59. Jen Simonic and Masey Kaplan with 'Loose Ends' and Matching Crafters with Projects People Have Left Unfinished Due to Death or Disability

Jen Simonic and Masey Kaplan are both crafters at heart and have been friends for over 30 years. After having their own experiences with finishing crafting projects for other friends and loved ones who had passed away, they started tossing around the idea of a nonprofit where they could create a community of crafters who would be available to finish projects families and individuals would like finished that their loved ones had started.

Now their nonprofit, Loose Ends, has a community that spans 64 countries and over 24,000 people. Their mission is to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left unfinished due to death or disability.

I loved talking with Jen and Masey and hearing the obvious passion and joy they find in the work they do with their nonprofit. They share some great stories of some of the projects they’ve seen people finish, and the real sense of community and even lifelong friendships that are formed in the process. 

This episode will give you a new found appreciation and love for all the crafters in your life and it’s also a good reminder of the real sense of belonging that can be found when people serve and create together.

Links mentioned in the show:
Loose Ends Project Website
Loose Ends Project Instagram
Loose Ends Project Facebook

Follow the podcast on social media:
Do Something More Instagram
Do Something More Facebook
Do Something More YouTube

Transcript

Melissa: Jen Simonic and Macy Kaplan are both crafters at heart and have been friends for over 30 years. After having their own experiences with finishing crafting projects for other friends and loved ones who had passed away, they started tossing around the idea of a nonprofit where they could create a community of crafters who would be available to finish projects. Families and individuals would like finished that their loved ones had started. Now their nonprofit, Loose Ends, has a community that spans 64 countries and over 24,000 people. Their mission is to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left unfinished due to death or disability. I love talking with Jen and Macy and hearing the obvious passion and joy they find in the work they do with their nonprofit. They share some great stories of some of the projects they've seen people finish and the real sense of community and even lifelong friendships that are formed in the process. As Jen has said, crafters are a generous lot. These projects are much more than a hobby or something to just pass the time. They represent the real love, effort and dedication that these people have, and it's beautiful to see how crafters are able to give grieving families and friends a finished project from their loved one. This episode will give you a newfound appreciation and love for all the crafters in your life, and it's also a good reminder of the real sense of belonging that can be found when people serve and create together. Welcome to the Do Something More podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to another episode of the podcast and today I am excited to learn about this nonprofit that connects crafters with those who are looking to have a project finished from a loved one that has either deceased or can no longer finish those projects. And I love this idea of taking the beautiful art of crafting and the many things people do and connecting them to those that need and want and look forward to having those projects finished. So I want to start off by welcoming the founders of this beautiful nonprofit, Jen Simonek and Macy Kaplan, to the podcast. Welcome.

Masey: Thanks for the invite.

Jen: Yeah, thanks for having us. This is great.

Melissa: So I just would love to start off. I know both of you have mentioned you were knitters and that's kind of how this project and nonprofit started off. But Macy, maybe you could just tell us a little bit about you and Jen and exactly how loose ends got started.

Masey: I would love to. So Jen and I have known each other for a long time, probably going on close to 30 years. Almost two years ago, we were hanging out with each other on the west coast at the home of a mutual friend. And our friend had recently lost her mom to cancer. And we were going through her mom's bag of craft supplies, trying to help her figure out what to do, and, you know, where to donate things, explore what was in there, decide what she wanted to keep for herself. And when we were going through that bag, we noticed that there were two blankets that her mom had begun. All of the mass of materials were in the bag, too. And Jen and I were just about to offer to finish those projects for her mom. She was making them for her two sons. We were just about ready to jump in and start crocheting. We had been tossing the idea around of loose ends for a couple of years and waiting for the right time to do it. And for some reason, like, just in that moment, sitting on the floor, kind of going through and looking at these, this massive job ahead of us both, it seemed like it might be a good time to maybe see if other people might be interested in finishing things for strangers. So Jen and I had both already finished things for multiple people we knew who had lost loved ones knitting projects. And when you return some handwork back to somebody who's lost a loved one, it can be just can be very moving. It feels really good. And we were looking when we had been tossing the idea around for a couple of years, like, I wonder if there are other people out there who would like to do this for each other. You know, certainly crafters have been doing this for people they knew forever. Filters, do it. Knitters, crocheters, needle pointers. If you know somebody who does a craft and you have a partially started project, a friend or family member who does that craft will finish it. But there are so many people out there who don't know somebody who does the craft, and. And sometimes they don't even know what craft it is. Right?

