety-nine girlfriends. And yet, I know there are 500 women standing beside me, who care deeply about our world and who stand with one another both in times of difficulty and celebration.
I would like to extend a deeply felt thank you to everyone. If you need a smile you can see the list of 2020 Awardees here.
— Kaye Gardner-O’Kearny