Dear Friend,

When you receive this letter, I will be in Poznan, Poland working within the Ukrainian refugee community. My longtime friend Mariusz Szeib is a business leader in the city and is working on local efforts to help with the 40,000 refugees. They are mostly women and children who have arrived in Poznan, a city about 3 hours west of Warsaw. I'll be joining Mariusz and his colleagues to work on possible solutions.

Like so many, I have been horrified by the atrocities the Russian government has inflicted on Ukraine, and have wondered how I might help. While the Red Cross, UNICEF and other global nonprofit organizations are on the ground there, I'm always looking for hyperlocal, person-to-person ways to help in any crisis.

Twelve years ago, a group of friends and I started a nonprofit called Circle of Generosity. Our mission is to grant random acts of kindness to individuals and families in need.

We help with basic services like shelter, food, clothing, medical, and more. We've also focused on local disaster relief after the floods and fires in places like Baton Rouge, Oregon, and after Hurricane Sandy in the New York area. Our goal is to make donations (anonymously) once we have identified families who are in particular need.

In Poznan, I'm hoping to work within the local community to identify some of the neediest refugees and see how Circle of Generosity can make its small but impactful contribution.

For those of us who are fortunate in life, it is our responsibility to figure out how we can give back to our fellow humans. It might be volunteering within a cause that is important to you or making a donation or joining a nonprofit Board to lend your expertise. It's all a very personal choice, but it should be a required choice, especially as we enter the second half of our lives and realize the importance of giving back. This has become an important life layer in my own life, as I'm engaged in many philanthropic efforts. If you haven't done so yet, what is your plan to become that person who is known as someone who has a "love of mankind”? (Which is the actual definition of philanthropy!)

In next month's newsletter, I'll report on my trip to Poznan. If you'd like to join the efforts on the ground in Poznan, we would welcome your donation at circleofgenerosity.net.

That act of kindness will help us to pay it forward to a needy family forced out of their home and lives in Ukraine.

#Stand with Ukraine.