Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Six Tales of Christmas | The Cool Ugly Sweater

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Six Tales of Christmas | The Cool Ugly Sweater · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

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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.