Serendipity is defined as “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”. The confluence of events last Tuesday & Thursday were indeed serendipitous!
One of the intended talking points at our monthly Foundation meeting on Giving Tuesday (did you know $511,000,000 was raised in the US that day and over $1,970,000,000 worldwide?) included the solicitation of a grant from one of our local partners, and in doing so encourage them to “go big” in their request. As a means of saying thank you for their partnership and the work they do for the Red Hook community, the AFF Team was going to chat about how and when to go about that solicitation. We never got around to it - Serendipity stepped in…..
That same afternoon Dawn Jardine, director of the Red Hook Public Library, submitted a one year proposal for a modest amount to create bilingual language programming and add more Spanish resources to the library. The proposal was perfect! The AFF Team had no trouble, not just in accepting it, but in extending it over two years and increasing the award to $10,000. Normal policy calls for contacting the writer of the grant and exchanging information as to the grant’s processing and ultimate acceptance, but I had another idea with Dawn’s application that had now grown in size….
This past Thursday was our Red Hook Together meeting - 18 members of the community presented on their organization’s activity. Dawn, seated to my left, gave her report and then listened to mine. I finished with this: “On Tuesday our AFF Board met and discussed your proposal, Dawn.” I paused for effect. “And unfortunately it was rejected.” I thought I heard a faint gasp nearby, but paused a bit more. Turning to her, I said “It was rejected because we’ve decided to grant you a two year total of $10,000!” That was met with a hearty applause around the room and a wide grin (of relief and surprise) from Dawn and a warm “Thank You” after catching her breath.
My theatrics aside, it’s safe to redefine serendipity as “receiving more than you request.” The AFF is certainly happy to support such a great partner in the Red Hook Public Library and all they do for the Red Hook community!
- Nick A.