What an Ecological Civilization Looks Like: Also
- Why I Give – MaryEllen Wilson
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Why I Give – MaryEllen Wilson
MaryEllen Wilson became a regular supporter of YES! in 2020, shortly after discovering two old issues. Retired from a busy career, she now spends her time reading, writing, knitting, painting, and volunteering. 鈥淭he days are not long enough for all that I want to do.鈥
MaryEllen Wilson
Kansas City, Missouri
What brought you to YES!?
I first found YES! Magazine in the break room at Kansas City Hospice where (until COVID-19) I volunteered. I read them cover to cover, then helped myself to the subscription page! I still read each issue cover to cover and learn so much I didn鈥檛 know.
What are your passions?
Alongside my day job as an 鈥渙ffice mommy鈥 (my term for administrative assistant), I鈥檝e long volunteered in community theater. I started at the Southern Renaissance Faire in San Bernardino, California, where I worked for a hat maker and eventually became booth manager. Since then I鈥檝e done props and stage managing for different theater companies, and worked as a stitcher, a fitter, an 鈥渁lterationer,鈥 and a dresser to female leads. When I moved from California to Kansas City, I began volunteering with hospice to pay back the extraordinary care my sister and mother received at the end of their lives.
How does YES! support your values?
I believe in the equality of all people. We are all one and if we don鈥檛 learn to live together, and value each other, and deal with the climate crisis, we will not have a planet to live on or communities to live in. (And I don鈥檛 think most of us could afford Elon Musk鈥檚 space travel!) I have long been aware that the history we learned in school is not the real history of the world, and I appreciate that YES! speaks to those greater, deeper truths.
Why do you support YES! as a monthly donor?
I became a monthly donor because YES! does great work presenting the problems we need to face and offers information and solutions on how to deal with them. I want to support that work. I also knew that some of my friends would enjoy the magazine, and I wanted to use my free gift subscriptions to share it with them because I believe the ideas we read about in YES! need to spread. I love it when they tell me how much they appreciate it!