As a team last year, Harvest House staff learned about the importance of resiliency in evaluating the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). 

“Most people in the U.S. have at least one ACE, and people with four ACEs— including living with an alcoholic parent, racism, bullying, witnessing violence outside the home, physical abuse, and losing a parent to divorce — have a huge risk of adult-onset of chronic health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, suicide, and alcoholism.” – ­ACEs 101

However, whether someone’s ACE score is 1 or 10, resiliency can be developed to rise above these challenges, and can even help break the generational cycles. 

Our staff and clients are resilient, and that takes practice, collaboration, and interdependency. It takes a community.

We’ve come together as an organization to be resilient during these times, and despite the challenges, it’s working. In the midst of a global crisis, we’ve accomplished quite a lot.

We’ve been able to keep our doors open for all of our programs. We’ve been able to adapt and make changes to workflows, maintaining safety and stability for our clients and staff. Our team of Directors has just completed a 6-week leadership development course together, where we reconstructed our organizational values that will be released soon. We’ve all been blessed with the extra compassion and grace required to handle the visceral reality of substance abuse, mental illness, and generational poverty in an unprecedented global environment.

The Harvest Food Pantry is actively serving Sarasota every Thursday from 10 am to Noon, and clients are finding a unique form of relief with our Benevolence Fund program. Thanks to your donations, the Benevolence Fund has provided access to resources such as summer camps and childcare for families, electronic devices for young adults to access vital services in an increasingly virtual world, and immediate needs for clients in addiction recovery such as work boots and legal documents.

We’re honored to do this very important work, we’re encouraged by the fact that our donors and partners believe in us, and we promise to continue to be resilient together.

Resiliency requires community. Thank you for being a part of our community.

I don’t think anyone can say with certainty what our collective future holds, but I do know one thing – we must stand united in love for humanity and a desire to keep hope alive. We must move forward together.

Peace and love,