Sangha of Auspicious Companions

This Week’s DailyGood Digest

This week, we found solace in collective resilience, inner insight, and disarming experiences of goodwill.

We explored the notion of resilience through two nuns who “made every mistake” on the journey to providing much-needed childcare to kids in their neighborhood, as well as a healthcare pioneer’s formative experience with a parent’s schizophrenia. On an individual level, Cortland Dahl recounts a research study he participated in many years ago that shed insight on how pain is not the same as suffering. In the world at large, one group has engaged over 600 people in structured debates to practice listening to opposing opinions with respect and curiosity. Embracing the wisdom of life’s later stages, a former pilot reflects on 100 days as a caretaker for people with dementia. Beyond the human species, we marveled at the teamwork of whales, which also mirrored the collective support strangers showered upon a 78-year-old food delivery driver, reminding us how natural the quality of altruism is in life. These stories unleash tidal waves of hope and care, showing us that even amidst challenges, light finds its way through the cracks.

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Neighbors Transform Tent Encampment Into Shelter Village

Matthew Stone, who was living in a tent with his dog in the woods of a central Illinois city, was among the first 55 residents to move into Bloomington’s first shelter village. A fully enclosed campus with a bathhouse and community center and 48 tiny sleeping cabins, The Bridge can accommodate 56 adults. It cost $2.7 million, two thirds from private donations and the rest from a county grant. By meeting people’s basic needs, Home Sweet Homes Ministries provides the bridge people need to leave homelessness behind, says CEO Matt Burgess, and one person has already moved into permanent housing. “We got our bed over on the far wall. We got our microwave and refrigerator behind the door,” says Stone. “We got our armoire over here that we can put all of our clothes in, and then we got our desk and our chair.” Alarm clocks in each cabin help residents keep up with their appointments. Burgess came up with the idea after looking at four communities which had built shelter villages: Burlington, Vermont; Denver, Colorado; Missoula, Montana and Austin, Texas, and visited the Missoula shelter village.

Be The Change

Today, notice someone in your community whose struggle usually remains invisible to you. Let yourself shift from looking away to looking toward.