A lot of nonprofit organizations actually hire people whose full-time job is to thank donors. Be it a clever marketing strategy or earnest attempt to thank (or a bit of both), I’m totally a believer. In fact, I’m kinda jealous of those orgs — LHI is a too little and grassroots to even flirt with the idea of hiring an official-thank-donor-person (or anyone at this point), but goodness is it a tempting thought.
It’s incredibly hard to do much, including thank donors these days. Our volunteer teams hardly have time to go to the bathroom or eat, let alone answer emails, locate aid, identify and vet volunteers coming to our camp in Greece, take care of their own children and spouses, and so on and so on. Funny story since we’re on the topic: LHI’s team leader at our Yazidi camp in Serres barely had time to go back to the States to get married! It’s like, “Congrats Molly and Kyle! NOW GET BACK TO WORK.” Kidding, not kidding.
But in all seriousness, WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU. In fact, we’re not just grateful for you — we depend on your love and support in order to continue serving refugees, because let me tell you, it is not easy. It is heart-wrenching, soul-crushing work to witness so much suffering day after day. And we’re not even the ones who have gone through the trauma of losing literally everything but their lives. I can’t even imagine.
Photos of children of Serres by Shannon Ashton
We obviously need to find a solution to this whole “we don’t have the time or resources to thank you properly” thing sometime soon because caps locks and blog posts only go so far. It’s only common sense and good business practice to recognize and acknowledge donations, especially given that money is hard to part with these days when life can be super expensive and budgets tight. We haven’t been so great at doing that on an individual basis, and we are sorry! We really, truly are grateful!! WE ARE GRATEFUL!
The only way we at LHI can sleep every night with all the craziness going on in the world, in Greece, in our camp, and in this crisis in general is knowing that so many of you are sending love to our beloved refugee brothers and sisters around the world. At the end of the day, your donations directly go into the hands of refugees in the form of nutritious vegetables and other food, diapers, educational materials, and clothing. It’s not really about any of us, is it.
We will find a way to thank you individually, and properly so. In the meantime, we send our love and gratitude to you from the squats of Athens, the dirt floors of Serres, the newly furnished apartments in Phoenix, AZ, and from our hearts.
Love,
The LHI team