Think Global, Act Local: Support Community-Based Members of Global Ties U.S.
As we all learn to navigate life during this global pandemic, the core belief of our work at Colleagues International has become more necessary than ever: we are all part of a common humanity, dealing with similar struggles and challenges in an enormous variety of contexts all across the globe, and we all have so much to learn from one another. This month, we are participating in a nationwide fundraising campaign that we are excited to share with our networks.
It is almost surreal to think that in March 2020 we hosted three delegations of international leaders here in Kalamazoo, exploring civic engagement among young people, looking at engaging youth in the political process, and celebrating women in entrepreneurship. These themes that we dove into less than two months ago seem so far away from our present concerns. Our focus now is on supporting our essential service providers, keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, and doing everything in our power to ‘flatten the curve’ and protect our health system from becoming completely overrun.
All of our ‘normal’ programming is on hold for the foreseeable future and, when it returns, it will be fundamentally different. At present, we are soliciting feedback from our visitors and from the hundreds of local volunteers who make our programs special, to help us reimagine what meaningful programming we can offer in these challenging times. The feedback thus far has been encouraging. We are also serving as the fiscal sponsor of ‘'Feed the Fight Kalamazoo” which provides meaningful volunteer opportunities for our supporters, directly related to our current crisis, and helps fulfill the part of our core mission that is enriching our local community.
The campaign, Think Global, Act Local: Support Community-Based Members, is organized by Global Ties U.S., a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that supports a network of American nonprofits that coordinates international exchange programs and brings current and future leaders from around the world to communities throughout the United States. Colleagues International is a proud Community-Based Member of the Global Ties Network.
With so many individuals and organizations struggling with loss of revenue due to the pause in international exchange programming, and the cancellation of other events and activities, this nationwide campaign shines attention on our organization and encourages philanthropic support. We hope that you’ll support this campaign by making a contribution and sharing the campaign with your networks of globally-minded colleagues, friends, and family members.
More information is available here on the Global Ties U.S. website.