Chicago Area Religious Archivists Meet for Spring Social
Via Zoom, CARA members were able to check in, share greetings, and some news of what we have been up to and how our archives have fared over the last year of lockdown and other restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This Spring Social on March 4, 2021 was the first time we had gathered since the Fall Meeting of 2019; it was great to be able to meet virtually.
Those present agreed that since the possibilities for in person meetings are still uncertain, it would be a good thing to plan a virtual meeting in the coming months with a talk and/or tour as well as taking care of organization business.
Malachy McCarthy reminded us that dues were due at the end of the year - $10.00 . There is a membership form on the Chicago Area Archivists website under CARA.
🌷 🍄 🍀 🌱 🍀 🍄 🌷
Archival Workers Emergency Fund
Approaches One-Year Birthday in April
Alison Clemens, organizing committee member of the Archival Workers Emergency Fund (AWE Fund) asks that we share their message - an invitation to join in solidarity with our fellow archivists who are suffering the financial brunt of the pandemic restrictions. The AWE Fund provides various ways to get involved, so check them out!
Over the next month or two,
we’re focusing our fundraising efforts on boosting small recurring donations
through our Coffee for Colleagues (Tea on Me) GoFundMe. This fundraising campaign allows archival workers to support their colleagues for the price of a seasonal latte or pot of pu’ehr. Each gift helps us ensure that our colleagues on furlough can afford groceries, our colleagues
between jobs make rent, and our colleagues whose hours and benefits were cut can stay on their health insurance plans.
To celebrate the one year birthday of AWE Fund, the AWE Fund Organizing Committee has set the goal of reaching $1,000 a month in recurring donations and 100 recurring donors by the end of the AWE Fund’s birthday week, April 8th-15th. Making a single or recurring donation to Coffee for Colleagues (Tea on Me) is easy to do, and the minimum single or recurring amount is $5, which we hope means that many donors will be able to participate. Recurring donations can be cancelled at any time, especially given that those who are financially secure today may find themselves in a different situation tomorrow.
Anyone is welcome to help us spread the word about AWE Fund’s one year birthday by following our birthday celebration on Twitter @AWEfund2020. We’re also continuing our AWE Fund Organizing Committee speaker series, and we invite your members to nominate themselves to speak at one of our events; more information is here: AWE Fund Speaker Self-Nomination form.
