We should work everyday to normalize talking about money so when this reality comes to the forefront in nonprofit work it isn't so taboo to simply state the reality of the moment.
We should make the (often uncomfortable) space for nonprofit employees to grieve in seasons of financial scarcity. We should be a listening ear & encouraging texter. Be people who say "we love you & support walking away" & "we'll be here if you stay & try to keep this really important thing alive".
But I have not been guilted into giving up my paycheck to "save" Rise. I am choosing this "fight" which is the freedom each nonprofit employee should be given in lean financial times.
For me in this moment, I feel clarity about financially prioritizing keeping the house we own and operate as a pay what you can retreat and event space for women and nonbinary people over my monthly paycheck. Our home also provides me housing which is an important way I am compensated.
We should talk about how to make sure employees feel autonomy in deciding what they may or may not want/need to sacrifice in any given season. And we should create environments where shame is not in the decision making equation.
I really believe it is important to normalize conversations around nonprofits and the changes that happen as donations ebb and flow. We should talk about why and when nonprofits decide to close and why and when employees make the decision to keep fighting.
Today I interviewed to be put on the sub list at my niece's school as a new stream of income and I got approved. Little steps towards figuring out this new season. Keeping Rise alive. Keeping The Rise House open. Taking care of myself in the process.
I just need y'all to know that I am being so resilient and brave. Rise, the nonprofit I work for and founded, can no longer pay me a cash salary. I am so proud of myself for the way I am moving through this.
OK crew, I need your help to make A's 13th birthday special! I just took a pay cut so community support is extra important to celebrate our girl.
I'm working on a wishlist but also need dollars to hopefully be able to take her camping.
If you could send a few dollars, let me know!
Coming from the state with the highest car crash fatality rate, we don't talk enough about how much extra danger gig workers take on every time they work.
This could qualify for community service hours. We also could provide a tax write off for any company who could donate their services.
We are looking for volunteers to help with yard care at our pay what you can retreat and event home owned by the non-profit I work for in East Fort Worth. As the economy has gotten worse, our donations have decreased and so we really need to stop paying for yard care.
Moonsift? MyRegistry? Giftwhale? And I am not opposed to using a registry usually used for weddings/baby showers.
Because people are (rightfully) boycotting many places I want people to have options.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a wishlist site that would allow me to add items from multiple sites that our nonprofit is in need of?
I am looking for whatever is the easiest to use (aka fewest clicks to purchase) because we know that makes a difference in people purchasing.
A brown penguin chick of some kind. It looks very much like a man in a suit. It is bedraggled and miserable
Made it to Friday but at what cost
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...
My capacity feels so small right now, but I just can't not say with my own words:
Trans people are made in the image of the Divine.
Trans people are a threat to NO ONE.
Trans people have always existed.
Trans people will continue to exist with their deep joy that bigots can't steal.
A forest green background shows the words "grow creative writing" in light pink lettering. The letter g in grow has a leaf sprouting out the top of it.
It's First Friday Freewrites today 🎉
Join me on Zoom at 12:30 or 5:30 Central for an hour of guided writing. I'll provide the prompts for jumping off; you bring the creativity and curiosity.
This monthly gathering is free and open to all!
How's that "write more" resolution going? Today is First Friday Freewrites!
The is an hour long FREE gathering with guided freewrite prompts to get your wheels turning and your motivation and imagination unstuck.
Would love for you to join me today!
forms.gle/U4jL2oHH3KRi...
Tomorrow is First Friday Freewrites, a monthly event I host for free where we gather virtually & free write through prompts.
Writers and non-writers, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, even visual artists who might enjoy a prompt to create from: all are welcome to join this low-pressure creative space.
I've been making bouquets from funeral flowers and delivering them to people who helped take care of Daddy, and I am just so grateful we never did it alone.
ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.
They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.
I have two tickets to see Mae Martin tonight in Dallas that I am not able to use, would love for them to not go to waste! Let me know if you are interested. If you can pay a little that's great but if not we can make that work too :)
If anyone would like to join us for my dad's funeral service happening now, you can request to be added to this Facebook group. The service is streaming there: www.facebook.com/share/g/1B16...
Running behind on posting this but if you would like to join us virtually for my dad's service, you just join this group and that is where the livestream will be. It is at 1 pm CST tomorrow (Saturday).
www.facebook.com/groups/14292...