Jen: So that's a big part of it. People don't always identify the craft correctly just because they don't know it wasn't something they were interested in.

Masey: Yeah. So Jen and I, as we were sort of sitting there looking at this massive project with its boxes of wound yarn, just kind of connected the dots and thought, you know what? If we were to jump in and try to make loose ends happen now, we would have two projects to use. As a pilot, we asked our friend's permission. She seemed like she was on board. Jen and I were certainly relieved.

Jen: Nothing like crocheting a double crochet until you, like, for days. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not into this. This is not my jam.

Masey: Yeah. And that was really it. That was how it started. And, you know, we went, we, after this weekend vacation, we both went back to our homes on opposite sides of the country, just built some pretty, like, basic tools to start to see if there was going to be any interest. And that was it. That was. Those were the seeds of loose ends.

Jen: Yeah. And there was interest. Pretty. I mean, we had about 150 people in the first month who were like, yeah, this is a great idea. I want to help from all over the place because, you know, the Internet. The Internet's pretty awesome in some ways and terrible in others, but.

Melissa: Right. But good at connecting us in good, positive ways. Well, I love that. I think maybe some people, when they'd first hear about it, would think you actually finished the projects. But that is not the goal of your nonprofit. Your goal is to bring people together, bring finishers, as you call them, and those that need those projects finished. So, Jen, do you want to just kind of explain the logistics, a little bit of that? How does that go when.

Jen: So when someone finds our website, they can go on our website and they can sign up to be a finisher, and we'll always take more finishers because you never know when the project's going to come in. I like to refer to it as the Red Cross of crafting, because what happens is people sign up and they might not get a, they might get a project that day, but more likely they won't get a project for a while, and they might never get a project because it has a little bit to do with serendipity, like, where are you? What's needed at the time? I try to explain, you know, I know first aid and I know CPR. I hope that the hundreds of people I've taught CPR to never have to use CPR, ever, because it's pretty traumatic when you do CPR for somebody, but knowing that they're out there makes me feel good. It makes me feel like people are prepared. And that's kind of, that's what this is like, because since the beginning, for every project we've gotten in, we've had about 20 people in proportion to that project. So what happens is when someone finds us with a project, they submit that project through our website. We on the back end look at that project, see what needs to be done, ask any question, clarifying questions. We need to, like, hey, is this crochet is it tunisian crochet? Is it knitting? Is it cruel work? Can you show us a picture of the front and the back? We get all that basic information. Is there a pattern? How old is it? And then once we find it, we have all of our finishers in an app, and that's on the web, and we can find, basically, based on their location, all the finishers around that have that skill. And then once we find those people, we look at a couple things. Do they have the right skill set to finish the project? If it's a Chevron Afghan that's crocheted, that might be an easier project than a fitted sweater that needs to be knit. Right or crocheted. So we figure out the skills that the person has self reported, and then do they like doing that project? That's a big part of it. It doesn't matter if we find an expert knitter who can make this blanket, if they hate knitting with black yarn, you know, and that's a reasonable thing. This is not a torture. We're not trying to torture anybody. We're just trying to get stuff done. So location's really big expertise, and whether or not you want to do it, do your druthers. And then once we figure out a match, we ask the person to consider it, because, again, we're not just sending things to people and making them do that. We want people to be happy. So once they say, yes, I really want to do this, we match them up with the project owner. And then once they've connected, we say, great. And we ask for an update every month or so. And then when they're done, we hope that they tell us. I send a lot of emails going, hey, what happened? Are you guys connected? What's going on? And they're like, oh, yeah, she gave it back. We're just, we're best friends now. I don't understand why you need to know. I just want to not know anymore. I want to be done right.

Melissa: Want to know it got finished. Do they have to have the materials for finishing the project with them? Because I know sometimes you're crocheting or whatever, and that can be tricky to have similar colors or similar things. Do you have to have that with.

Jen: You for sometimes our projects come with that because the idea is we're finishing something that somebody intended to get done right, but.

Melissa: Right. They bought everything for it.

