Six Tales of Christmas | The Cool Ugly Sweater

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This is Journey with Care, the official podcast of Care

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Impact. Johan here, and today, I will be your

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guide. Welcome to the special series of Care Impact

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Christmas, where we celebrate the joy of the Christmas season.

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As the snow falls outside and the warmth of the holiday spirit fills

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our hearts, we invite you to gather your closest loved

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ones, your kids, grandkids, friends, or family. Get

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cozy by the fire or snuggle up with a blanket and a cup of hot

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cocoa and get ready for something truly special.

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Today, we invite you to journey with us through a series of short stories that

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capture the essence of Christmas. These tales are filled with

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warmth, care, and loving generosity.

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So take a sip of that rich hot cocoa, nestle into your

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favorite spot and let the glow of the firelight or simply of your

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Bluetooth speaker bring our stories to life.

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Welcome back to 6 Tales of Christmas. Today's

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story is a stitch in time, a yarn you won't

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soon forget, a tale about an ugly sweater

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that's as awkward as it is extraordinary. So grab

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your coziest blanket and just dive into the world of a cool, ugly

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sweater.

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Once upon a Christmas season, in a little

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shop filled with yarn of every possible color, texture, and

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size, the great designer was hard at work.

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Spools of mismatched yarn danced between his fingers as he wove

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together a masterpiece unlike anything ever seen,

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a sweater. But this wasn't just any

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ordinary sweater. This was an ugly sweater,

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bold, bright, and outrageously unique.

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It had zigzags, sparkly pom poms,

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soft pastels, neon swirls, and

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earthy thick wool. The designer held it up to the light

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smiling at his quirky charm.

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Oh, This is unlike anything anyone

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could have imagined, but you are what I had in mind

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all along.

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The ugly sweater had a big job ahead. It was gonna clothe the

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most overlooked, misunderstood, and distraught in the community.

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Its threads were made from all sorts of yarn, a dazzling

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variety of threads from the community, delicate pastels from

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churches, merino wool and silk from businesses,

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fun pom poms from outreach programs, and predictable

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gray polyester from social services. Each thread

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was unique, full of its own stories, struggles,

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and strengths.

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Now the ugly sweater found many people in the community who needed its

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warmth, many in poverty, those who were sick,

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newcomers, and many marginalized people.

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But the ugly sweater didn't just stop with them, as if they were

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Christmas community projects to be fixed. Actually,

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everyone in the land was living isolated, misunderstood,

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and disconnected from each other. Hey,

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one person said, running a hand along a colorful patch.

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This thread reminds me of me. And

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look at this one. Another added. It's so different from

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mine, but they somehow fit together.

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I simply can't keep up with the fashion these days. Amused another.

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But I actually think I could pull this one off.

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The ugly sweater felt its mismatched threads glow with

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pride. Each strand sparkled a flicker of curiosity,

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drawing people closer as they wondered how their yarn was part of this

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wild and wonderful design. Mesmerized by these woven

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mismatched wonders, young and old, rich and poor,

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and people of all ethnicities, abilities, political and

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religious backgrounds would pause, tilt their

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heads, and lean closer as the ugly sweater warmed

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those around them. Soon, it wasn't just the youth

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aging at a care who benefited from its warmth or the mom who was

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struggling to keep her family together or the gentleman on the street

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corner begging for food. Before long, the whole

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community was eagerly awaiting their ugly sweaters

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too. Pastors felt awkward at first,

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realizing that they've always worn the same soft pastels.

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Pastel yarn was what they spun, so pastel yarn was what they

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knew to wear. Well, what if

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we don't get along, whispered a pastor, tugging at a stiff

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collar. Across the denominations, with

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community leaders who don't believe what I do, what if the

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community doesn't want us? But as they don their ugly

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sweaters from the pulpit and in their neighborhoods, the same phenomenon

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happened. People would pause, tilt their heads,

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and lean in closer. Now social workers had

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never worn anything but their predictable gray polyesters

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and typically wouldn't be caught dead in this ugly sweater fashion,

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woven by church pastels. Well, it hasn't always

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gone well in the past. What if churches slammed the door in my face

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or they have hidden agendas to coerce my vulnerable clients into their church?

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But as social workers dared to dazzle in new ugly

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sweaters, people would pause, tilt their heads,

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and lean in closer. Social workers started to

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feel supported and warmly cared for. Wow.

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Said a social worker. Others, do you want to support me? Maybe

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there is a way to see those on my caseload supported too.

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At first, business leaders didn't see much point in supporting an

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ugly sweater. They were used to writing checks, keeping the

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economy afloat, and leaving the warm fuzzy and gritty work to the

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helping professionals. But as they started to take their silk

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ties and luxurious merino wool jackets,

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these fabrics were masterfully woven into more ugly sweaters.

