Help Where Help Is Needed

Welcome to the Stone Soup Weekly Digest! This is where I share what I'm up to and some of my favorite things from around the internet. Subscribe to Stone Soup to get this in your inbox every week.

Have You Eaten is out in ebook!

Mark Oshiro is on tour!

Solidarity Forever

As of yesterday afternoon, the Dockworkers' union suspended their strike until January 15 so they could negotiate a new contract. AP sources say "the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%." This is good news for dockworkers and for unions. 

With that contract pending, learn more about the progress of the ongoing Hotel Workers strike!

Support Your Community

Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast United States last week and caused widespread destruction across 25 counties. At least 140 are reported dead across six states, and hundreds are still missing. Flooding, road washouts, and communication outages are still hindering emergency response, including aid to isolated communities that already suffer from poverty and food and housing insecurity.

• If you or those you love need FEMA aid as a result of Hurricane Helene, you can learn more about how to request that aid here.
• North Carolina Relief Funds directs donations to nonprofits that work to address the immediate needs of storm victims in North Carolina. 
• Here is a directory of nonprofits that are responding directly to Helene. 
• Florida Disaster Fund distributes funds to service organizations that serve individual communities in Florida.
• Florida Chamber Safety Council provides resources that will help you bring yourself to volunteer work or your money to disaster relief funds
• CARE provides cash assistance to help provide food, medicine, and hygiene supplies to those in need, as well as supporting long-term recovery and protect at-risk populations
• United Way of Florida is currently assisting those in the “Big Bend” region who have been affected by the storm. 

Go get vaccinated! You can get an updated COVID-19 vaccine, a flu shot, and a monkeypox vaccine.

• Find pharmacies near you and get help scheduling appointments
• Stay up to date on the latest information from the CDC
• Educate your communities with free educational materials

Palestine, Lebanon, & Our Neighbors In the Region. For the past several months, I have been sharing links and resources with you to support our neighbors around the world who are currently being attacked by the government of Israel. Violence is both mounting and spreading as Israel escalates and widens the scope of its attacks. We have the power to help the people who need us right now. Here are a few ways you can do your part.

• Check out a collection of ways to help Lebanese communities here
• Support the United Nations relief efforts in Palestine here
• Donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) here
• Purchase from Palestinian-owned business – here’s 15 Palestinian brands, 8 Palestinian Etsy Shops, and a portal full of Palestinian goods 
• Check out Gaza Funds, a website that gathers crowdfunding campaigns from people in need in Gaza
• Check out Operation Olive Branch, which helps fund medical evacuations
• Connect with Jewish Voice for Peace
• Use Resistbot to contact your representatives

Finally! You may be aware that in November, the United States will hold an election. If you are eligible to vote in this election, it’s absolutely vital that you confirm your voter registration status. I literally found out yesterday that my voter registration status had been changed to inactive!! If you’re thinking “oh jeez, that almost makes me want to check mine,” you should follow that instinct. It only takes a minute. Go check your status!

• Click here to learn your current voter registration status
• Click here to register to vote in your state

Featured New Release: Jasmine is Haunted by Mark Oshiro

Jasmine Garza has a problem: a ghost has been following her for years, ever since her Papi died. Not that Mami will admit anything supernatural is going on. But even the ghost she won’t acknowledge makes real trouble, so Jasmine and her mami are moving (again) to a new apartment in East Hollywood. This time Jasmine is committed to living a normal life with normal friends.

Enter: Bea Veracruz and Jorge Barrera. They’re the only two members of Jasmine's middle school's Gay Straight Alliance and they’re already obsessed with all things supernatural. Bea wants to prove herself to her paranormal investigator parents and Jorge is determined to overcome his fear of the beyond. And when Jasmine confesses she’s been tormented by a ghost for years, they not only believe her, they’re thrilled!

Together they set out to prove that Jasmine’s not just acting out after her father’s death–ghosts are real and Jasmine is haunted. But not everyone agrees how to deal with the departed. As Jasmine’s hauntings increase in intensity, her resentment builds. Why is her Mami so secretive about her past? Why is she the center of such a terrible vortex of supernatural activity? And why hasn’t her Papi ever reached out to her since he passed?

In order to face her ghosts―both internal and external―Jasmine must come to terms with her own history.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

Currently Reading: The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.

Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

If you’re a paying subscriber, this month’s Supper Club members get a recipe postcard from me and a sneak preview of next year’s enormous project, which I’m announcing publicly later this month. If you’re hungry and/or nosy, go sign up!

—Gailey