Bill Shore’s Letters
Letter one month before anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Originally published: July 2006
The first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina will soon be upon us. A year’s perspective affirms the defining nature of that event which changed the landscape, economy, and people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, as well as the consciousness of America. It also triggered the greatest outpouring of philanthropy in our nation’s history.
I had two instincts while watching the storm and its aftermath on television. The first was to find ways in which we could raise more money to help. Generating new resources is one of our core competencies, and the demand for resources - food, housing, staffing, health care, counseling, etc - was certain to be enormous.
The other instinct was to buy an airline ticket and go to Louisiana, which I did almost as soon as it was possible to get there, along with Chuck, Kelley Gallagher, and our New York supporter Katie Workman. We had only a vague and unformed expectation of what we would do when we got there. We weren’t trained or qualified for search and rescue work. We were not tied into the local political structure or philanthropic community. And at that stage we did not have any money to disburse. So what could we contribute?
What I really wanted to do was to go and see for myself what had happened and how the victims of Katrina were coping. I wanted to go and see and allow myself to feel things about what I’d seen, and then share what I’d felt. I had less of a sense that I could effect change than that I would be changed by the powerful mix of emotions - sadness, sympathy, despair, anger, outrage, and ultimately hope - that are the inevitable response to such a situation.
That is what it means to bear witness. You “bear” witness because what you experience weighs on you. And one way to accommodate such a weight is to redistribute and share the load.
When something affects us powerfully we often say we have been moved. The literal implication is having started out in one place and ending up in another. In this way being moved means being transformed and personal transformation is what powers social change. It’s what Gandhi meant when he said “be the change you want to see in the world.”
Indeed we all were moved, and through Hinges of Hope we ended up bringing hundreds of others to New Orleans over the course of the year to share the experience. Many became very significant donors. Couple that with Ashley’s vision for and intense focus on the success of Restaurants For Relief and before we knew it we were on the path to raise more than $2 million which along with our volunteers helped re-open a school, fund the food banks, support summer feeding programs, begin the restoration of a fishing village, and find housing for returning employees so that restaurants and other businesses could re-open.
This has been one of the periods of which I’ve been most proud of Share Our Strength. We acted quickly, compassionately, and without regard to organizational self-interest.
One could argue that the time and energy we’ve put into rebuilding New Orleans is “off strategy”, especially given the priorities we’ve worked so hard to establish around ending childhood hunger in the many other states and regions in which it is concentrated. That may be true in the short term. We live in a world that worships at the alter of strategic thinking. But I haven’t given up on the idea that institutions can sometimes embrace the same values we try to instill in our children: that there are some things in life more important than advancing one’s own interests. Like being kind. Like reaching out to a stranger in need. Like faith in human gestures guided by nothing other than love.
But even skeptics can take comfort. In the long run, generosity of spirit almost never goes unrewarded. And ours has not. Restaurants for Relief will eventually evolve from post hurricane Katrina relief into an even more powerful future platform for funding our childhood hunger strategy. We enjoy dozens of new and fruitful relationships with CEOs, philanthropists, journalists and activists who journeyed with us on Hinges delegations.
Of course opportunities to bear witness extend far beyond Hurricane Katrina. At Share Our Strength we support hundreds of amazing organizations sure to affect one deeply. See for yourself how lives are being changed at the House of Ruth, or through the Chicago Food Depository or the Women’s Bean Project, or Gods Love We Deliver.
Being moved, bearing witness, is a less conventional form of philanthropy than writing a check, but it is no less powerful. It is a means of philanthropy available to each and every one of us, rich or poor, young or old, expert or amateur. There is an intimacy to it, an immediacy, which will not fail to leave you changed.
There is much to be done in this month leading up to Katrina’s anniversary, especially in securing more participants in Restaurants For Relief, in ensuring the success of our remaining Taste events, and in refining our national childhood hunger strategy. Be sure to bear witness to it all, to not only do the work, but to allow yourself to feel what it means to those whose lives we touch. And while you’re at it, there’s one more thing to which you might bear witness: the amazing team of dedicated idealists who comprise the staff of Share Our Strength and day in and day out make our organization one of the best in the world.
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