Many people receiving this will know my sister, Raija-Liisa, and if you don't, you've certainly heard me talk about her. She is a force of nature - kind, generous, sensitive and gentle while also being fierce in her commitment to justice, to love at all costs, to leading with graciousness. She has dedicated her entire career to making the world a better place, making the tough decision for close to 30 years to live overseas, working in the International Development field in some of the most challenging environments imaginable. If there has been a disaster or a war in the last 3 decades, chances are, my sister was, at one point, stepping in in some way to try to help.

In January, as funding for such work suddenly ground to a halt, Raija-Liisa found herself without work. Despite an ongoing search since that time and a couple very good offers that were pulled back at the 11th hour, she has now been out of work for almost 10 months. She's been doing her best with some savings she has and some wonderful people who have helped out as much as they can. Since her work has been outside of Canada, she does not qualify for the usual income supports like EI that would help carry many of the rest of us through similar hard times. To say it has become a stressor is an understatement.

Raija-Liisa does not know I am doing this. She would never ask anyone for anything, and has done her best to give back to the people who have found ways to help her as much as they can already. However, as her sister, I will go to my grave believing my sister is one of the best humans to hit the planet and I want to do everything I can to help her through this hard time when she has been there for me and so many others when we have needed it.

There is no obligation here, of course. But if you are able and would like to try to help one of the many human beings around us who find themselves in a tricky time, I would love to be able to ease the stress on my sister just a little bit in the coming days as she continues to look for work and continue doing what she does best - lead with love, improve the lives of people who haven't had her good fortune and generally try to make the world a better place.

Thanks for your consideration. Please feel free to share (but not with her, if you can help it).