Thank you for taking this trip around the sun (and nation) with us!

Map above: The Avarna Group’s 2016 Travel Map; 38 cities, 19 states, 102 days

Greetings and happy winter season esteemed partners, colleagues, and friends,

This season we are filled with so many feelings, but the one feeling that rises to the top after our first year at the helm of this ship called the Avarna Group is gratitude. So, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for everything you have done to support us and the work that we do.

Thank you for your questions. Thank you for listening to us and others with open ears and hearts. Thank you for trusting and inviting us into your communities. Thank you for being open to new paradigms and embracing paradox. Thank you for grappling with your biases and blindspots, sometimes with relish! Thank you for being open to honest feedback and providing us with open and honest feedback. Thank you for all that we learned from you. Thank you for leaning into discomfort and being willing to change policies, structures, and systems that have been in place for years, decades, and (in the case of at least one of your organizations), a century! Thank you for the tough conversations. Thank you for expressing your commitment to a more socially and environmentally just world. Thank you for renewing this commitment after the presidential election. Just . . . thanks!

Have a wonderful winter holiday season, whatever that might mean for you. We’ll be back in 2017, sleeves rolled up, and ready to continue the work.  We’ll see you there.