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What do Camp Counselors, Business Executives, and a former Police Detective share in common? They are this year’s luminary examples of humanitarianism in Omaha. Haji, Joyce, and Bobby represent the very best that this city has to offer, and showcase how our community is brought closer together, one individual at a time. Inclusive Communities, a non-profit we have collaborated with before, holds an annual Humanitarian Awards Brunch to celebrate these heroes.

 

Though held in a different space this year, as an online virtual event, the brunch still brought together many people this past weekend to share and watch videos about the award recipients. With the shift with social distancing and social justice, it can feel like we made these videos in a different world early in the year. Given the changes of now, it’s actually really cool that the message of these stories still holds up, one could even say they are more important now. Certainly, it feels like the message should reach out to even more people. Volunteer of the Year, Haji Weliyo, talks about the importance of having a place to feel safe and belong and to let out emotions instead of bottling them until they become poisonous, Bobby Brumfield pushes how important role models and outreach help couples understand not to just accept what they learned from their own childhood experiences. Finally, from OPPD and their involvement with the LEAD Diversity project, how managers and CEO’s can confront their bias in a healthy environment and seek change.

 

And all of this still feels like it’s coming from the current dialogue we are all having with ourselves.

The importance of this kind of work only makes MORE sense now than before, we recorded these interviews before news told us the world was changing, but as we see from the humanitarian work done, the world has always been what it was, and struggles were actually there all along.