Lately I’ve had Christmas stockings on the brain. (Three guesses why!)
The funny thing is, they weren’t such a big deal when I was a kid, because our family’s Santa usually filled ours with a simple assortment of fruit and nuts.
Then I grew up and became a Fulton.
I still recall my surprise when I opened my first “married person” stocking and found an impressive array of non-edible items. And I remember being even more surprised that they didn’t come packaged in an old sock; instead, each family member used a stocking that had been lovingly handmade by my husband’s Grandma Jo.
Hold those thoughts as I pivot to the subject of ALAN.
Once upon a time, our job description was much like my childhood stocking stuffers – highly focused on a single area: donated logistics.
But then, just as the Fulton family expanded my idea of what stockings can also contain, we realized there was a significant opportunity to grow ALAN’s role into something even more multifaceted and meaningful – which is why we’ve spent the past several years, launching various exciting disaster readiness and resilience initiatives (including two new educational newsletters.)
As for the holiday stocking itself? There’s even a parallel there: Throughout ALAN’s journey, we’ve been supported by a wide array of association, business, non-profit and government partners. And thanks to collaborative events like our fortnightly partners’ calls, that group has turned into a tightly woven and highly collaborative network. We treasure this network just like my husband I treasure (and still use) his grandmother’s handmade masterpieces. Just as important, we treasure the friendship we share with each and every one of you who are a part of it.
On behalf of all of us at ALAN, thank you for filling our 2025 with everything good – and for enabling us to use the power of logistics to deliver peace, joy and love to disaster survivors every season of the year.
Kathy