A New Social Justice: Also
- Why I Give – Ravi Ravichandran
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Why I Give – Ravi Ravichandran
Ravi Ravichandran was volunteering at a Mother Earth News Fair eight years ago when he noticed the YES! booth right across the way. After sampling a few stories, he became a subscriber. “I usually don’t subscribe to magazines,” he says, “but the content was so meaningful and compelling that I made an exception!”
What kind of work and/or volunteering do you do?
I started an orchard from bare land on Hawai‘i’s Big Island in 2017. After four years of hard work, we are supplying bananas to local grocery stores and farmers markets. We measure our success along three dimensions: community contributions, enhancing the environment, and being financially profitable. We’re still working on that third dimension!
To support my family and the farm I recently began a full-time job with the Hawai‘i Police Department managing information technology. Contributing my skills to help the men and women who put their lives on the line every day is another form of community service for me and is immensely satisfying.
What are your passions?
I am someone who dives into something and gives it more than 100% attention until I become good at it. Competitive Scrabble, competitive bridge, mountaineering, flute playing, reading books, and exploring spirituality from all around the world are areas where I have done that. Now, in addition to my farm, music, meditation, and mentoring young people are important to me.
How does YES! support your values and your work to build a better world?
Media, especially social media, is very good at getting us to react. Making us reflect and gain different perspectives is much harder. This is what YES! is good at.
For me, caring for the environment, building resilient communities, and supporting my local economy are very important. YES! helps me reflect on the work I do and see how I can do it differently or better.
Why do you support YES! at the Founders’ Circle level?
Longevity of this work is important to me, not just for my lifetime but for generations to come. And I know that supporting this work takes many hands.
If you believe in the longevity of the ideas expressed in YES! and you are capable of helping, inaction will be a wasted opportunity for everyone. Let us all make the necessary investment toward making this world fairer, more just, and a joyful place to live! Each of us can make a difference.
I feel so strongly about this that I will match the donations of 10 new Founders’ Circle members!