Jen: They bought everything for it. They just didn't get it finished. But some, sometimes what happens is it gets disconnected from the bag of stuff that some of these are really old too. So normally, everything's there. Sometimes everything's there, but there's no pattern because mom was working off the pattern that she had memorized in her head. I'm going to leave some projects like that, so I have to remember to not do that. And then sometimes the materials are not there or they got repurposed when someone didn't understand what was going on. And in those cases, we have a partnership with Joann's fabric that they will donate supplies to us if they have them, which is wonderful. If not, we use Ravelry, we use our detective skills to figure out where we should find some more. If we. If it's vintage or something like that. And then sometimes, you know, it's not going to match. And you're going to see this very delineated space between before and after the finisher. And that's kind of lovely, too, because then you can see that someone picked it up and went, I mean, this is a. A lot of what we do is about community and community building, right?

Melissa: Well, that's great. And you have finishers from all over the US and even the world, is that right?

Masey: Yes. We have finishers from 64 different countries who have signed up to work with us. Currently more than 24,000 people. Crafters. We have projects that are actually in progress in twelve or 13 different countries right now, every state in the US, all over Canada. We currently mostly have projects going in english speaking countries, but we're working towards trying to have loose ends be accessible in places with. Have other languages.

Melissa: That's a beautiful network that you've built and worked towards. I love that. Well, I did see on your instagram that you have some examples of those beautiful projects that people have finished and the stories behind them. And so I was just wondering, though, if there were a couple of stories you could share here on the podcast that kind of illustrate those that have been touched by some of this good work.

Jen: I can share a couple. Macy can share a couple. I've had some really beautiful ones. Recently. There was a gentleman who found three projects that his wife, who had died from cancer when his children were young, had found. And when he found us, he was like, hey, I think these are two scarves and a sweater. The scarves were kind of partially done, and the sweater only needed to get a button band and a little bit on the bottom. We found him three different finishers, and he finished the sweater and gave it to his daughter on her birthday. She's in her thirties now, and she has her own children and her son has his own children. And they were able, or I think each one has one, and they were able to give the scarves that they made to them, which is pretty special to have something from your grandmother. They go from the heartwarming to the ridiculous to the sublime. And ridiculous is everything's in the eye of the beholder. But we've had some things, like a bag full of styrofoam balls that had little tiny scarves and hats. And we were like, what is this? And it was these little snowmen that a grandma was making for everybody for Christmas, so everyone could have their Christmas snowman. And we had a finisher who's like, I got a glue gun. I'm ready. I can do this. And she fixed the whole thing and got this lovely photo back of the whole family holding their snowmen. It was. It was really beautiful. It was beautiful and weird and just wonderful, because you never, you know, there's a lot of things that I think the, we had a latch hook rug of Lucy from peanuts, and we were like, all right, I guess. And this was something that the guy's mom did. And our finisher took it to heart, finished the whole thing, and then found some peanuts fabric from the, from the fabric store, backed it, bound it, and this guy got this beautiful token of his loved one. So, yeah, it's been really interesting. Macy, what are some of your favorites?

Masey: There are so many. And, like, we're really blown away every single day by some of the projects that come across our desk. One of the ones that just, you might be able to see the picture on Instagram. It's a little ways back, but it was a knitted, floor length jacket, and they look like, almost like diagonal diamond pattern. It's exquisite. Gorgeous, gorgeous. And it was submitted to us, I would say probably at least three quarters of the way done, but there was no pattern with it. And so, and it was complex. And so we needed to do a whole bunch of detective work, which isn't unusual. One of the places we go to try to find answers to questions is in a private Facebook finisher group that we maintain there are more than 10,000 of our finishers in there. Just like Jen mentioned earlier, not everyone is going to get matched with a project. Not everyone is going to get a project right away. It's a place where people can go and start being helpful right away.

Melissa: Yeah, a real collection of talent.

