I will always keep cheering you on! 
Thank you for all you do - so Manu of your programs have enriched my life and tapped into a creativity and curiosity I've never explored before. I owe you.

We are theatre artists who moved here from San Francisco in August 2025. We are so grateful that Playwrights' Jam welcomed us into Ithaca's theatre community! Thank you! --Gene & Ellen

I gave because i want to support beyond emergency relief and support rebuilding care 

It is a matching gift for our employee Victoria Tredinnick.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology celebrates the eccentric and encourages us to question our understanding of the world. I’m proud to support this storied institution that presents the strange and obscure with such wonder and depth, reminding us to embrace curiosity and the unknown.

Michael cares deeply about humans, and he sees patterns at a scale most of us don’t. With Humans on the Loop he is putting much-needed energy into ensuring we retain agency as we’re absorbed into complex technological systems

The world needs faithful Christians/Catholics now more than ever.  We have seen, over the past 100 years or so, what happens when our rootedness in Christ is cut off, it is time to reassert it. 

Story House Ithaca brings people together to share, study, create, and enjoy stories in all their forms.

Story House Ithaca brings people together around stories. We define “story” very broadly, to include fiction and nonfiction, poetry and song, documentary, journalism, photography, audio, film, theater, puppetry, visual and performance art, graphics, dance, and every other way of communicating ideas and experience. Our definition of “house” is also broad. We hope eventually to settle into our own space, but for now we’re excited to be popping up around the community.

**The Problem**

Our society is going through a period of fracturing, as people of different socioeconomic, cultural, and educational backgrounds divide into ever more insular groups. One reason for this is a lack of opportunities for people to interact in meaningful and non-threatening ways. This has had disastrous consequences in politics, public health, and many other areas.
  
 **Our Approach**

- Story House creates. We dream up, organize, and present workshops, discussions, readings, talks, screenings, exhibitions, performances, participatory projects, and other activities. 
- Story House collaborates. We work with organizations, artists, activists, scholars, and others to plan and present compelling programming. 
- Story House connects. We help creative people and groups find new partners and reach new audiences. 
- Story House empowers. We help members of our community acquire the skills they need to tell the stories they want to tell.

In all our programs and activities, we are committed to creating inclusive spaces that welcome diversity. We strive to foster interactions between people of different cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the goal of working toward shared understanding and a more equitable, anti-racist society.
 
**Our Team**

Lesley Greene (co-director) is a producer, designer, writer, and director. She worked for many years at the Kitchen Theatre Company, where she curated and produced three performance series, created sound and projection designs, and served as chief grant writer and head of marketing. She is a co-founder and co-organizer of Porchfest, a festival that began in Ithaca in 2007 and now takes place in more than 150 cities across North America.
  
Jonathan Miller (co-director) is a writer, journalist, editor, radio producer, podcaster, and media project leader whose work has taken him to more than 20 countries. Since 2006, he has been executive director of Homelands Productions, an award-winning journalism collective that specializes in public radio features and documentaries. Jon serves on the board of Ithaca City of Asylum and coordinates the ONWARDS project, which seeks to help displaced writers, artists, human rights defenders, and scholars find stability in the USA.
 
**Contact information** 

Lesley Greene and Jonathan Miller, co-directors
[info@storyhouseithaca.org](mailto:info@storyhouseithaca.org) 
   

Story House Ithaca

Empowering Palestinians since 1983 through education, culture and relief programs in Palestine and beyond. Together, we build hope

**Taawon (Welfare Association)** is a **non-profit**, **civic organization** launched in **Geneva** in the year **1983**, upon the initiative of a group of **Palestinian and Arab economists** and intellectuals.
**Taawon has become one of the largest organizations operating in Palestine and the diaspora camps in Lebanon**, whereby it touches the lives of **more than one million Palestinians** on an annual basis, with half of these beneficiaries being **women**.
**Since its establishment, Taawon has invested funds reaching nearly US $900 million, dedicated to development and relief programs.**

**Taawon’s record** over the past 40 years reflects a journey full of achievements reinforced by **strong partnerships**.
Taawon’s long and rich experience has enabled it to:

- Overcome **obstacles** and **difficult conditions** due to the **Israeli occupation**
- Find **innovative and creative solutions** to crises
- Remain responsive to needs despite **social and economic instability**

Taawon maintains a presence in:

- **Palestine**
- **Jordan**
- **Lebanon**
- **Switzerland**
- **Great Britain** (via its sister organization)

Its **interventions reinforce the steadfastness** of **Palestinian citizens** in **Palestine** and the **refugee camps in Lebanon**.

