Author: Deborah Castellanos
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Donating What Is Actually Needed
I remember sitting in a drafty village hall back in ’94, watching a well-meaning group of neighbors hand over a thick envelope of cash to a large, national charity, only to see absolutely nothing change on our street three years… Continue reading
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The Report Your Funder Actually Wants
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 1994, staring at a stack of crumpled receipts and a half-finished spreadsheet, feeling utterly defeated. We had just finished our first neighbourhood street party, and while the tea was hot and… Continue reading
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How a Foodbank Referral Works
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’98, watching a well-meaning volunteer try to explain a complex referral system to a mother who looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. There was so much unnecessary paperwork… Continue reading
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What to Do if You Find Something
I remember sitting in a drafty village hall back in ’94, watching a lovely lady nearly burst into tears because she’d found an old Roman coin in her allotment but had no idea what to do with it. She’d spent… Continue reading
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Earthworks You Walk Past
I remember standing on the edge of a damp meadow in North Yorkshire, clutching a clipboard and feeling completely foolish because I was looking for something that wasn’t there. Everyone tells you that you need expensive ground-penetrating radar or a… Continue reading
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Asking Volunteers What Is Wrong
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a lovely woman named Mrs. Higgins try to navigate a twenty-page printed survey we’d spent weeks designing. She looked utterly defeated, clutching that thick stack of paper like… Continue reading
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Reading an Aerial Photograph From 1946
I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in ’98, surrounded by thirty shouting neighbors, all of us arguing about where a new playground should actually go. We were looking at blurry, printed maps that showed nothing but grey… Continue reading
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Writing Down What It Really Cost
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 1994, watching a lovely woman from the garden club tear up a pile of crumpled receipts because she couldn’t make sense of her scribbled notes. She had spent the whole afternoon… Continue reading
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Mills, Leats and Where Water Was Used
I remember standing in a muddy ditch in Lower Highfield back in ’94, clutching a damp, illegible map and realizing that all the official council reports in the world wouldn’t tell me where the actual overflow went during a heavy… Continue reading
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The Debrief That Makes Next Year Easier
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 2004, surrounded by half-eaten sandwiches and the lingering scent of damp wool, watching three of our most dedicated volunteers simply walk away. We had pulled off a wonderful street fair, but… Continue reading