Masey: I mean, it really is. And it's a place where we can go. Finishers will go and say, hey, has anyone seen this before? What should I do. Here or there, Jen and I and Sarita can go in and ask things like, hey, this jacket was just submitted. Has anybody ever seen this pattern before? What is it called? What is this stitch called? What is this yarn that they use? And in this case, this sort of harlequin jacket we were able to post up in the private group. And by morning, I mean, by morning, there were so many answers, and I think it might be this or it looks like this, or people saying, I could try to recreate it for you. I think we could do this. And it's just this beautiful kind of team feeling that we're all in it together and we're going to figure it out. And one person said, I've got it. Here's the pattern. We found it on Ravelry. We could find the pattern. And sure enough, Verona, who was the original crafter, had adapted a pattern on her own that was supposed to be like a cropped kind of waistcoat, and she changed it so that it would be this, like, glorious floraling thing. One of the other finishers from this group discovered Verona's own ravelry page, where she had taken meticulous notes as she was going through making this project. And so I love that because this story makes me happy, not only because it's a gorgeous project, but because we brought in, like, so much help, and everybody jumped at the opportunity to help, and they were so smart. And then to top it off, at the same time, a lot of people were raising their hand. I want to finish this, you know, like, cannot consider me for this one. And so we matched this project with a woman who lived nearby who said, before I say yes to this, I want to make sure that I can do this justice, because it was really, really fancy. And she, on her own, purchased the pattern and started knitting on her own swatches, like, large swatches of this pattern, to make sure that she could do it.

Jen: Was it intel, Macy? Do you know?

Masey: I don't know. It looks different. It's like, it might be, but it's these long diamond shapes.

Jen: Oh, it's so. Yeah, intricate. And if you go on our instagram, you can see it, and it just looks so beautiful. The woman's really excited about her, about it, and it's really nice.

Masey: And her mom, who had started it, passed away, and then her dad passed away right after. And she's a young woman, just devastated, and gets to have this project that her mom's hands were making for her.

Melissa: So, yeah, that's something that I've been impressed as I've learned more about your nonprofit, is that sense of connection that you just talked about, Macy, a connection with all of these people wanting to help. But also, it seems, people that form friendships as they get connected with each other, with their projects and who's finishing them and some of the relationships that can be formed through a craft project, I think so. Amazing.

Jen: It's so, it's so funny, Macy, you got this, right. Didn't somebody, we check in and they're like, you don't need to check in. We're good. We're friends.

Masey: We're friends. Yeah.

Jen: Okay.

Masey: You are irrelevant now. Go away.

Jen: Go away. We don't need to.

Melissa: You did your job.

Masey: We got it from here. Related we've had several times when a project's been submitted, and rather than finish it, the finisher will teach the recipient how to do the craft if they want to, so that they can finish it. And so sometimes these connections result in weekly lessons or. Yeah.

Jen: And so it's been, it's been really remarkable. Just the connections that get built. We had one woman, I just posted a project I sent that I think went up where they figured out that they both went to Georgia tech a couple of years apart and lived in the same dorm in possibly the same room. And then they'll be like, oh, my name. I have a Lynn as a middle name, too. And they find these connections and then they tell us about it. And it's just so sweet to hear and see.

Melissa: They are kindred spirits meant to find each other. I love that.

Jen: The thing is, we have a lot of introverts that are like, yes, this is the perfect way for us to volunteer. I'm going to take this project, do it, and then give it back. Yes. But you do need to send a note out like once a month. Once a month sends a note so that I don't panic and like, all's well. And it's, and we send notes out like, you know, I get a tummy ache when you don't, when you don't get back to me, I get nervous. It's good for my blood pressure. If you tell me that everything's okay and then I can worry about somebody.

Melissa: Else, a little communication is good. Well, there was a quote I read from you, Jen, on your website where you said, crafters tend to be a generous thought. And I just love that because I think that's so true. Almost anyone I know has a gift or something that has been given to them by someone who enjoys crafting. In that way, I could name more than one for myself. And I think that natural, generous spirit really plays into your natural.

Jen: Yeah, it's. Well, I think part of it is that crafters like to make things, and some of us like to make the same thing over and over again. And there's only so many people you can make the same thing over and over again for. Eventually your family gets tired of having sweaters and hats and things. My son would never get tired, but my husband sure does, so. But there's also something wonderful about being able to share your gift. Cause it's not something that everybody knows how to do. We had this beautiful rug that. That got finished, and they also tend to downplay their gifts, which I think is hilarious. Cause, you know, this one woman was like, oh, yeah, I matched the colors of the wool because rug hooking is a. You need strips of wool that are the right color, and it's a very intricate process. And I said, oh, where did you find the wool to match? He goes, oh, I learned how to dye, and I did that.