**Taawon aims to:**

- **Empower Palestinian individuals** and **civil society institutions**
- Strengthen **identity**, **freedom**, **democracy**, and **human values**
- Preserve **Palestinian cultural heritage**, highlighting its **unique position**
- Unleash the creative energies of **youth**, **women**, and **children**
- Provide **equal opportunities** for all segments of society
- Promote **creativity** and **excellence** despite the most difficult circumstances

**Taawon works in partnership** with civil society organizations through:

- Purposeful planning
- High-standard policies

Guided by:

- The **Universal Declaration of Human Rights**
- The **United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)**
- The **Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity**

🏅 *Awards & Recognition:*

- **Taawon Awards for Excellence & Creativity**, granted annually to those advancing **sustainable development in Palestine** 
- Recipient of the **Mahatma Award (2018–2020)** for **COVID‑19 humanitarian efforts** [taawon.org](https://www.taawon.org/en/content/awards-received?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

***Our Vision****:*

*“To envision the Palestinian people as citizens of an independent, free, democratic Arab Palestine, living in dignity, prosperity and self‑fulfillment.”*

Taawon (Welfare Association)

Sustainability education at the EcoVillage at Ithaca, a living laboratory for intentional community & ecological resilience.

For over 30 years, the [EcoVillage at Ithaca](https://https://ecovillageithaca.org/) has been part of a global movement shaping a sustainable future. We believe that today’s complex global challenges — climate change, social and economic injustice, biodiversity loss, and the loneliness epidemic — are best addressed at the local level. Working together with our neighbors, we are experimenting with intentional ways of living and learning as part of the [Great Turning](https://https://workthatreconnects.org/dimensions-of-the-great-turning/) - through shared governance, mutual aid, regenerative agriculture, and green energy and infrastructure. [Thrive Ithaca EcoVillage Education Center](https://https://www.thriveithaca.org/) **shares the lessons learned in our community to inspire the next generation of sustainability change makers.** We provide experiential education programs for students, researchers, and design professionals, as well as individuals and groups in all phases of intentional community exploration and development.  
 
**Our team**

**Jen Myers**, Project Director
  
**Advisory Board**
 
Heather Sullivan-Catlin 
Julia Ellis  
Wren Anjali 
Steve Gaarder

**Contact information** 

[contact@thriveithaca.org](mailto:contact@thriveithaca.org) 
   

Thrive Ithaca EcoVillage Education Center

The Taube Center is committed to strengthening the bonds between Jews and Jewish communities worldwide.

The Taube Center provides innovative educational programs and extensive resources with the aim to enrich Jewish life in Poland and to connect Jews from around the world with their Eastern European heritage. The Taube Center has developed an array of programs, which serve the Jewish communities in Poland and engage audiences from around the world. Constantly expanding its network of partner organizations, the Center has recently become a member of the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Taube Jewish Heritage Tours Taube Jewish Heritage Tours is a mission-driven, on-the-ground Jewish heritage tour service based in Poland. Our professional team of academics, guides, educators, and community leaders provide meaningful and engaging customized tours of Poland's multicultural landscape, infusing each encounter with illuminating personal stories and insights from those engaged in Polish Jewish life and committed to the preservation of Polish Jewish heritage. TJHTalks Series Having suspended our flagship program, Taube Jewish Heritage Tours, we launched TJHTalks in April 2020 as an interactive way to maintain contact with past and future tour participants and to broaden the Center's audience. Yerusha: Professional Development Program The year-long program, now in its second year, distinguishes itself from other Jewish professional development opportunities in that the operative language is Polish and all workshop facilitators are based in Poland. Resource and Educational Materials The Taube Center has developed a sophisticated set of resource materials in several languages that support our educational programs and are especially valuable for our study tour program. Our publications have been disseminated at the POLIN Museum and the Galicia Jewish Museum and through Polish embassies and cultural institutions around the world.

Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning

The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, CA is a nonprofit organization focused on natural history and history of science 

Museum of Jurassic Technology

Let's dream together better!  Exploring wisdom for a world of magical technologies with paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield.

