Working on the February issue of Prime always makes me think a bit about love, and Valentine’s Day.
But somehow, it didn’t feel right to plan out a traditional February feature focusing on celebrating what is normally a day for romance. Not in 2021, with a pandemic raging and everyone still facing social distancing and other restrictions as we await the vaccines.
That’s when I realized that love comes in many forms. There’s romantic love of course – the stuff of poems and songs, novels and movies – but there’s also friendship love, self-love (we call it self-care now, mostly) and as myriad religions seek to teach us, love of neighbor.
It was as I pondered how to approach love for this issue that I stumbled across the for the Love of Good Foundation, and decided that a story about love of neighbor – a different kind of love than the traditional focus of a February feature – was the perfect fit.
Founded by retired Hampden County sheriff Kevin Joslyn and inspired
by the church-based missionary work he had done in Cité Soleil in Haiti for nearly 16 years, For The Love of Good is one of my favorite kinds of stories.
It shows very plainly that despite all the problems in the world, one person can make a difference.
“I know how to help people,” Joslyn told Prime when we chatted about the beginnings of the Foundation, which he said received its official 501c3 nonprofit status on his birthday in November of 2018. “All that stuff we used to do [in Haiti]...I always knew how to do this.”
To date, Joslyn said his all-volunteer and donation-supported Foundation has helped 3,900 individuals. They concentrate their work in the poorer neighborhoods of Holyoke and Chicopee, aiding families living paycheck-to-paycheck “that are on the brink, ready to jump off the cliff,” with things like rent, prescriptions, medical bills and utilities, as well as supplying free clothing, and food and toiletries to those areas growing homeless populations.
It truly is a living embodiment of “Love they Neighbor.”
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Yet I couldn’t completely ignore Valentine’s Day – and you will find suggestions for things to do in both this month’s Calendar and Six Things You Need to Know. I also reached out to former contributor Jamie Cat Callan, author of “French Women Don’t Sleep Alone” for suggestions on how we all can find a way to mark Valentine’s Day, whether by ourselves or with the person we’ve spent the past 11 months with in semi-quarantine.
I hope you find something in her advice to lift your spirits, and make marking Valentine’s Day 2021 your best celebration possible.
As always, thanks for reading,
Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
