Build the World You Want to See

Dear Friends,
I am struck today with the rare gift it is to be living in the midst of a cross-cultural community that celebrates the goodness of each neighbor, honors their diverse experiences, cultures, faith backgrounds, and works in partnership to build the world we want to see. I’ve had the privilege of being an eye witness to the life that springs out of this sort of community for nearly 10 years.

Unfortunately, simultaneously, we know that in this wider cultural moment there are loud competing voices and values - aiming to turn us on our neighbors, to see differences as threats, to close our doors completely to immigrants and refugees, to lose touch with the ways in which we all long for connection, to forget that we are all so very human.

There are many choices to make in this season around how we intend to live into our deepest values. I hope that we each lean toward love, toward welcome—propelled by a resilient, audacious hope and with the belief that each neighbor is worthy of dignity, safety, and mutual respect.

This reality will require us to make tough choices about what our time, energy, and resources will create.

It is entirely possible for you, me, and our neighbors to fully fund this mission, keeping the doors of our cross-cultural community center open to stand as a living testimony in our city of what it looks like when neighbors come together with hopefulness and intention to build the world we want to see.

So, together, bit by bit, let us build a world that not only listens to voices on the margins, but reimagines the world through their eyes, perspective and experience and then invites them in as rightful leaders of this movement.

Let us build a world where women who protected their children amidst war and displacement, find peace, safety, friendship and purpose again that allows them to move toward goals she sets for the future - a future that she forgot was possible.

Let us build a world where neighbors are not isolated enemies, but friends who connect across differences over a cup of chai.

Let us build a world where teen girls who are holding so much as interpreters, students, family advocates, and responsible siblings can lean into their own wonder and childhood, being enveloped into a community who shares their experience and believes in their blossoming future.

Let us build a world where seeking mental health support doesn’t mean fitting into a box of Western practice nor having your story interpreted, but let it be held and facilitated by someone who leads in your heart language, alongside neighbors who share your culture - bringing peace to you, and then your family, and then our world.

Let us build a world where artists and makers, teachers and healers do not spend the rest of their days in work that is not connected to their skills, but find spaces to unleash their gifts within their new community.

Let us build a world where Christians, Muslims, Hindus, seekers, and nones reveal the transforming power of love together in this world and point toward a reality where differences don’t equal division, but can be our deepest strength.

Let us build a world where those who have resettled don’t have to hide or forget their deepest cultural values and traditions, but instead find that they are celebrated and act as a road map to belonging for those who have forgotten their roots.

Let us build a world where neighbors commit to investing in radical welcome, in the leadership of women and girls...

Let us build a world where (add your hope here): ________________________________________.

If you have joined us in any capacity—whether at an event or as a volunteer—you've witnessed belonging in action. With a gift of $25–$150, you can provide wellness supplies that support mental health, materials for women’s and teens’ leadership development, or resources for cultural celebrations that build confidence and connection. Together, we can keep building the world we want to see.

As we close 2025, would you invest in shaping that future with us?

This year, your gift helps build the world we want to see—right here in our neighborhood.

With relentless hope,

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