**If you could do anything with technology, what will you do?**

Humans On The Loop is a transdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of agency in our age of automation.

In our AI-infused society, the gap between imagination and “reality” is smaller than it’s ever been — and now it’s time for humankind to graduate from asking if our dreams are possible to asking how we can dream better. This means cultivating deeper self-awareness, more discipline and humility, and a better metaphysics of technology to help us wield these new superpowers. But decades into a period of rapid information scaling, our grasp of consensus reality and executive function have eroded, causing an epistemic crisis. The wicked problems of this century require coordination at unprecedented scale, but our greatest natural resource — attention — has worn even thinner than our topsoil. How do we regenerate it and restore the faculties we need to be good stewards of this new ecology of minds?

Navigating the challenges that come with new information technologies is a group exercise and demands inherently plural approaches. The right response to tools that amplify our biases is to lean in with curiosity and play, not fearI have spent two decades studying and synthesizing  perspectives on intelligence and technology, innovation, and human-technology co-evolution…as well as testing bleeding-edge creative tools in public, helping cultivate systems literacies for navigating transformation, and fostering a massive network of mentors and collaborators with whom I share a devotion to the cultivation of a healthy Biosphere and Technosphere. As AI comes of age, this is the moment to recruit as many of them as we can into a multimodal public inquiry on wisdom and technology, power and responsibility, holistic practices for cultivating saner futures…and how we can keep Humans On The Loop and at the wheel.

It's going to be a trip — how can we make sure that it’s a good one?

This project exists to foster a renaissance of collaboration and the conditions for new ways of knowing. Its goals include to:

– Boost public discourse at the intersection of technology and wisdom
– Create a legacy of public goods that help train instruments for deepening our understanding
– Prototype and demonstrate experimental tools for thought
– Promote the adoption of reflexive AI for both private and public good
– Help map the emergent ecosystem of changemaking orgs and wise innovators
– Fertilize new narratives and strategies for navigating "wicked problems"
– Bridge domains and cultures in positive-sum collaboration

***Explore this project's [vision document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kIoDlRD721UhZW4SjXIeccpCo2-v3ngoF1iZDwNyfPU/edit?usp=sharing), [pitch deck](https://bit.ly/hotl-slideshow), and* [essay/podcast archive](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/t/humans-on-the-loop)*.***
***[Subscribe](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/subscribe) for weekly dialogues plus articles, reviews, monthly hangouts, and more.* And please** [email my secure inbox](mailto:humansontheloop@proton.me) **with questions or partnership requests!**

Humans On The Loop

Become the partner of our community and millenary patrimony, the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille

The Abbey of Saint Wandrille was founded by Saint Wandrille in the mid-seventh century on the banks of the Seine, in Normandy (France). Today it is an impressive monument, a unique spiritual and cultural inheritance that the monks continue to inhabit.

Two major works are to achieve in order to preserve this architectural patrimony.

- **PROJECT #1: RESTORE THE GOTHIC CLOISTER**
The cloister of Saint-Wandrille, one of the two complete Gothic cloisters in Upper Normandy, suffers the ravages of humidity: soil in peril, stones and gnawed sculptures, development of moss and algae... The restoration has begun in 2018 but it is still in progress.
- **PROJECT #2: REHABILITATE THE "EAST" WING OF THE ABBEY**
Accidentally destroyed in the 19th century, the extremity of this building, of Maurist architecture, must imperatively be consolidated. The choice was made to extend it, which will allow the creation of new essential spaces: a library, to protect unique manuscripts and books of the Abbey, as well as an infirmary to care for the most fragile.

**MORE INFORMATION**
To know more about the restoration works in our Abbey, please visit: [https://st-wandrille.com/en/bathildis/](https://st-wandrille.com/en/bathildis/)
To learn more about our current life, spirituality, visits and spiritual retreats: [https://st-wandrille.com/en/](https://st-wandrille.com/en/)

Saint-Wandrille Abbey

Since 1945, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee has inspired discovery in generations of youth and families.

Neighborhood House of Milwaukee's mission is to inspire discovery in children and families of all backgrounds so they become lifelong learners and confident leaders among their peers, families, and communities. 

