Hi all, I'm a neighbor of Colleen, a remarkable and dedicated humanitarian who lost her job and benefits last week abruptly when her humanitarian aid contractor role was lost, alongside thousands of her colleagues, last week.

If you know Colleen, you love her. Quick to smile, generous in spirit, and adventurous near and far, Colleen can warm you with a hug or make you cackle with her wit! She has also dedicated her career to humanitarian aid and social work, in true service of others. From her time as a Jesuit Volunteer Corps member (JVC) right out of college serving families in a domestic violence shelter on the west coast, to her critical work for children and women facing gender-based violence, trauma, and loss of family in conflict zones with international humanitarian aid organizations, Colleen has worked alongside wonderful humans who are worthy of love and support and done so without any limelight or adulation and certainly not any financial riches from doing so. She's probably embarrassed reading this right now that I'm gassing her up a bit! (sorry Colleen)

Her latest iteration of work has been as a humanitarian aid contractor. If you know anything about the past two weeks, you know this means that Colleen has lost her job. Without any notice or any chance to even say goodbye to colleagues or clients, including deeply at-need people around the world, Colleen and many of her colleagues were made obsolete - when we know their critical work is anything but.

This unexpected layoff (amidst you know ::waves hands:: all this) has immediately impacted Colleen and her family. Colleen and her partner have a beautiful six-month old. Colleen was only given 2 weeks paid parental leave and cobbled the rest of her 3-ish months off together with savings and disability, which took a financial toll. Now, Colleen has been hit with this surprise, have had to immediately let go of their childcare provider, and face an uphill battle towards finding new work with expenses for healthcare, rent, and their daughter not abating.

Colleen and her partner know better than anyone that they are lucky: they have each other, they are healthy, and they have a community. It is not easy to ask for financial help when you are aware that so many suffer. But the reality is that without Colleen's income, rent, healthcare, and childcare costs will become emergencies really, really soon.

As part of Colleen's community, I'm asking, if you have the capacity to donate $10, $25, $50, or $100 - anything, truly anything helps. The goal is to cover several months of rent and have some funds for their daughter's needs while Colleen gets on their feet.

Thank you, dear community, for doing what you can. In these incredibly difficult times, which may persist for some time, we must take care of each other however we can.

-Mary G, a fellow FJV, runner, Brooklynite, & new-ish mom with Colleen