As I write this first blog entry of 2021, I’m not where I expected to be.  I’m sitting at the kitchen table in front of my laptop on a cold Wednesday morning.  Stacks of books and papers are piled around me, hair a bit unkempt.  Two zoom meetings down, three to go.  Like many, trying to stay afloat.

If not for COVID, where would I be this morning?  Out and about around our beloved city — visiting and learning about several of the hundreds of nonprofits in Greensboro, talking with neighbors about ways the foundation could better support their work, or perhaps at a gathering of community partners addressing the need for more safe, healthy, affordable housing.  While our last in-person gatherings seem like a lifetime ago, our team here at CFGG has been hard at work throughout the pandemic – working remotely alongside neighbors, donors, nonprofits, and other partners to address our community’s most pressing opportunities and needs.

It has been 302 days since the first reported COVID case in Guilford County.  For some, these days have been a period of respite, refocusing, and renewal.  For others, they have been a time of profound suffering and loss.  For me, these past 10 months have been overflowing with feelings of optimism, uncertainty, love, loss, anger, joy, and anxiety – sometimes all arriving at the same moment.  How about for you?

COVID has magnified the fragility of systems and institutions both around the globe and here at home.  All the while, groups of folks in our community have continued to come together in extraordinary ways during recent months – organizing to address health disparities, economic and racial justice, access to food and housing, and so much more.  Each day, I find myself in awe of how deeply so many people care about our neighbors and this community.

As we set out into the unknown of 2021, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to show up differently — to be present, and to be about the business of justice, truth, compassion, and love.  During the days ahead, let’s commit to living into these responsibilities — and doing the hard work that’s in front of us — together.

Let’s talk soon, friends.

Kevin