Helen Keller, in a speech given in New York City in the winter of 1921 said, “To keep on trying in spite of disappointment and failure is the only way to keep young and brave. Failures become victories if they make us wise-hearted.”
The road for Close to Home has been one paved with many interesting lessons and we like to think that we’ve remained young and brave, but the grey hairs may speak to something else!
It was back in 2011, when the Seattle real estate market was still suffering from the impact of the recession, that as a real estate agent, I had some time on my hands. I listened to news on the radio and read my local newspaper. But instead of tracking the local market, I became captivated …
Continue reading “The Building Aspirations of a Social Entrepreneur”
Our work at Close to Home brings us in touch with individuals from many different realms of society. Our clients are individuals who hold a vision of building: a tiny house village in their own community, small structures such as “pop-up” stores, or new focal points for gathering spaces. Or we are in communication with a municipality exploring “tiny” as a solution to a number of different challenges facing their community – homelessness or affordable housing, for example.
In November I listened to an inspiring interview on NPR’s “The Takeaway”, hosted by John Hockenberry. The discussion was about disaster preparedness – or, more to the point – disaster unpreparedness. The severe weather over the holidays and the resulting chaos had me thinking about this interview once again. The discussion was about how few people are truly prepared to respond to a disaster. And the trick to this issue is that individuals and families really need to look to themselves and their communities as their own first responders. If it’s difficult for trained, professional responders to get to your community right away, then you will be dependent upon your own supplies for that interim amount of time. And if you are the home on the block that has prepared, might you not feel called to share that preparedness with the most vulnerable in your community? In fact, experts say that you should plan to do so. Essentially, you are preparing not only for you and your family, but also for those around you who will be in need of emergency supplies.
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