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Amplifying Hope | Week 28

Dear Friends,

In the wake of the terrible Texas flooding last weekend, did you also keep checking the news with dread? Did you watch the death count rise with horror? How do we make our way forward in a world of disaster, cruelty, and neglect? The answer is always: Together.

When the water rose across the Hill Country, it was clear that our community was going to need all the help it could get. What wasn’t clear—until it happened—was just how many people would show up, ready to serve.
Thanks to the wide reach of Luck Reunion and their partners, along with deep roots of the Kerrville Folk Festival family, the Ranch has become a hub of flood relief efforts, offering not just hot meals but something we’ve long believed in: Offering a place to call home and service to others.
This week, our volunteer kitchen—which normally feeds the crew that helps bring the music to life each May—was reopened as a flood relief kitchen. In partnership with our friends at Luck Reunion, Mill Scale Metalworks, Blackboard BBQ, Best Little Wine Shop, Gage Hotel, Brickvault BBQ, and others, we’ve been able to offer not only hot meals and cold drinks to first responders and recovery crews—but also a home base for a team of amazing culinary professionals ready to jump in and help.
The fact that we had a commercial kitchen sitting here in Kerrville, ready to be used, was serendipitous to say the least. We simply opened the doors, and the love poured in. It’s been a beautiful ray of hope in the midst of so much heartbreak—proof that even in the darkest moments, community and compassion can light the way.

Flood Relief Donations
In the wake of the recent flood in Kerrville, your donation will go directly toward local relief and recovery efforts. Your contribution will automatically be designated for Flood Relief and used to meet urgent needs in the community. Any remaining funds will be donated to a trusted local relief organization.

My friend Katie Dahl, a Kerrville New Folk Winner this year(!), and I recorded a duo version of Bruce Springsteen's "If I Should Fall Behind." Here's a live version from the Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City in 2024.

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Here’s a link to the recorded versio

During a recent writing retreat, I discovered this book in my room. It sat on my desk as I dove into stockpiles of song ideas on receipts, envelopes, and my phone recorder. I was bolstered by the reminder that the creative process is reward enough.

“Writer, artist, and entrepreneur Becky Blades offers a powerful new mindset for our modern world: acting on more ideas makes us happier – and reveals our highest creativity. She empowers readers to become "stARTists" – initiators with a bias for action and the courage to ignite ideas and introduces the concept of "stARTistry," spotlighting the 4-step starting process: Imagine, Think, Decide, Act. Using digestible data, humorous and honest personal experience, interviews with artists and entrepreneurs, and assignments to help you get started.”

 

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“There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accent or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart.” ~Daisaku Ikeda

If I should fall behind, wait for me…and I’ll do the same, Joy

Joy Zimmerman is a folk and acoustic roots singer-songwriter who creates community through music. Her latest album, Where the Light Lives, debuted at #6 on the Folk Alliance International Chart, adding to a growing list of accolades and awards. A multi-instrumentalist with a rich, clear voice, Joy blends insightful songwriting, fiddle tunes, and storytelling into performances that leave a lasting impact. Dani Goodband of Lakeside Music calls her “a show any host would line up to present.”  joyzimmermanmusic.com

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