Our accredited programs include:

- **Early Childhood Program (ECP)** (ages 6 weeks - 4 years). NH’s state-licensed and nationally accredited, early childhood program provides exceptional care and education that supports age-appropriate development and ensures school readiness. ECP also includes Early Head start programming for infants and toddlers up to age 3.
- **School-Age Youth Programs** (ages 5-12) includes a state-licensed, before- and after-school program at NH, an after-school Safe Place initiative at Story Elementary, and Summer Programming. These initiatives provide educational enrichment, recreation, and community engagement.
- **Teens on the Move Program** (ages of 13-19) provides engaging activities that focus on life and leadership skills, violence prevention, vocational preparedness, health, and recreation.
- **Family Programming** features free or very low-cost educational, cultural and holiday events.
- **International Learning Program (ILP)** offers English as a Second Language, basic education, and citizenship instruction, employment skills training, and access to resources to 200+ adult refugees and immigrants annually.
- **Environmental Education Program (EE)**. One of the oldest environmental and science education programs in the area, EE offers science-based education and enrichment activities using a NH-developed curriculum.
- **Community Education** offers health and wellness events and engages in community-wide health programs. Specific offerings include our annual health resource fair, fall flu immunization clinic, and health workshops.

Neighborhood House of Milwaukee

We spark thoughtful conversation with provocative plays and entertaining musicals while empowering local and emerging artists. 

SpeakEasy produces intimate, entertaining plays and musicals that are new to Boston and compel thoughtful conversation. We champion new talent and future arts leaders, alongside a diverse community of experienced local theatre professionals who share our devotion to excellence. We treat our artists, audiences and supporters as collaborators, working with us to make Boston a city that is sustainable for artists.

SpeakEasy Stage Company

An international study centre for textiles, textile crafts, and dress, worldwide and from prehistory to the present day.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC) is a knowledge centre set up in 1991 as an independent foundation. Since 2009 it is housed at Hogewoerd 164, in the centre of historic Leiden, The Netherlands. Here it has the use of an exhibition space, a large depot, offices and workrooms. The basic aim of the TRC is to give the study of textiles, dress, and accessories their proper place in the field of humanities and social sciences, but also in the context of crafts and craft education. The TRC does so by providing courses and lectures, carrying out research and by the presentation of textiles and dress from all over the world. The two main focal points of the TRC are (a) dress and identity: what people wear in order to say who they are and (b) textile crafts and technology, both pre-industrial and industrial.

In order to reach its objectives, the TRC houses various collections, of more than 50,000 items, including a Textile and Garment Collection and a Reference Collection for fibres, threads, dyes, weaves, printed and machine embroidered textiles, and so forth. Most of the objects are photographed, and are available online (open access), with detailed information, In addition, research is aided by the TRC’s library (some 6,500 books, a large collection of articles, as well as visual material such as photographs, prints and postcards). Students, designers and academics come from many countries to Leiden to use the TRC’s facilities and to attend workshops and courses.

Stichting Textile Research Centre

We connect Black students and entrepreneurs to global Black excellence. We repair the exclusion created by lack of access.


The Diaspora Salon is an initiative of Association Collectif Eclats de Lune which organizes cross-cultural events . This specific program is an annual convening of scholars, artists, cultural practitioners, financiers, technologists, and community builders from across Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. It is designed as an intentional intervention: a space where students and entrepreneurs experience, often for the first time, what it means to belong to excellence—and to be seen, valued, and welcomed into it. 

Beyond inspiration the participants gain durable access to a global network that invests in their potential, mentors their ambitions, and walks alongside them over time. This is social capital made visible, transferable, and enduring. Most Black students and entrepreneurs remain structurally excluded from these global networks. Few have the opportunity to travel. Fewer still have direct relationships with Black leaders operating at the highest levels across sectors and geographies.

Philanthropic support for the Diaspora Salon directly addresses this gap. It ensures that proximity to excellence is not an accident of privilege, but a deliberate act of investment—one that creates lifelong networks, expands global possibility, and helps a new generation imagine, and access, futures previously out of reach.

Our past initiatives have shown that access to global networks and excellence creates permanent, life-changing impact.    

Our annual gathering unfolds in Marrakech, beginning on the final day of the Contemporary African Art Fair 1:54 — a moment when the city hums with creativity and the spirit of Black cultural imagination. The sponsored participants for most have never travelled. They are then immersed in a world where brilliance travels freely across continents, and art collectors from around the globe arrive to celebrate Black excellence in contemporary art.

