Community

My dearest Holly just got back into town and will be staying at my house until early October. It is incredible how much fun it is to set up a bed, some dinner and a "temporary closet" for someone you love and want to have as your guest.

This got me to thinking about how lucky I am to have the community that is my home. I live in a duplex, and the upstairs consists of me, my two incredible roommates, an outdoorsy lady I met in Alabama last summer at church camp and one of my best friends in the world, that I've known since the 6th grade. Oh and don't forget our two pit mix pups that everyone who reads this blog has seen plenty of. Downstairs there's two elementary school teachers and a sustainability guru who just finished her masters in Arizona. Oh and their adopted sassy cat, Rita, of course.

Between the 6 of us, we have 3 adopted animals, two teachers, a nurse, a study abroad coordinator, a future pastor, and a future environment healer. Community dinners each Monday are some of the most entertaining meals you could imagine.

GOOD magazine proposes that everyone find a way to invest in "community" this month. If you have a great idea, I suggest submitting it. Currently, I'm trying to think of how 6 women could spend $500 on a community dinner... I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Loving the GOOD Challenge this Month? Win $500 to Connect Even More Each month, GOOD challenges our community members to do something that will improve the world around us and our own lives. The challenge for September? To connect with other people. In an effort to support this challenge, we want to fund a GOOD meet-up event. Submit your ideas here to apply for $500 to fund your event. If you've been looking to get closer with members of your community, neighborhood, office, or school, this is your shot. Come up with a plan—is it a party, a workshop, a volunteer day, or a beer crawl? Who's invited? And, when is this all going down? You get the idea. Projects can be submitted as a written description, an image, or a YouTube video. We'll accept them from individuals, groups, or on behalf of an organization. Once projects are submitted, rally your colleagues and friends to back your effort and join the GOOD community in deciding which proposal most deserves the cash to make it happen. Act fast: Ideas must be submitted by noon PST on September 30. After that, we'll open up the ideas to a community vote, which will run through noon on October 6. Then, we'll announce a winner on October 10.