In social activist circles, perhaps especially those guided by faith, protest and direct action are sometimes known as “praying with your feet.” The adage comes from Abolitionist Frederick Douglass who wrote, “Praying never did me any good till I started praying with my feet.” In the twentieth century, another well-known social activist, theologian and Rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel, used the phrase to describe what it was like to participate in the American Civil Rights Movement. He wrote:
“For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.”
If social action—protest and social activism—is “praying with your feet,” what I learned during my tenure as LITE’s executive director is that working at a charity like ours is “walking with your heart.”
While often conceptually lumped together (“doing good”), social action and charitable activity are, in fact, very different in purpose and daily practice. Charities are regulated entities with a pre-defined, sometimes restrictive, directive (our is “reduce poverty”), whereas social justice movements are organized (sometimes loosely organized!) efforts that aim to sway public opinion on a given injustice and to create the political desire for structural change.
This isn’t to say there isn’t a relationship between social movements and charities. Whereas social movements aim to create “sudden” structural change or identify injustice—I’ve put “sudden” in quotation marks because successful movements are often decades in the making—charitable work often operates at the individual- or neighbourhood-level. The best charities, in my view, offer the everyday pursuit of justice.
Similarities between charities and social movements do exist. This is particularly true where the charity is one started by grassroots activists and / or are funded by what philanthropists call “community level donations” (contributions of $100 or less). LITE is largely a community-level donor-supported organization.
After six years and three months, I can say that working at a charity is not “wearing your heart on your sleeve.” Working at a charity like LITE is closer to “praying with your feet”: It’s walking with your heart.
A lesson in heart-walking
An experience isn’t just “life plus time.” An experience changes you, leaves you altered. Being LITE’s executive director has been an experience. It has shown me that walking with your heart matters.
Prior to leading LITE, I was a “reformed academic” and a social activist. I’m a policy nerd. A theory head. I know myself to be analytical. Brain-led, you could say.
The problem with these appellations, of course, is those of us who are policy nerds or theory heads really love our analytics, our empirics, our conceptualizations. There is nothing wrong with this per se (I remain a card-carrying nerd!), but there can be something missing from such a frame: emotional warmth, perhaps. At its worst, this can lead to downplaying the guidance that feelings offer our work. For me, it took a while to acknowledge the role that love plays in our sector.
As I’ve been packing up my things, cleaning out my desk, and organizing the files, I was surprised by what I am most proud of. Had you asked, I thought I would be most proud of the changes I helped bring to the organization. In the past six years, we have gone from being a well-respected organization within the nonprofit sector, to one that is much better known outside of what we affectionately call our “community economic development bubble.” Updated programs that are more inline with the realities facing people who have little-to-no connection to the labour market, perhaps. My (very impressive) conceptual charts that lay out LITE’s theory of change, maybe? But, no.
I thought I’d be really proud of the internal organizational development that has taken place, or the ways we’ve increased our impact, etcetera, etcetera.
Of course, at some level, I am proud. Just not as much as I thought I would be. I leave with accomplishments that will be translated into bullet points on my resume, sure. But what I’m actually proud of is something…a lot more squishy.
I’m proud of the love I both welcomed and practiced at LITE. Walking with my heart is what I have learned from community partners, volunteers, staff and donors. Walking with my heart is what I’ve also learned to share along the way.
In the past year or so, I have become unapologetic about naming how I feel about our work and our day-to-day activities. And I have become unabashed about saying out loud that I am in love (and often, in awe) of the people I work with and alongside: board members, staff, donors and partners. It started as a practice of gratitude, an acknowledgement of hard work in a time of mass exhaustion and burnout. Only now, I realize it is part-and-parcel of the walking.
Each group (they are non-exclusive categories) have a specific role to play at LITE, and each makes invaluable contributions. So, as a parting gift to folks who have given much to the effort that is LITE, here is a short list of my love for you:
I love LITE’s board members. I love how you show up, how you donate your time, your expertise, and your money. You do extra. You heap on insight and feedback. In the past year, especially, both professionally and personally, you’ve offered extraordinary compassion and acceptance. Thank you. For this and more, I’m eternally grateful to Molly, Monika, Wilson, Paul, Alexandra, Eric, Nadine, Shakti, and our newest board member, Lindsay. With love and appreciation to the board members who were a part of the organization during my time, including Carmyn, Tanya, Myles, Tashia, Uriel, Ariel, Angela, Tom, Janelle, Doug, Brent, Allison, Lindsey, Jolen, Lynn Ann, and Wade. Thank you for being so loving. Unabashedly, I love you back.
I love LITE’s current full-time staff, Ian and Jackie, each who brings their unique talents and passion to their role. Who trust process and teamwork, and who engage in 화이팅 (Hwaiting, pronounced ‘ph-wi-ting,’ Korean for “Don’t give up! Hang in there!”). I love your talents, your skills, and it’s been nice getting to know each of you during our daily coffee break. There have also been incredible part-time and full time staff over the past six years who I also love (if now from afar!), including Meghan, Kolya, Jordan, Ozten, Kristen, Tenessa, Kayla, Montana, and Jen. I’ve also been blessed to walk alongside volunteers and interns, including Danielle, Julia, Monika, Nicole, Pam, Hadass, my dear Uncle Don and, one-time Bernie Mitt model / adopted dad, Sherman. (Working at a charity does become a family affair.)
I love our partners. But more specifically, I love the staff I have worked alongside: Leslie, Tracy, Annetta, Tracey (“with an ‘e’!”), Kristi, Mohammad, Anne-Lydie, Kalen, Jessie, Joanne, Aliene, Sam, and Mitch are just a few. You folks are spectacular, gifted, driven, loving, and kind. You show up. You are the best experts of the communities you serve. You also make everything LITE does better. You are champions of walking with your heart.
And, although there’s not room to name all 549 individuals who generously gave to LITE in the past year, I will name a few who’ve expressed compassion and kindness along with their financial support—many for far longer than my short time at LITE. Sending love to Arthur, Stan, Tim, Judy, Brendan, Beatrice, Jean, Karen, Sean, Andy, Pat, Diane, Donald, Ruth, Shirley, Virginia, Marty, Anne, Shelley, Carly, and Evelyn. Your generosity wows me. Your long-term commitment to LITE inspires me to follow in your footsteps. Your gifts and your words of encouragement have often brought tears to my eyes. On days when our hearts felt stretched or weary, you’ve let us know that we are in no way alone—you were walking with us. Thank you.
So, yes, what I have learned, more than anything in the past six years and three months, is that although we must “pray with our feet,” we must also walk with our hearts.
Thanking everyone for a good lesson.
Love,
Tyler
Did you know that Tyler is a legacy donor to LITE? Support their commitment to giving people excluded from the labour market a chance by making a donation to the L.I.T.E Endowment Fund held at the Winnipeg Foundation.