The Current Need is Great, So is the Gratitude
This morning I practiced a gratitude exercise. I started with my coffee, Haitian Coffee sold by 2nd Story Goods. It comes from the mountains of Haiti and the hard work of Avanti Coffee to get it to my cup.
I made myself do this gratitude thing, because I was feeling anything but grateful. I was worried. I was imagining a bleak future for our efforts in Haiti. I was imagining a bleak future for me and all the people i am concerned about.
I needed to be rescued.
Start with coffee. I wrote it down. I didn’t just say it out loud, but I wrote it down. I gained momentum as I thought about kids and grandkids, a loving, forgiving wife, and a place to lay my head (and what a place it is). Then Makers (Mk’s new shop & community space hosting 2SG) 2nd Story Goods, Market Place Gonaives, ProLead and Leader Solutions. All the good things we get to put our hands to.
But before gratitude, I was wishing that we had never stuck out our necks to do something about loss, suffering, and pain. Oh the simple life we could have led. When I focus on our current circumstances in Haiti I can lose heart, become cynical, my hope becomes freeze-dried.
This is when it becomes important to remember and give thanks. Remember! The hundreds and now thousands of “Giving Angels” that have been made in Jubilee and sold all over the US. The number of man-hours of labor that have been worked at MPG to build and run a shopping center. The thousands of lives that have been impacted through ProLead. None of those things go away because of this current horrible circumstance. They are all seeds planted in the lives of some of the most amazing people on earth. And you know what? The promise is we Reap what we Sow! The whole thing is rigged in our favor.
This present evil time will pass. I am not sure when, but all those seeds are bursting to spring forward and be a harvest.
Mk and I have not come to this place alone. Thousands of folks have graced our table in Haiti and had Haitian “dust in my eyes” give new vision. It is all of you that have built homes, buildings, schools, parking lots, and clinics. Paid for cars, trucks, medicines, peanut butter, and wells for water.
Now is easily the worst of times that most have seen in Haiti.
Now is NOT the time for MUCH to throw in the towel and say ”Well we tried”.
We need you guys to help us stay the course. 2nd Story Goods needs help to weather this interruption of shipping. We need to continue to place orders with Artisans even though we can’t get product out right now. MPG is weathering the storms of contracts, empty spaces, and civil unrest from Port au Prince that affects Gonaives tenants. ProLead is becoming independent and trying to be self-sustaining in a most discouraging environment.
You all have given in the past when we have faced much smaller obstacles, We need your partnership again during this time. Please make a gratitude list of at least 5 or 6 things. Write it down, and then consider making a contribution to MUCH.
Our Current need is to raise $150,000 to keep MPG (which houses both 2nd Story Goods and ProLead, as well as 7 other locally-owned businesses) open and secured for the next 12 months.
Every contribution does its part. We all have different parts to play.
Some can give $50 and some can give $5000.
Every single dollar has power.
Thank you.
Beaver & Kathy
MarketPlace Gonaives
Help us meet our goal!
Checks can be mailed to :
MUCH PO Box 24599. St. Simons, GA 31522