For many who may not often step inside museums, it becomes a revelation — a doorway into the vast and powerful presence of Black artists shaping the global stage. Creativity is not simply seen. It is felt, shared, and honored as part of a living, breathing heritage. 

After discovering the international power of Black visual artists, participants are then immersed in four days of luminous conversations with leaders who look like them — voices of brilliance, achievement, and imagination. In their presence, possibility widens. Dreams feel nearer. And students begin to see that they, too, can aspire — and belong — at the very center of excellence.

As someone who understands the power of being in the right place at the right time, we invite you to give that opportunity to others. 

We invite you to support this singular initiative, building lasting pathways to success and changing lives for generations.

Association Collectif Eclats de Lune 

The Wellbeing Project is catalyzing a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers and in changemaking.



Founded in 2015,  The Wellbeing Project is catalyzing a culture of wellbeing for all changemakers.  It works to strengthen the field of social change by bringing a greater focus on individual and organizational wellbeing. Our research demonstrates that by supporting changemakers' deep inner work, they experience profound shifts in who they are, what they do, and how they run organizations. As a result,  changemakers become healthier individuals, they build stronger and more human-centered workplaces, and they catalyze greater innovation and collaboration in the sector. The Project is co-created with  Ashoka, Georgetown University, Impact Hub, Porticus, the Skoll Foundation and the Synergos Institute.  We choose to work as a collaborative co-creation convinced that with deep mutual trust and bringing our different capacities we can unleash the kind of imagination and creativity that can rapidly and powerfully catalyze a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers. 

The Wellbeing Project

to help build healthy indigenous leaders,  disciple-making disciples, to reach the neglected people groups in Asia

The BIG 5 

We 5 have significant objectives: 1. Mentor and coach pastors and emerging "Timothys" in Asia; 2. Make disciple-making- disciples. 3. Mobilize missionaries to Asia 4. Reach the neglected people groups in Asia. 5. Reach internationals and refugees in U.S. cities

Our Focus: 1. Cross-Cultural Ministry 2. Short-term to long-term Missions and missionary placement 3. Healthy Leader Development in the church, business, and education worlds

E 3 Leadership Group

The Bay Area’s Adventure-Seeking Orchestra! We aim to make awesome orchestral adventures accessible to musicians and the public.

We hold free reading sessions about once a month. Part performance, part open rehearsal, we're open to all musicians and all audiences. Awesöme Orchestra Collective plays everything from Björk to Stravinsky in fun spaces all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

IT STARTED WITH A MUSICAL EXPERIMENT

In the spring of 2013, conductor David Möschler called up a bunch of Bay Area musicians for an experiment — an open music reading session, with Beethoven, Bolero, and free beer. Over fifty people showed up. They realized immediately that they had created something special: a musical group dedicated to being awesome and accessible on every level.

What began as a small collective of friends playing music together has grown into a community that spans the Bay Area. Today, over 2,000 local musicians have played in Awesöme Orchestra. We hope that you’ll join us at our next musical adventure as a player or an audience member!

Our mission is to make awesome orchestral adventures accessible to musicians and the public. Our vision is to create a new model for orchestras to represent, serve, and inspire their communities.

Our core values: we strive for accessibility, community, and excellence in all that we do. We believe music sounds better when everybody is having a good time.

We recognize that orchestras have long been complicit in the systemic oppression of marginalized communities while passing off this exclusion as "tradition." We are aware these inequalities are deeply systemic and will take years to undo, and our organization remains committed to combating these injustices with the following actions and goals:

- Amplify voices of marginalized communities
- Form deeper partnerships with communities and organizations.
- Create more equity and representation at every level of our organization.

Awesöme Orchestra Collective

Our Legacy is a nonprofit organization that focuses on serving Ukraine.  It received its nonprofit status in 2012.

We are committed to supporting disciple-making movements in all areas of society! There are 7 major programs that we support:

Sports Discipleship 

Camp Karabin

Holistic Students

International Missional Internship

Fatherhood

Sustainability

Our Legacy

The Fountain aims to envision, create and restore a global economy of reciprocity, inspired by nature and the sacred.

Mission, Vision, and Values

Our Vision
We envision a restored global economy of reciprocity inspired by Nature and the Sacred in which all beings thrive.