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Looking into the mirror at their wild new flamboyant knit

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fashion, they saw how their skills and savvy strengthened

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and supported other sectors in meaningful and life giving ways.

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Jumping onto their Zoom calls and into high stakes negotiations,

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people would pause, tilt their heads, and lean

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in closer. No longer feeling like ATM machines

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or distant philanthropists, these ugly sweater wearing business

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leaders gush to their clients, colleagues, and government officials

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about how they cared for their community.

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Make no mistake, the ugly sweater was awkward and

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challenging for the great designer to knit together. The sweater could feel

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the tension in its threads, stretch tight with fear and

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trepidation. Everyone worried they'd run into their own yarn and

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get hurt or be mocked or lose their identity. But the

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great designer masterfully knew how to work with each type of yarn,

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with their own quirks and insecurities, softening each

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of them to bring out their unique best.

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There, there, my beautiful strands. Let your unique

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beauty, strength, and connection with each other be

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exactly what the sweater needs. The more

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communities were brought together in these unprecedented ways, the greater

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the demand for ugly sweaters across the land. So the

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great designer called together teams of gritty, quirky, and skilled

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yarn gatherers who were passionately obsessed about bringing yarn

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together. These tenacious gatherers loved connecting with

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churches and social services and cultural groups and

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businesses and many hurting people to assure them that

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they were needed and valued, and to invite them to be part of

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something much bigger together. The great

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designer gave the yarn gatherers a particular assignment to

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gather more soft pastel yarn of the church, as this was in high

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demand to bring warmth and light into each sweater

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he knit. I want you to remind them of their

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calling and who they were created to be in community.

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Some churches were eager and ready, so excited and curious for the

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adventures they would be zigged and zagged into. They were wanting

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to collaborate, but needed a way to make meaningful connections.

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Oh, how they brought such timely joy and warm love into social

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worker offices, the street corners, and some of the people

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just hanging on by a thread. These soft

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pastel church fibers were unstoppable now. The

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more they gave of themselves into ugly sweaters, the more the

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pastel yarn seemed to flow. But oddly

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enough, this wasn't the case for other pretty pastel

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churches. Tightly wound together in neat

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calculated balls of yarn, some brushed the yarn gatherers off

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because they were too busy making their own pastel sweaters.

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Others stroked their chins judiciously and said they'd pray about

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it. Still others hardly raised a sleepy glance at the

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gatherer's invitation, as they were simply too comfortable wrapped

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up in their cozy fibers. Perhaps they

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couldn't fathom had the great designer would ever have them venture away from their

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traditional solid pastel ensemble to be part of such a gaudy,

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ugly sweater. The yarn gatherers

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lovingly assured the church their soft pastels would become more

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beautiful and the fibers of their faith would not only remain

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steadfast, but actually grow softer and more

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resilient in the great designer's ugly sweater.

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No matter how hard it was, the great designer would never stop

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pursuing all the pastel yarn in the land, inviting them to be

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woven into a wilder design they were created for.

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It wasn't just the pastels who had trepidations and fears.

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Every single type of yarn felt it too, ingrained into the

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very fibers of their being. But how could they deny

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the awkward marvel and bizarre beauty of the ugly sweater?

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How could they dismiss the way these woven wonders were changing the very

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fabric of their community? There was no way around it.

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The ugly sweater was warming people up to each other so well, it

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became the coolest list in the land. So if

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you see someone sporting an ugly sweater this Christmas,

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remember the great designer is still at work, making

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awkward cool again. Pause,

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tilt your head, and lean in closer.

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You might be surprised by the beauty found in the ugly

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sweater.

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This Christmas, you can help warm up communities with an ugly sweater.

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Visit care impact christmas.com to gift virtual ugly sweaters

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for everyone on your list. Care Impact knows that working across

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sectors isn't easy. Different values and priorities can clash,

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but real change happens in these awkward spaces, and we're here for

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it. Care Impact specializes in knitting churches with the

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most diverse community sectors so that you can build vibrant and

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trust based collaboration. One virtual ugly sweater of a

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$100 warms an entire gathering of diverse community

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stakeholders, ensuring no one is forgotten or left in the cold.

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Because when diverse people come together, people do pause,

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tilt their head, and lean in closer. Help us reach

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80 ugly this Christmas, each a bold step toward

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healing and collaboration. And here's the best part. Every

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dollar you give will be matched until December 31st, doubling

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your impact. Give the wildest and coziest gift of the season

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at careimpactchristmas

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dotcom.