Masey: Made it for you.

Jen: No, that's not an easy thing. Like, people spend their lives learning how to die. And we looked at this finished project, and it's absolutely gorgeous. And, I mean, it kind of just speaks to how wonderful and generous and self depreciating maybe. I don't know. Like, they just. It's pretty wonderful. Our finishers are just amazing. I would love to take them all home and give them cookies and milk one day, but my house is not that big.

Melissa: Well, they are definitely experiencing those rewards of the crafting that they do. And I love how you started this, because you had so many people asking you to finish those projects. I don't know that all of us would think that there were that many projects that need to be finished, but as I thought about this, I was like, oh, I was the receiver of that. I had a grandmother that loved to quilt and did a quilt for each of her granddaughters, but when she was doing mine, I'm one of her younger granddaughters, she passed away, but her sister finished it. My great aunt finished it. So I have that quilt finished and done by both of them. And I'd forgotten about that experience until I was preparing for this interview. And then I realized, I'm like, there's got to be so many people. That actually is the reality.

Jen: Yeah.

Masey: I mean, 65 million knitters in the US alone, and that's just knitters, not quilters and crocheters. And we're all going to die, every single one of us. And except for Jen. And we're all going to have, I don't even know how many projects I have half done right now.

Jen: I've talked to people who tell me that every Friday they get all their, they work on their work, all their unfinished projects. And I'm like, you are awesome. I would like to do that someday, but I keep starting them.

Masey: So, Jen, if you just work on your works in progress on Friday, Fridays, that means the rest of the time you start new starting nuance, that math does not work out. Not great.

Jen: I think that person has a lot more organized. Like, it has a lot more going on than she really let into. I do know that we, what is interesting is that there is a little bit of a gender thing where a lot of, I mean, 90% of the people in our Facebook group identify as women. We have a lot of women who, when you, when we tell this to people what we do, people universally are like, that's so nice. But women get it. I think more, and I don't mean to be sexist, but they just get it. And I think it has to do with invisible work that we all do. And see, we can see the amount of work that went into that object that needs to be finished. And I think that because it's something that's seen as extra or, you know, like a fun little hobby, I think that when we see it, we understand the importance of that, because it's not just a fun little hobby, it's somebody having intention, picking out colors, picking out shapes, picking out tools so that they can make something for someone they love. And it's really more than just this little hobby. It's an act of love.

Melissa: And you're creating beautiful art. And in the process, and I have many items that I use. I mentioned my grandma's quilt. I have bookmarks that I use that have been given to be my crafters. I have, I love the little knitted scouring pads and I always have someone that gives me one of those at Christmas and I use them all year long. I mean, though, you really are gifting out of love, but you see and remember that person each time you use and pull out those things and powerful.

Masey: Case of a garment or something made to wear or put on your bed or put up on your wall, we will match anything really that's made of string of some kind. And if someone was making something with string, whether it's thread or yarn or whatever that is passed through their own fingers, like their DNA is on every single teeny tiny centimeter of materials that went into that project. So it is a gesture of love and it's a gift that's really nice to have. And handmade things are the best things, in my opinion. But it's also an actual tangible connection to the person who left it behind in a very real way.

Melissa: Absolutely. And I'm sure many of these projects have helped people walk through that difficult path of grief, too. Letting go and saying goodbye. It's good to have something there. Well, we've kind of been going over this a little bit, but I love to end every episode with just those reminders and encouragement for others to serve. And so you mentioned you're all over, so you can share and encourage anyone that might want to serve with you, or also, just in general, encouragement that you have to give to those that can use their gifts of crafting or doing different textile work to serve those around them.

Jen: We would love to have you as a finisher. We get this. We get two questions, like, don't you have enough? No, we never have enough finishers because people sign up, they forget, they go away. They get pick, get objects, and it's not what they want to do. So having multiple finishers in an area is really important for us. We take all kinds of crafters, anybody, anything to do with strings. So if you are a nail binder. Did I say that right, Macy?

Masey: I think so.

