Supporting Ronnie to Heal & Thrive

The principles of Healing Justice remind us that the stability, resilience, and health of the individual and the community are inextricably intertwined – personal trauma is never truly independent of history and community, just as individual thriving is not possible outside of rootedness in relationships of love and justice.

Ronnie is an embodiment of this kind of interdependence. As a Black queer woman, from her work as a community organizer and curator in Chicago, to her service to her Unitarian Universalist faith as a DRUUMM steering committee member, to her current work for in the housing and healing justice movements in the Bay Area, Ronnie has always been a weaver of connections that contribute to the resilience, freedom, and healing of impacted communities. Ronnie pours out her heart and her skill as an agent of collaboration and transformation, often in the face of violent systems that are designed to fracture our communities and disconnect us from sources of stability and possibility.

This kind of work can take a toll on the spirit. Ronnie is currently facing a tangle of circumstances that have come to a crisis point – overlapping housing instability and mental health obstacles are all swirling in Ronnie’s life, and are threatening her well-being, safety and security.

Ronnie has dedicated her life to a bone-deep belief that we are bound to one another, and that community can hold us when we cannot hold ourselves alone. While we have all been conditioned to recoil from accepting help and support in difficult moments because of the myths of capitalism and white supremacy, Ronnie is choosing to lean into the trust that her community can and will surround her with love and resources not just in theory, but in practice.

We can celebrate that Ronnie has already gotten connected with mental health support, and a variety of resources for care and healing in her local community. She is taking a temporary leave of absence from her program at Starr King School for the Ministry, and needs to slow down to get herself re-rooted and stable. To do this, Ronnie needs about $12,000 to pay the penalty for breaking the lease on her toxic housing situation, putting down the deposit and first few months of rent on a new apartment (in the middle of an affordable housing crisis in one of the most expensive regions of the United States), repairing her car so she can have reliable transportation, and paying out of pocket for treatment with a new therapist.

For those of us who share Ronnie’s vision of a world in which all of us are individually and collectively stable and held in care, this is an invitation to make that imagining a reality. Join us as we hold Ronnie up together, and help her know how precious and beloved she is.

With Gratitude,

Priscilla, Kaija, & Ashley