
Each year, ILLUME gives back to celebrate the holidays. Our culture of giving was embedded in ILLUME from the earliest days. When we started ILLUME, we committed to supporting causes that mattered to us and our team because it’s part of who we are. This year, instead of a single company-wide donation, we engaged each office to select the organizations we will support. A common theme emerged: home.
Home is the thread that runs through most of our work at ILLUME. We work diligently to understand the social, cultural, and financial value of home so that our clients can tap into this information to meet ever-increasing energy, demand, and greenhouse gas reduction goals. We learn repeatedly, in new ways, that home is far more than the infrastructure we seek to improve. It is the culmination of our histories, our families, and our places in the world. It is the place where, ideally, we feel most safe. It is the physical surround to our dreams, our futures.
This year, as we settle into the holidays, we are reminded of how fragile home is. As fires take homes away from families throughout the West, we are reminded yet again of the ways that climate change threatens home. Between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s October report and the recent release of the National Climate Assessment report in November, it is clear that the impacts of climate change are being felt now. And that, if unchecked, fires and floods and storms will force thousands more to flee their homes in the coming years. We will also face unprecedented political and social instability that will force tough conversations about who we shelter – who is included in our definition of home.
As we take seriously the uncertain future of our homes, we are called to extend support to those who have lost their homes and loved ones. In addition to supporting Porchlight in Madison, an organization that provides comprehensive support and shelter to those facing homelessness, we have also selected two organizations that support migrants: The Colibri Center for Human Rights and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). The Colibri Center’s Missing Migrant Project seeks to identify and reunite the remains of migrants who have died on the US-Mexico border with their families. KIND provides legal services to immigrant children, including unaccompanied minors and those who were separated from their families at the border.
It is no mistake that, as a company focused on improving homes through smart energy use, we feel the deepest empathy for those who have lost or fled their home. We will leave you with this excerpt of a poem by Warsan Shire entitled “Home,” which captures the importance of creating a safe planet, and home, for humankind. Our hope for the new year is that we will apply the talents of our industry to tackle climate change so that fewer families will lose their homes. We also hope that we acknowledge our shared humanity so that, when these losses inevitably happen, we extend grace and dignity to everyone impacted.
Home
when home won’t let you stay