By: Christine Long, Saranam Board Member
As an ethics lawyer I am asked to speak or teach quite a bit. Without fail I am asked to provide a short bio. I hate having to provide a short bio. How do you sum up your career, interests, and accomplishments in a short bio? Plus, I hate tooting my own horn.
Recently I changed the last sentence of my bio to read: “Ms. Long is active in the community working with various charities and currently the Vice-Chair of Saranam, a refuge to empower families to end their homelessness and poverty through housing, education, and supportive communities.”
I put this in because it is one of the things I am most proud of outside of my family.
The best part is that I have been asked about Saranam several times now when I am introduced. I may not like tooting my horn, but I love tooting Saranam’s horn.
How often do we have things in life that we are unabashedly willing to brag about?
If you are reading this, you probably know about all of the wonderful things that Saranam does but people hearing for the first time are amazed. Everyone seems to recognize that homelessness is a problem but they genuinely don’t know what the solution is. Saranam isn’t the only solution, but it is a tried-and-true solution to homelessness that changes lives.
One of my most powerful things to say is that a child of a Saranam family is now a board member. Not an honorary board member, but a working member with valuable input and ideas. Just think about that!
Saranam changes lives and has been doing it for 20 years. I am so grateful that I get to be a small part of the Saranam story so I share that story whenever and wherever I can.
As we enter the holiday season, I encourage you to tell the family, friends and loved ones you are celebrating with about Saranam.
Share a story that has stuck with you, or an interesting fact. You may ignite a spark of interest and you will certainly spark a warm glow of hope.
And if you are able to this holiday season, please consider giving to Saranam so they can continue the work that inspires us all.
Read stories of families whose lives were changed at Saranam here.