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Origin: H.E.E.A.L. Santa Barbara

I served as president of a small Santa Barbara nonprofit for five years, unpaid, helping people through grief and loss with exercise and the arts.

H.E.E.A.L. was a small nonprofit in Santa Barbara, and I was its president for five years. Its approach to grief and loss relied on exercise and the arts, not only on talking in a chair. It was not mine to start. I took the leadership seat because the approach made sense to me, and because Tellus had already taught me to build fundraising and governance.

My work there was grants, donor relationships, and partnerships with schools and grief providers, so that more people could get to the program. No fee, no equity. I gave five years because I thought the mission deserved it.

The reason it ended in 2015 is a story I cannot tell cleanly, and I would sooner admit that gap than make up a neat exit. The thing I take from it: volunteer years weigh as much as paid ones.

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