From the Editors: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Erin Phillips

What do you do if you find an injured dog on the street? Or if your bike has a flat tire? What do you do if you want to find out the history of a building? Or if you're a young, trans kid with no family support? What do you do if you lost your job and aren't sure how to make rent? Or if your child has a disability and you need resources for them? What do you do if you have cancer and are facing rising medical costs? Or if you're in an abusive relationship and need support to leave?

Even outside of our individual needs, what do we as a community do when faced with major challenges like climate change? Homelessness? Pet overpopulation? Childhood hunger?

The answer? A nonprofit organization.

Our community nonprofits work as a safety net to the overall functioning of our society and fill in the gaps left by governments and private businesses. They help clean up the messes of humankind, while also providing the beauty we need to get through it all — with art, music, theater, and conservation.

With Erie Gives Day around the corner (on Tuesday, Aug. 8 — mark your calendars), the Erie Community Foundation is getting their team (featured in its entirety on our cover this month) ready to work toward making sure that our local nonprofits and their individual teams get a boost in revenue to allow them to continue taking care of all the little things that add up to the big picture — of making our community a better, healthier, brighter, and easier place to live for everyone.

Within this issue, we've asked our own team — our writers, editors, and artists — which nonprofits are closest to their hearts and why they've chosen those organizations to donate to this Erie Gives Day. Among our team, we've come up with charitable organizations that range from the educational, to animal welfare, to sustainability, inclusion, mental health awareness, and community wellness.

By sharing their thoughts, we hope to inspire you to really think about which nonprofits have the biggest impact in your life and your individual communities and make sure, if you're able, to toss them a little extra this time of year. Every single player on a team makes their team better, and in the same way, every little ($25) donation makes our community better: by helping it to function more cohesively and smoothly, and by bolstering our individual ability to make a big difference by making it a true team effort.