Angel

When New Alt was new and small I personally knew most of the donors, but that was years ago. These days most of the donors I interact with personally are on the Angel List, a special list of donors who have signed up to receive emails when one of our clients has a specific need. This runs the gamut from textbooks to work uniforms to housewares for a new apartment. Even most of the Angel donors I don’t get to know beyond a sense of what type of request tends to appeal to them. And then there’s Susan. I first noticed Susan in 2012, back in the days when donations came in the form of checks. Not only did she often respond to requests, she also signed up as a Gay Santa and I was struck by how pretty and thoughtful her gift was, not just the requested item tossed in a box, but the candy and extras and careful wrapping we tend to use with people we care about. And unlike any other Santa,she asked for the recipient's birthday, and sent her gifts then, too. Even her donations had a thoughtful touch, a little note in the envelope, but she also included a business-card size card that said “In Memory of Dr George Tiller.” As someone who has been involved in pro-choice activism it caught my eye because Dr George Tiller was an abortion provider who was murdered by an anti-choice lunatic, shot at point-blank range. When I asked Susan about it, she told me she had worked with Dr Tiller. Even before the recent round of bans and restrictions, a lot of the country has had a shortage of abortion providers. This is a big issue in the middle of the country where huge stretches of fields and cows and not much else make the distances people have to travel to the nearest clinic challenging. The clinics are few and far between, and to stay open they need abortion providers. Not many doctors are willling to become abortion providers - they often have to go out of their way to get trained, since many medical schools don't teach the procedure, and then they face a career of threats, and actual violence, bombings and shootings, religious lunatics haranguing patients on the sidewalk with a fake baby fetus in a jar in one hand and a rosary in the other. Susan spent her career as an abortion provider, flying into those scattered clinics, different states on different days, risking her life to make sure women could get the care they need. Even once she retired, she was still a frequent donor, sending 50 or $100 here. No more notes in envelopes in purple pen, but always an email, "use this for whatever you need." Over the years, she made 78 separate donations. The other day, I sent a request to the list as usual, a gender-nonconforming migrant client wanting a dress for their first Pride in America. I got an email back. "Dear Kate," "it read, " I'm sorry, but I have to withdraw as an 'angel'. I have cancer (stage 4) and I am trying to tie up loose ends so as not too leave too much of a jumble for Dave. Thank you for the wonderful work you do." I didn't expect to cry as hard as I did. It's hard to know how to respond to something like that, you want to wish them well, but that's not quite right. I settled on, "I hope your journey goes as well as possible."