As we close out 2023, many of us are closing the door bruised, weary, and grieving. Many of us are saying, “Good riddance,” to 2023. While many others of us are hopefully looking forward to 2024 - what newness awaits us? What surprises are around the corner? What relationships will grow from here?

In 2023, Koinonia Mutual Aid has been up to alot. Overall, we remain committed to moving slow, moving at the pace of relationship, and moving with intention. 

What have you been up to? How did you use your money?

In the past year, we developed and accompanied 2 pods, move through and closed 1 pod, and began conversations for developing 4 more pods in 2024. 

In total, we have raised over $24,500 and have disbursed over $23,800. We are ending 2023 with a balance of $770.80 that is available for reimbursements. 

Of the things we’ve supported include:

*We became aware in the spring of Open Collective’s policy that car reimbursements requests can only be made by Open Collective-owned vehicles. 

In developing our Leadership Pod, we held the reality that those who make up the pod are real humans and the time in which the pod began was just before summer. Our spring schedules shifted dramatically over the summer and then again in the fall. Because of this, one challenge we faced was trying to find a consistent meeting time that would help promote bonding and an opportunity for the pod to get to know one another and build trust. 

We did one to one’s with the Pod in the late fall/early winter to check in and hear what their visions and ideas were for 2024. 

Another project we worked on was applying for the Thriving Congregations grant through the Lilly Endowment Fund. Our hope was to use that money to fund positions and programming to help build opportunities to provide care and wellness for faith leaders. 

Unfortunately, we did not receive the grant. We had a feeling this might have been the case because we are not a 501c3 organization, nor are we a “church” and we were asking Lilly to consider stepping into “a new way” of doing things with us. That being said, receiving the grant has not prevented us from dreaming of how to support faith leaders who are in need of rest and recovery. 

The leadership pod is considering growing a “retreat potluck” where we host a retreat and invite participants to bring an activity, a workshop, or an invitation to rest in however way they interpret it. We are considering doing a “beta test” retreat as a pod and growing the treat from there so that we can offer it for the wider Koinonia community. 

We are committed to leaning deeper  into pod formations as we continue to hear from faith leaders that are tired, weary, grieving and discerning next steps for their future. 

An opportunity for growth is to grow the Sustainer database - those who are not LGBTQIA+, nor are people of color, but are those who support historically oppressed communities of faith leaders. There is fertile ground to grow supporters of this work. 

Overall, as a collective, we continue to move slow, to move at the pace of relationships, and we are continuing to listen to each other and the community for needs that we might be able to address. 

Until 2024, we take these remaining days to rest, to listen for where truth calls us forward, and to create.