Spring has sprung all the way to summer, and we're in the final week of our crucial mid-year fund drive. To stay on track with our work, we need to raise $71,174 by the 4th of July. So far, 475 people have contributed $88,826 to our work since May. This is both amazing and inspiring. In just one day last week, through Seattle Foundation's GiveBIG event, we raised $8,873 from 82 people.
One of Real Change's greatest strengths is the breadth and depth of our community support. People love their Real Change vendor. They love that we make an immediate difference in people's lives. They love that they are able to help people help themselves. They love that this happens face to face, over a smile and a conversation, and that they get something in exchange, a newspaper that speaks to the issues and the people they care about.
Homelessness is about isolation, exclusion and dehumanization. We too often ignore and stigmatize what makes us uncomfortable. Right or wrong, we tend to value people according to their role in the marketplace. When someone has no home, no job and few friends, it's easy for them to accept that they also have no value. They do not buy and they do not sell. In market terms, they don't exist, and they see plenty of evidence that they are valued, or devalued, accordingly.
Real Change offers people more than a job. Real Change is an opportunity to participate in life. To be part of society. To value ourselves and to value each other.
As anyone in sales knows, our vendors are out there selling themselves. Sure, they're proud to sell a quality paper, and the readers like that too. But the real product here is the person that makes us smile and gives us that chance to stop a moment, make a friend and take one of those tiny but meaningful little steps to help repair a shredded world.
This is what Real Change is really all about, and to keep doing it well, we need your support. We're proud to be able to say that two-thirds of our budget comes from reader support. This is a sure sign that what we're doing matters. Please show how much it matters to you by supporting our work today however you are able. We reach these big fundraising goals with hundreds of gifts both large and small, and we need yours to be one of them.
Please visit our website at realchangenews.org
to make your secure, on-line contribution today, or mail your gift to Real Change, 219 1st Ave. S., Ste. 220, Seattle, WA 98104. Thank you.