by Herb Geraghty
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Hello and Happy New Year.
As this holiday season is coming to a close I have been reflecting on what a year 2020 turned out to be for Rehumanize International and for the world.
This time last January I was busily organizing all of our Spring and Summer Rehumanize outreach events. We had plans to travel and spread our holistic message of human dignity across the country. As you probably know, all of those plans were interrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Last Spring I was so disappointed that all of my work to plan and organize these events just vanished as we dealt with constant uncertainty.
But then, we adapted.
As the world went virtual, so did we. For the first time ever, our annual Rehumanize Conference was hosted online, which enabled more people than ever to hear from our amazing line-up of speakers. We refocused on online outreach and, thanks to the work of Creative Director Maria Oswalt, hit follower milestones on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that I couldn’t have even imagined back when I was the social media coordinator in 2016. We revamped our magazine and blog, taking on more staff writers and editors who are sharing their talents with all of us to promote the message of human dignity via the written word. We hired Sarah Slater as our new Manager of Compliance and Development, who is working to make sure that the important work that we are doing to end aggressive violence can continue to grow in a sustainable way. Finally, we launched our Rehumanize Chapters program, giving you the resources you need to advocate for human rights in your own communities. Despite the unexpected challenges, this past year we have seen our network of supporters, volunteers, and collaborators grow as more and more people are seeing the inherent value of every human life.
All of this was made possible thanks to the hard work, vision, and leadership of our Executive Director, Aimee Murphy. Aimee founded the organization that would eventually become known as Rehumanize International back in 2011. Since then, she has been working tirelessly to achieve our mission and build a genuine culture of peace & life. The impact that she has made on this organization, the Consistent Life Ethic movement, and me personally is simply incalculable. For the past ten years, Aimee has been the heart and soul of Rehumanize International and I am eternally grateful that I get to call her a colleague and a friend. Aimee has made the decision to step down from the Executive Director position and the board of directors has chosen me for the impossible task of filling her shoes.
As we make this transition, I encourage you to consider contributing to help our team continue to do our rehumanizing work in this increasingly polarized world. To give, please visit www.rehumanizeintl.org/donate where you will find instructions for giving online, via check, or by phone.
Going into 2021 (our tenth year!) there is still a great deal of uncertainty; however, I am confident that, with your continued support, our team will be able to overcome any challenges that come our way. To all of our followers, I just want to thank you for the contributions you make to our mission; whether you’ve been giving financially, coming to our events for years, starting conversations by wearing our merch, or just discovered us recently and decided to give our page a follow: we could not do this without you. I have big plans for the future of our movement and I am excited to embark on this journey with all of you.
Peace,
Herb Geraghty
Executive Director
Rehumanize International
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