Goodness Weekly 11.25.2024

“'Thank you' is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, and understanding.”

-Alice Walker

What’s Good

Thanksgiving is a time for feasting and gratitude—but it can also mean more food waste than usual. This is the perfect week to start composting! By subscribing to Mission Compost, you’ll receive a compost bucket to fill with your holiday leftovers, like veggie scraps and fruit peels. Once your bucket is ready, bring it to Sunset Ridge Collective during the regularly scheduled drop-off time on Wednesday. Together, we can turn Thanksgiving waste into nutrient-rich soil and a greener future. Visit Mission Compost’s website for subscription details and composting guidelines!

MISSION COMPOST SIGN UP

The Gratitude of Grief

Mae Czarnecki, Communications Coordinator, Sunset Ridge Collective

Thanksgiving is a season that invites us to reflect on gratitude, but it often meets us at the intersection of life’s complexities. For many of us, gratitude can feel forced when life brings hardship. When I was younger, I believed gratitude in difficult times meant being thankful for the pain itself. When my best friend, Keri, was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer, I struggled deeply with this notion. Was I supposed to be thankful for her diagnosis? The thought left me feeling conflicted and insincere.

Over time, my understanding of gratitude has shifted. I no longer feel the need to be thankful for the difficulty itself, but rather, I’ve learned to find gratitude within the hardship. For Keri, it looks like giving thanks for the circumstances that surround her diagnosis: skilled doctors providing exceptional care, a loving nanny stepping in to help with her young children, and a vast support network offering connections to therapies that ease her recovery between chemotherapy treatments. These glimpses of goodness remind me that even in life’s darkest valleys, there are moments of light that call for thanksgiving.

This shift in perspective has taught me the necessity of community, especially in moments when we feel powerless. Gratitude, I’ve realized, is often found in the ways others step in with support, wisdom, and compassion. It reminds me that I don’t have to face challenges alone, nor does anyone else. Being connected to a broader network of people, whether through family, friends, or organizations, opens the door to blessings that are beyond our own control.

As the holidays draw near, I want to extend an invitation: take time to plug into the community around you. Here at Sunset Ridge Collective, we strive to foster spaces where connections flourish—where you can be a part of someone else’s blessings, and where you might find unexpected goodness to carry you through life’s harder days.

Perhaps this Thanksgiving, you’ll find a moment to look at the goodness around you, even amidst grief or difficulty. Maybe it’s the warmth of a shared meal, the laughter of children playing, or the quiet comfort of knowing you’re not alone. Gratitude doesn’t erase hardship, but it does illuminate the ways we are held, supported, and loved. Gratitude is a practice, a way of seeing, and an invitation to acknowledge the beauty that exists even in life’s challenges.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Sunset Ridge Collective.

A Look at December

Collective and Church offices will be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week to give staff and community members the opportunity to be with their families.

Sunset Ridge Farmers Market - Every Saturday, 9-1

Second Saturday: December 14th
8am OAC
9am Donation Based Yoga with NYX Wellness
Sunset Ridge Farmer’s Market
10:15 Storytime

Betty’s Co, Women’s Mobile Health Clinic, Dec 26th, 27th, 28th
Offices Closed Dec 25th-Jan 1st

Event Rentals - Charis Park areas, indoor rooms and event spaces are available for rent for 2025. Please email rentals@sunset-ridge.org for more information on your

Community Partners: Please follow our Community Partners for updated schedules and events. One Another Coffee, NYX Wellness, Scott’s Pizza, Mission Compost, Good Acres, Betty’s Co, Community First Food Pantry, Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, Sprouts School.