Morgan Schmidt wants everyone to remember and experience a few simple but profound concepts - You are good. You are loved. You have goodness and love to offer the world. Morgan is a Presbyterian pastor and the force behind an organization called Pandemic Partners. Pandemic Partners began as a simple idea - connect people in Bend, Oregon that need help during the Covid lockdown with people who are willing and able to offer help. That simple idea caught fire and grew wildly. The original group now has over 11,000 members. There are now over 25 affiliate organizations, with more added each week. As Morgan jokes, the idea of neighbors helping neighbors is not original, but she is the one that found a way to put the idea into an accessible form. A Facebook group.
Morgan believes that this is what people are always inclined to do - help others. What she has done is invite people to live that truth, and they have responded in a tidal wave of generosity.
Morgan believes that we have the choice to live in a world ruled by feelings of love, abundance, and community or a world ruled by feelings of fear, scarcity, and loneliness. Through Pandemic Partners, she has brought together an entire community of people who wish only to offer goodness and love to those around them. When my cynicism arises, when I feel that ugliness and division is on the rise, I need only look to the good that Morgan has made possible. People jumping at the chance to help other people. Not for notoriety or praise. Just because they can.
In our conversation on The Call To Create and in our conversations off the show, Morgan often talks about bringing light into dark places. I personally have seen how Morgan lives that. She is a light that shines brightly. With Pandemic Partners, she has made it that much easier for others’ lights to shine as well.
We are all doing our best to stand against darkness. If we are with others during this time of isolation, we offer them grace and love. If we can, we offer help to those who need it. By separating ourselves from others, we help those who may be at risk. What we have seen is that we are interconnected. People need other people. Businesses need customers, People need jobs to go to. Those at risk need the help of those who are able to help. We have been conditioned to believe that each of us stands alone. Morgan would argue that this crisis has forced us to see that the common good has always been the good. She would have us all learn one lesson from this chapter of human experience, and that is that everyone is worthy of dignity and respect.
Morgan has lived these beliefs and values, and now through Pandemic Partners, she is making it easy for others to show that those values extend through us all. As she says, she is crowdsourcing kindness. And the response of our community in Central Oregon and in communities around the country and the world has shown that it is exactly what we need right now. Watch our pandemic compliant remote conversation on the Call To Create to hear more of Morgan’s story.
Soundcloud: https://bit.ly/2YP95C1
Itunes: https://apple.co/2WDnXAu
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2YJU3NS
Visit us at: https://www.thecalltocreate.com/
Learn more about Pandemic Partners their resources:
Pandemic Partners Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PandemicPartnersBend
Pandemic Partners Website
https://pandemic.partners/
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