Only Connect

2020 has been a year of social isolation, and, maybe because we’ve had to work harder at it, nothing has felt more important than being connected to one another.

The Northside lost a friend, neighbor and leader in Paul Rusk on Oct. 11. Paul was a charter member of NPC’s Board. There are many beautiful tributes to him in this issue, and we heard many more during his memorial service, which you can watch at facebook.com/northsidemadison. We will also be honoring Paul with the High Impact Award at the Dec. 10 North Star Awards, broadcast on the same Facebook page. Paul’s sudden passing reminds us to value the people in our lives while they are still here.

It’s that time of year when nonprofits put out their annual fundraising appeal. You can read about NPC’s work just to the right of my column. We began restructuring our services in early March, weeks before the quarantine, knowing that we would need to be ready for a rapid response in the likely event that Covid-19 came to Madison.

Every single bullet point required collaboration. It is the cornerstone of what we do. It expands our reach tenfold. Between nonprofits, grassroots groups, public agencies and area businesses, we regularly connect hundreds of different entities that graciously trust our role as a backbone organization in facilitating good work. Honestly, our long list of partners astonishes me sometimes. Together, we have leveraged millions of dollars in the last eight months on behalf of the Northside. 

It is an honor to do this work, even more so during times of crisis and acute need. Thank you for letting us serve.