Every year I participate in Rhonda Parrish’s Giftmas fundraiser, which she organizes to help people who need a little help at this time of year. This year we’re once again supporting Edmonton’s Food Bank.
Our goal this year is $1,500 which, because the Food Bank harnesses the power of connections and bulk buying will equal 4,500 meals. $1 = 3 meals.
Oh. And that is $1,500 Canadian. So if you live in the USA, your donation will go even further.
The Human Condition is A Lot
Frankly, 2025 has been kind of a doozy, both on the world scale and on a personal scale for me. The world is… well. *gestures* On fire.
My personal world has been a mix of good and bad.
I love my day job and I finally got unstuck in my writing again when I decided to jump in and start writing the cozy paranormal mystery series I’ve had in the back of my head for a while now. So far in November I’ve written 66,500 words, which is a definite NaNoWriMo win, if that were still a thing.
But my uncle has been dealing with grade 4 glioblastoma all year, and we have just had to make the hard decision to transition him to memory care. My dad is his primary caregiver while I’m serving as his financial durable power of attorney.
Earlier this year, my mom had a pretty scary medical incident that ended up being Transient Global Amnesia–basically for close to 24 hours, her brain quit forming new short-term memories. We can laugh now, because I think she must have asked me about 70 times where here wallet was and why she was in a hospital bed. But at the time I thought she was having a stroke, and I broke every traffic law I could think of getting her to the ER.
One of my (almost 15-year-old) cats has been diagnosed with early stage kidney failure.
So kind of a rollercoaster of a year.
Human Connection Matters
There’s no way I could deal with all of this stuff without my people.
In my case, “my people” means my parents, my cats, a small group of friends, my coworkers, my therapist, my community, my writing group and other writers I know, my readers, and a lot of other folks.
I’m on the board of the local League of Women Voters, for instance, and while it’s a non-partisan group, it believes very firmly in an educated electorate and democracy for all. Earlier this fall, we had a “Get to Know the League” event geared specifically for new members and people who were thinking about joining. I was blown away by how many people in our small community came out. It was proof that people are desperate for this human connection.
Another friend of my hosts a group of Hopeful Humans, people who may or may not have a religious affiliation but want to support other people and be supported in return. She has a lot of regular attendees at her events, and I know it’s because so many of us are in need of this human connection.
We’re All Human
People in need are human. People who can help are human. People on both sides of the political divide are human. People who worship Jesus and Allah and Brigid and Gaia, and people who don’t worship anyone? All human.
We don’t need to be in total agreement with each other to achieve mutual respect, and we don’t need to be exactly alike to form that human connection.
Some of my favorite humans are people who are very different from me. They’ve taught me things, learned from me, shared their lives with me, been open to having me share, and our lives are enriched by our connection.
That Human Touch
I’m old enough to remember the AT&T commercial (for landlines, this was pre-cell phone) that told you to “Reach out and touch someone.”
I’ve never been to Edmonton. I’d like to visit, but I can’t swear I’ll ever go to Edmonton. But I have a lot of friends in Alberta, and across Canada. And I know that, while Canada’s democracy isn’t in quite the shambles the USA’s is in, the human condition applies everywhere.
Participating in Giftmas every year is one of my ways to reach out and touch someone in an area of the world I might never see. And while I also like to donate and volunteer locally in my own community, it’s also important to me to be a part of keeping that human connection alive across the world.
I hope you’ll join us this year in raising money to help feed hungry people in Edmonton
Story Connects Us
I know most people donate to fundraisers simply because they care about the cause they’re supporting. I’m one of those people who would rather have a nonprofit use all the money I give them, rather than receiving gifts like cheap dreamcatchers, notepads, or return address labels (I’m never going to run out of return address labels).
But I also think Story is one of those things that helps us connect with other people. Hearing other people’s stories gives us empathy, and empathy helps foster that human connection.
So I’m offering gifts to anyone who donates!
- Anyone who donates gets a year’s paid subscription to my Morrigan McBride substack plus a free ebook of Shades of Circle City, the first book in my Circle City Magic urban fantasy series.
- Anyone who donates at least $100 gets to name a character in an upcoming Morrigan McBride mystery.
Please join us in donating to Edmondton’s Food Bank this year!
My mother had transient global amnesia back when I was like 17. It was really scary, and I was just a kid on the fringes not one of her children or primary caretakers. That must have been a very difficult thing for you. This whole year sounds like it’s been full of challenges. I commend you for looking for the light in the darkness and, even more admirably, trying to BE that light in the darkness. <3
Uh. Grandmother. My grandmother had it, not my mother.
…I meant my grandmother had transient global amnesia, not my mother. That’s an important distinction.