Finally, we have his “Big Heart” shirt symbolizing how he fought the good fight with his terrible disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He battled for himself, for his family, and for others who have and will get this disease, even participating in clinical research at Oregon Health & Sciences University and donating his brain to the Mayo Clinic to help find treatment and a cure. A life well and fully lived, Kent was passionate about caring for people and justice. He taught us all to speak out when we see something that isn’t right. He loved being outdoors, especially at Big Bend, and driving, just to drive. His faith in God was quiet and consistent. He just believed and never made it complicated. Kent was the ultimate Dad and my biggest cheerleader. He loved his big family of brothers and sisters and so many nieces and nephews who proudly called him “Uncle Kent.” He made the world a better place.
Athol Kent Stallcup was born on July 26, 1961 in Ardmore, Oklahoma to Frank and Margaret Stallcup and moved to Odessa, TX just after his first birthday. Kent and Tammy were married on September 1, 1984 and lived in Abilene, where Kent did petroleum landman work before moving to Farmington, MO for a year of mission work with the elderly. He and Tammy returned to Andrews, TX where Kent was the Chamber of Commerce director. They eventually settled in Odessa, TX where Kent taught school and circled back to landman work. They moved to Ft. Worth in 2019. Kent was preceded in death by his parents; his sisters, Anne and Lynn; his brother, Raymond; his nephews, Pete and Greg; and his nieces, Rayna and Carrie. He is survived by his wife, Tammy, and his children, Holly; Amanda; Schuyler and partner, Lindi; Ashley and partner, Mike; and Cait. He is also survived by his grandchildren, June, Michael, Audrey, and Everley; by his brother, Chuck and partner, Denise; by his sister Lynn’s husband, Chuck Ramsey; and by many, many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.
Recently, as I was putting away Kent’s laundry, I realized his life is not reflected in dates. His story is told in t-shirts, t-shirts that represent his love for his family, his servant’s heart for those in need, his faith, and his love for life. They include sports shirts, from Kent’s being a part of the Dowling Elementary School Tigers to shirts he wore while playing church softball in Andrews, TX, and while cheering on his favorite teams such as Packers football, Duke basketball, and Astros baseball. And, of course, the golf shirts from playing for Permian and Hardin-Simmons. The coaching shirts from Schuyler’s elementary school Vikings football team and Amanda’s softball team, the “Wreckers”. He loved coaching our kids and every other kid on their teams. If he wasn’t coaching, he was in the stands cheering on gymnastics meets, football, baseball, and basketball games.
Then we have the shirts that came with some of his many theater performances, such as “The Mousetrap,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” and his starring role in “The King and I.” He loved that the whole family was involved in that production, but his favorite role was probably playing Teddy in “Arsenic and Old Lace.” He started his theatrical career in pre-school on the local PBS show, Romper Room. He gave such a stellar performance that he was asked back regularly, and when other kids got sick. When Kent wasn’t performing in theater he was busy helping to build sets, run sound, and being the supportive dad and husband for all the kids’ productions and my 37 years of choir concerts and contests, and he has the shirts to prove it: “Miracle on 34th St.,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Permian Production,” “Black Magic,” and “Panther Paws”. He never missed a Milam, Bowie, Hood, or Permian choir and orchestra concert, dance recital, or science fair. His love of music was evidenced in shirts as well. His Permian Choir shirt. Concert shirts from The Who to ZZ-Top to Mary Chapin Carpenter to The Band. He could tell you the name of almost any classic rock, pop, alternative, or country song and the performer(s), in under 15 seconds, and was fairly good at guessing classical composers, too.
And then we have the CCYM shirts from Kent’s work with Holly and the UMC New Mexico Conference at their youth camps in Sacramento. We have the mission trip shirts from when he spent a summer in Ohio coordinating youth mission teams. Add to that his most recent shirt celebrating his membership as a member at Embrace UCC. Also, the Beto for Texas and the Presbyterian Night Shelter shirts from his last two jobs. I can’t leave out his “Find the Hero in You” blood donation shirt reminding us of all those years when he donated because his blood type is rare and particularly needed. He was always serving in some way, more than once bringing unhoused people into our home to stay. Kent loved to laugh, more than any other person I have ever known - a big, contagious laugh - and to make other people laugh as well. His Looney Tunes and Muppet voices were infamous. He proudly wore his Monty Python “I’m not dead yet” shirt throughout his illness.
Holly's dad wears black glasses and a big smile with a navy blue shirt with pineapples on it.
My momma worked so thoughtfully on this obituary for my daddy that, even though it is long, I thought I would share it here.
Local friends, I finally have a place where I am organizing those who have offered to bring food for our gathering after Dad's funeral. Please let me know if you need that link!
