Who We Are
Dear Friends,
We’re living through painful and beautiful times. Painful, because people with their eyes and hearts open can’t help but feel tremendous grief about what’s happening in the world today. Beautiful, because in spite of, or maybe even in response to, the violence, environmental destruction, and loneliness of spirit that are impacting all of us, something else is emerging. The human spirit can be battered, but somehow it has a tendency to keep finding its way through. In the midst of the madness of our times, visionaries are sprouting up in every corner of the globe and manifesting creativity, love, resourcefulness and steadfast commitment on behalf of life. We know, because it is our job – and our privilege – to find, support, and work with some of them.
At YES!, we believe that the real news of our times is love, the power of the human spirit, and how people around the globe are claiming the opportunities and struggles of our lives and times as resources to bring forward on behalf of our highest commitments. The young leaders we work with teach us that whatever pains, struggles, blessings and opportunities we’ve known, we each have something special to contribute to the world we share.
There are many hungers that exist in our world today. There is the hunger for food, and there is also the hunger for love, for meaning, for a sense of contribution. There is the hunger for physical comfort, and there is the hunger for peace, for connection, for wholeness. What one of us is lacking, another has in abundance, be that a bowl of rice, a skill, a connection, or an insight. As we convene communities of diverse young changemakers, we are continuously moved by how much stronger we are together than we could ever be alone.
In these painful and beautiful times, there may be nothing more important than the journey from isolation to connection. For as we find the power of our diverse communities, and as we come to know ourselves more deeply in relationship to our unique gifts and needs, we not only become more whole. We also take steps towards giving our essential gifts in this world. We begin to learn how we can unleash all that we have, and all that we are, on behalf of all that we love.
Thank you for joining us the vital work of our times. Thank you for saying “YES!” to helping create a thriving, just and sustainable future.
In gratitude,
Ocean and Michele Robbins, Tiffany Brown, Lorin Troderman, Nga Trinh-Halperin, Jenny Uribe, and Devinder Sahota, YES! Staff
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