Mission 
Our mission is to enable collaborative action that bridges the original principles of ancient cultures into a new vision for sacred economics in service to sacred territories.

Our Values
The Fountain’s work is inspired and guided by the original principles including: Reciprocity | Respect | Responsibility | Relationship

What Is The Fountain ?

Imagine a global economic system truly aligned with care for the earth and the whole of life for the benefit of current and future generations, guided by the ancestral wisdom and technologies of cultures that have lived this way for the larger course of human history. This is the work of The Fountain.

There is growing awareness of the extraordinary wisdom originally developed and perennially sustained by the world’s ancestral indigenous peoples – peoples whose cultural genesis can be traced back to the original times. 

It is in the return to the sacred origins and principles of this ancestral wisdom – calling for the unification of all peoples with the earth – that a return to balance and sustainability is to be found. The vision of The Fountain, and the extraordinary sacredness of its origin and seed, is of partnership between sharing original teachings, conscious collaboration, and being in action to activate sacred economics and sacred territories.

Through the deep understanding, experience and relationships contained in its ecosystem, The Fountain exists to catalyse this journey to reconnection and ultimately to unification through its vision, mission, and values. 

The path forward is to restore a global economy of reciprocity inspired by nature and the sacred – bringing together conscious investors, philanthropists, whole system entrepreneurs, leaders on transformational economics and finance and holders of indigenous ecological knowledge. A multi-disciplinary, intercultural exchange united in service to the earth and future generations.

Our current programs
Mother Earth Delegation of United Original Nations 
Gathering of elders from around the globe working in unity and in service to Mother Earth

Sacred Land Trusts for Sacred Territories 
Protection of sacred sites of key importance for Earth’s preservation

Houses of Original Thought
Restoring esoteric knowledge of Mother Earth

Pagamentos
Ancient forms of ritual and specially prepared offerings that restore and harmonize Earth’s energies

Original Principles Alignment Protocol
Educating business leaders on original wisdom and ways of being

The Fountain Flow Fund 
Flexibly flowing resources to where they are urgently needed especially to original nations and their associated programs

*\~ \~ \~ \~ \~*

*PS - We look forward to sharing our continuing work with you! To be sure to stay up to date, please check the box for email collection to give us permission to add you to our mailing list!*

The Fountain For The Natural Order Of Our Existence

We address food insecurity, social isolation, loneliness among Asian Elders living in under-resourced & underinvested communities.

**Donate to Heart of Dinner's mission in addressing food insecurity, social isolation, and loneliness among Asian American older adults living in NYC's under-resourced and underinvested communities.**

Concerning data reveals that 23% of Asian New Yorkers live in poverty, significantly higher than the citywide average of 16% of all New Yorkers. And a staggering 28% of Asian American older adults 65+ live in poverty. As the American Bar Association reveals, Asian elders, especially those from immigrant backgrounds, endure more social isolation and mental health struggles than their peers due to linguistics, financial, and cultural barriers. These factors combined significantly impact the mental and emotional well-being of Asian American older adults in a city where depression and suicide among older adult immigrants are on the rise.

**Heart of Dinner addresses these critical community needs by home-delivering to Elders with Heart of Dinner's signature nourishing care packages of culturally thoughtful and nutrient-dense food, bundled inside lovingly hand-illustrated bags, attached with uplifting handwritten notes in the Elder's native language.**

**Quick Links to Learn More about Heart of Dinner a 501c3 nonprofit public charity:**

- **[Click here](https://www.heartofdinner.org/)** to visit Heart of Dinner's official website to learn more about the organization.
- **[Click here to watch](https://fortune.com/videos/watch/Aging-Asian-Americans-face-high-rates-of-social-isolation-and-poverty/484b609c-e2bd-408b-9932-db06dac8faa0)** Fortune's video "Aging Asian Americans face high rates of social isolation and poverty" and Heart of Dinner's work in addressing this directly. 