Jen: I think so. Or if you are a cruel worker, or if you do hook rugs or knitting or crocheting, we will take you. We would love you to be in our, in our group. If you are sorting out stuff from a family member who's passed away or moving somebody to assisted living, or are in a situation where someone has lost the ability to do their craft, contact us. We are more than happy to find a finisher for you if we can. And that's all on our website, which is www.loosens.org and will get us right to our website. And you can find buttons to become a finisher to see what kind of crafts we do to donate. We are a nonprofit, so it's a tax deductible donation. We do not take fibers or knitting needles or anything like that. We have enough. Macy has enough. But we have a wonderful page that one of our volunteers, Arla, put together, and it has places that take those things. So you can go to our donations page and see that as well. And if you want to submit a project, you do it there as well. So we'd love to have you. We just would love to have you. Regardless of your skillset there are some very rudimentary things that people leave behind and some very advanced things. So we'll find something that fit. If it, if it's good for you, we'll find it. And there you go.

Melissa: That's a good fit. Yeah. I have a mother in law who's a quilter and she gets many a fabric donation for the projects and things that she works on and gives to others. Macy, do you want to add just how anyone can serve in general with those gifts that they have?

Masey: Talking about just how crafters are a generous lot. Most of us already serving like loose ends came about, but we didn't invent this right like was already happening. One other thing we love is for ha, is for people to follow us on our social media. And also on our website there is a link for flyers. And those are our analogies. Social media, if folks would like to help, but they aren't necessarily crafters. We always welcome help getting the word out. And the flyers are available in multiple languages and downloading them and then emailing them around to senior centers, to hospices, to hospitals, or seeing if your local cafe or library would put one up. That is all really helpful to us in terms of getting the word out in a broad way.

Melissa: Well, I just want to thank both of you for coming on today and teaching us more about the good work that you do and that the crafters do in your organization. So thank you so much. Is there anything final that you'd like to add?

Jen: Well, if you are a crafter, leave a note. Tell us what this is before you go. I have a plan. I do a lot of detective work. Macy does a wonderful job of having everything in a book that tells you what she's doing. Let us know what you want. Clues. Yeah. Yeah. You choose. This is something you can do. And people don't like to think about the inevitable. But if you put just a little note explaining what something is, telling people that they can come find us if they need to get it done, it would be great. And if you don't want it done, like if it's sitting in the back and it's in the bottom of a box and you're like, you know what? And I haven't. The example I've been giving is the crocheted bikini top that I made for myself as a 20. It's not gonna fit. It's not gonna be useful. I will never wear that outside. I should throw it out and I'm going to, or repurpose it, or someone will love it.

Masey: But it's honestly like Jen. If Jen were to disappear tomorrow, you know, I would be trying to finish that thing.

Jen: You just making it for Jules? No, no. We need to just get rid of.

Melissa: It through friendship right there.

Jen: Take it off the list. There's other things that are more important. You know, the blanket for college. Do that one. That'll be fine.

Melissa: Yeah, that's great advice. Leave those little remnants behind so your family can know what it was and how to help finish it. So that's great. Well, thank you so much, both of you, for coming on.

Jen: Thank you, Melissa. This was lovely.

Melissa: That concludes my interview with Jen Simonek and Macy Kaplan, the founders of loose ends. And I just love that interview. I love how you can hear and feel the true joy that they find in doing this work and connecting finishers with these projects. For families and friends that have loved ones that have passed on or can't complete them because of disability. It's a great thing that they're doing. I love that there's so many different kinds of projects. Even in just those few stories they share, they were all different kinds of projects. I loved how Jen gave the reminder there that this is the Red Cross of crafting. They are trying to build as big of a community as they can so that really, anyone, anywhere that needs a project finished can be able to find a crafter or a finisher that's near them. And again, I love that reminder that they gave, that these projects are more than just a hobby, more than just something to pass the time. They are true love and dedication and what a beautiful, beautiful thing it is to be able to take those, to have a crafter be able to take that project, find joy themselves in finishing and working on it, and then give joy to those families as they are navigating that process of grieving and the joy they're able to feel when they get to have that finished project from their friends or loved ones. So I will leave links to the Loose ends website and their social media so you can go check them out, learn more about them. If you're a crafter, you can join them, become one of their crafters, one of their finishers, or you can just learn more about what they do. Their instagram has some beautiful pictures and stories and it really is inspiring. And their website has lots of good information, too. So I will leave all of that there. And I just want to finish by saying, I hope this week you can find a way to do something more to help inspire, lift, or make a difference.