Reflections on 2020
Written by Robyn Tenenbaum, Board Chair, December 14, 2020
Reflecting back on 2020 is a daunting task and will be something humans do for many years to come. This year will forever stand alone in our history books.
It seemed to start off like any other year but soon the world as we knew it shut down in ways we never thought possible.
For a few weeks, amidst the confusion of the times, the sky was bluer, the birds sang louder and it felt like we all might re-emerge from the experience of a shutdown with more self reflection about the most important things in life. For many, this time meant survival mode, loss of jobs and most excruciatingly, loss of life.
Little did anyone know how long we would live in a pandemic. And how much could possibly be piled on top of the already prominent time: The largest movement against racial injustice, a climate crisis, that literally choked the entire west coast for 10 days, far too many deaths of our friends and neighbors as well as some of our country's most beloved icons...all with the backdrop of the most critical Presidential election of all times.
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For those who are incarcerated, all outside visitations, volunteer programs, family visits came to a screeching halt on March 13. For us at the Insight Alliance, our 10-week Insight to Wellbeing groups all at once ended.
We paused for a moment, gathered our team and like everyone else in the world, talked about new and fresh ideas about what we could do during this time.
What resulted was a year for The Insight Alliance like no other - we soared to new heights, reaching even more people on the inside through our twice a month Moments of Insight Newsletter and weekly webinars with people in our community, offering helpful tips and thoughts on their own experiences living through a pandemic. We have received numerous letters confirming they are helping people live more freely inside while we are going through these times.
Fortunately, we are still able to continue our classes at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility via zoom and we are so fortunate to be able to stay engaged with the youth.
It was only February when we hired our first Operations Director, Lindsay Jensen, and with Lindsay came a wealth of knowledge about organizational development, systems, fundraising, grant writing, marketing and the list goes on. Quite simply, Lindsay is a Unicorn. It's remarkable how much knowledge she has about building an organization and we are grateful she came to us at the exact time she did.
So much to be proud of and yet so difficult to boast success during a time where there is so much struggle in the world. We are so sorry to not be able to support those who are incarcerated during this time and are so humbled by what we are able to do for them from where we stand out here, amidst one of the strangest times in history. We appreciate the support of our loyal team of staff, board, teachers, partners and all who have contributed to our organization.
Our organization is strong and poised for what's to come, whatever that may be.
As we look towards 2021, we wish stability and safety to our friends everywhere.