By Richard Ober, president and CEO, NH Charitable Foundation
Editor's note: Following is a letter from Richard Ober, president and CEO of the NH Charitable Foundation.
“When this is over, I will always remember working with you. I will remember your passion, commitment and advocacy for the people who might have been forgotten.”
That’s what a nonprofit leader wrote the other day after she and our staff had worked together to support temporary shelter and services for homeless people and families. Her note made several of us cry — because that’s exactly how we feel about her and countless other community heroes on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it’s how we feel about the hundreds of Foundation donors whose unprecedented generosity is making those actions possible.
As I write this on April 9, there is so much we don’t know — when the all-clear will come, allowing us to return to some of our normal routines; the breadth and depth of the long-term impacts on the economy and society. Not since World War II has there been a global crisis of this magnitude. Too many people are dying and not enough people are being tested. No family will be left untouched.
But here is something we do know: Everywhere we look, people are stepping up. Health care workers and emergency responders are risking their lives to save others. Employees in grocery stores and pharmacies and child care centers and post offices are showing up to make sure we have food and medicine and mail and child care, even when they can barely get by on the wages. Nonprofit organizations are serving clients and communities against unbelievable odds. Reporters are reporting. Donors are giving. And then giving again.
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