**A Note from Our Founders about Heart of Dinner & Our Evolution from 2020-2024:**

Dear Cherished Supporter,

Thank you for taking a moment to connect with our mission. We are so grateful for the opportunity to share our journey with you—a journey born from a deep, instinctive need to care for our Elders. **In March 2020, at the onset of the global pandemic, we leapt into action to support our Asian American elder community, who were facing devastating food insecurity, isolation, and loneliness.**

While many believe the urgency that defined the pandemic has passed, **the reality for our Elders remains critical. Even now, 1 in 3 Asian American older adults live below the poverty line.** These challenges are not new. For decades, this community has been overlooked, its struggles masked by the harmful “model minority” myth, which conceals the deep inequities faced by Asian American Elders. This, combined with language barriers, technology gaps, and economic hardship, means that many continue to lack access to the resources and care they deserve.

Out of a guttural instinct to protect and uplift our Elders, we **transformed our 300 square-foot apartment on the cusp of Chinatown and the Lower East Side into a sanctuary of cultural resonance and care.** We hyperfocused on those in the most critical state, providing emergency food relief and addressing their emotional needs through handwritten notes in their native languages, making sure our Elders felt seen, valued, and dignified.

**These care packages are more than just food—they are a lifeline.** Filled with culturally meaningful lunchboxes and fresh groceries beloved in Asian immigrant households like bok choy, rice, mung beans (and more!), all lovingly bundled inside decorated bags, attached with notes of love & joy that deliver warmth, connection, and belonging.

As our work evolved beyond emergency relief, we **built Heart of Dinner into a nonprofit focused on sustainable care.** Thanks to our incredible community of donors, partners, volunteers, and small team of staff, we have transformed into a **501(c)(3) public charity that continues to nourish and uplift our Elders, week after week.**

By Summer 2024, **we have delivered over 200,000 meals to beloved Elders living in significantly under-resourced and underinvested communities across New York City.** And our work is far from over. The challenges our Elders face didn’t begin with the pandemic, and they certainly won’t end with it. **These hardships are rooted in long-standing societal and governmental neglect, where policies and systems have historically overlooked the needs of this community.**

**Looking forward, we have plans to build Heart of Dinner's own delivery infrastructure with a fleet of electric vehicles, hire a dedicated team of drivers trained in our protocols—which emphasize cultural respect and thoughtful care when serving our Elders—and we aim to increase our care package distribution by 25%.** **These efforts will build upon our ongoing commitment to delivering care packages to our Elders and existing beneficiaries with the same high level of deep care and compassion.**

**Behind the scenes, we are strengthening systems to support Heart of Dinner’s sustainable growth,** so that we can continue to serve with deep care for years to come. **With these steps, we aim to cover all five boroughs of NYC—and even dream of extending our love and care to California.**

At the heart of Heart of Dinner is our belief in nourishing souls, bridging cultures and generations, and redefining what it means to care. We proudly support local businesses, empower individuals to uplift communities, and prioritize sustainability, creating a ripple effect of positive change.

**We invite you to take action with us today. Your support will help build a world where love, dignity, and connection are not just ideals—but fundamental human rights.**

With heartfelt gratitude,

Yin Chang & Moonlynn Tsai

Founders, Heart of Dinner

Heart Of Dinner

Creating communities of compassionate care to transform difficult emotional experiences into opportunities for learning & growth.

Challenging or intense emotional experiences can be moments of profound insight, healing, and transformation. But they can also be disorienting, isolating, and overwhelming. In these moments, having access to compassionate support and culturally attuned care can make all the difference.

Zendo Project offers peer-based emotional support at events and provides educational resources to individuals, communities, and organizations. Our aim is to help people navigate complexity with greater resilience, care, and self-awareness. Through grounding, presence, and connection, we reduce potential harms and create space for learning, repair, and deeper relationships with self and others.

Supporters like you are essential to making this work possible. In a world where distress is often met with fear or force, our mission is to ensure that people in vulnerable states are met with compassion instead. Your contribution helps us continue to offer trauma-informed, non-judgmental care, and to create environments where all people can feel supported, seen, and safe—especially in moments when they need it most.

Please visit [https://zendoproject.org](https://zendoproject.org) to learn more about our mission.

Zendo Project: Peer Support and Compassionate Care

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We are a nonprofit, so we rely on the generosity of donors like you.

Choose a donation for Every.org

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We are a nonprofit, so instead of charging fees we rely on the generosity of donors like you.

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Story House Ithaca

Thrive Ithaca EcoVillage Education Center

Story House Ithaca

Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning

Taawon (Welfare Association)

Museum of Jurassic Technology

Culture