A letter from NESEA lifetime member, Board Member, and unapologetic cowboy, Kate Goldstein
Dear NESEA Supporter:
It’s been really tough for me to sit down and write this. Not because I don’t have a whole lot to say (unfortunately, I don’t think that ever happens) but instead because I knew this would be: a) intensely personal and b) involve me asking you for money. I’ve come to terms with the latter and will have to allow its significance to guide me through the former.
I’ve learned, in my four and a half years out of college, that it is incredibly hard to do the right thing. It’s hard to find work where pure unadulterated intentions are rewarded, and where idealism, passion, and persistence put you on the path to success. It seems to me that wanting to save the world and helping people in the process should be something that society values. If it is, then I’ve been in all the wrong places.
I write this, not because I have lost my passion, or idealism, or persistence, but because I still have them. I write this, because the only reason I still do is that there is one place where these things are valued. There is one place that I have found my professional family and only one. There is only one place where I have found myself, and to be quite honest, I would have lost that self, had it not been for this place. I have needed this family to remind me that it is okay to be a cowboy. I have needed this family to reinforce what I once knew so firmly about myself. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association is that place and that family.
I’m one of the youngest members of this family. And it strikes me, that I cannot be alone in my frustration to accomplish quality, conscious work, passionately. And if I am not alone, that means that others my age could be losing all of these things in the absence of a family to reinforce them.
As the NESEA tribe has gotten older, that tribe of crazy hippies who dared to give a damn 30 years ago and just never stopped caring, I wonder who is going to be there to give a damn in the next 30. Without any exaggeration, I’m not sure the answer would be “me” without NESEA.
NESEA sustains me. Above all, it has been a place of shelter and a place of mentorship. And I have watched so very many others my age, and those in all stages of their journey, find this solace and guidance here. I believe that the NESEA membership guides every single day, that we are a group that sustains because we foster the developmental growth of our own kind, young and old. However, I would have never been exposed to any of these guides without NESEA. We can only live in so many worlds at the same time. The diversity of NESEA’s membership is a gift for us who have not yet found our own path. NESEA is the shelter of our community.
It’s been a tough year for me, and it’s been a tough year for NESEA. I became a lifetime member this year, and I will give again at the time of this writing. I’m giving, and I have given, because we need to preserve this shelter. We need to strengthen this shelter, so kids like me don’t give up. We need to reinforce this shelter so the vision and the mission and voice can live through us for the next round.
So please, help us to invest in this community and strengthen this shelter. Donate now online at nesea.org/donate.
Sincerely,
Kate Goldstein
p.s. Because NESEA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $1,000, or any other amount is 100% tax deductible. Please give as generously as you can.
