BitterSweet Monthly

BitterSweet Monthly We square up with the harsh realities and heavy statistics to find glimmers of solution, of fearless "Creative as we may be, we are but middlemen. Fatigue. At 22.

Yet our effort has never been more vital." ~ Kate Schmidgall, Founder

The stories dominating our day are characterized by poverty, corruption, disease, devastation, abuse, and war, with political punditry and petulance for flair. There is a multimillion-dollar media machine powering and pushing this content 24/7. Unbalanced, this diet is toxic—cause for fatigue, cynicism, and despair. This was driven home for Kate Schmidgall when she was invited to address a couple hundred socially-conscious and concerned college students on a topic of their choosing: Compassion fatigue. As in: Opposite of zest, vigor, idealism and unbridled ambition. This isn’t fatigue from the development field or years of service as social workers, teachers, and tested professionals. These students have yet to earn a bachelor’s. And they’re tired. Tired of caring; tired of hearing about all the ways they could care or should care. They're burning out at the starting line. How many feel that way: increasingly numb to statistics and paralyzed by awareness campaigns rather than empowered. Bittersweet Monthly is a practice in learning how to see – squaring up with the harsh realities and heavy statistics to find glimmers of solution, of fearlessness and faithfulness, of hope. Always finding them, Bittersweet Monthly builds creative teams to tell those stories artistically through film, photography, music, written word and design. Together Bittersweet Monthly, contributing artists and organizations craft a counter narrative—one that refuses cynicism, defies apathy, and celebrates the right and good that the world needs more of.

“Healthy rivers feed healthy communities, and healthy communities feed healthy rivers.” Read the story on BitterSweetMon...
08/22/2026

“Healthy rivers feed healthy communities, and healthy communities feed healthy rivers.” Read the story on BitterSweetMonthly.com about Ríos to Rivers (photos by Kory Powell)

From BitterSweet Monthly’s July story “Loving Your City Into Greatness”“My vision for Grand Rapids is that we obtain a n...
07/17/2026

From BitterSweet Monthly’s July story “Loving Your City Into Greatness”

“My vision for Grand Rapids is that we obtain a new set of eyes,” Nate says. “Our collective consciousness, if you will, has only been able to see the marginalized—anybody who’s different—as a problem to be solved or money to throw [at] and fix” instead of “as an opportunity to celebrate difference in race and political beliefs, in thought, in philosophy.”

Grand Rapids has always been generous from a charity standpoint, but he hasn’t seen that charity translate to sustainable change that affirms human dignity.

“So if I think about the city almost as an organism, it’s like, how can the city as a place adopt a new set of eyes to see things differently? Because only once we can see things differently can we begin to act and behave differently.”

***

Nate Beene, CEO of the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation (GRCCT), poses for a portrait in the courtyard of the 1530 Madison Avenue building where the Center offices.

Read more on BitterSweetMonthly.com

Photograph by Erica Baker
Words by Kelli Wisthoff

05/19/2026

On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in April, the Homes Not Borders ( ) team and volunteers convene for the weekly food distribution program. 15 boxes of dry goods–rice, beans, lentils, salt, sugar, cooking oil–sit awaiting the addition of fresh produce. 

Obaid Safi left Afghanistan and resettled in the US in 2021. HNB handled the apartment setup for him and his family. A father of four small children ages 2-9, he relies on the bi-weekly delivery of groceries from HNB. He has been waiting for approval of his green card status since 2024. 

“We live and work here legally and pay our taxes, but because we are waiting for our green cards we got our benefits cut.” In the wake of mass legislative changes in 2025, SNAP benefits were revoked for thousands of refugees due to their green card statuses. 

On a biweekly basis, HNB volunteers pack and hand-deliver a 40–50 lb bag of halal food to roughly 30 families like Obaid’s who have had their SNAP benefits revoked due to green card status. The program supports families for 3-6 months, helping to bridge the enormous gap created by the legislative change.

Read the full story on BitterSweet Monthly 

Words by Serena Jones
Film by

New from BitterSweet Monthly: We first highlighted Homes Not Borders ( ) in August of 2022, when they were in the midst ...
05/08/2026

New from BitterSweet Monthly:

We first highlighted Homes Not Borders ( ) in August of 2022, when they were in the midst of coordinating 8-10 apartment setups a week for newly arriving refugee families. Since then, much has changed. With US visa programs shuttered and federal funding for refugee assistance severed, HNB saw a chasm of need open wider and wider. They chose to respond as they always have, with grit, determination, and a can’t stop, won’t stop sort of energy.

Expanding from home setup services, HNB hired caseworkers who’d been let go from resettlement agencies in the budget cuts and began assisting about 40 families. They have prioritized their artisan programs like Sew Successful to equip women with entrepreneurial trade skills and built out a food distribution program just as SNAP benefits vanished for thousands of families.
Founder and Executive Director Laura Osuri ( )explains, “We did a lot more than I thought we could.”

Read the full story on BitterSweet Monthly.

Written by
Photographs by
2026 Film by
2026 Interviews by Serena Jones

Border Joy“What I intend to do is to showcase the good on both sides of the border. And I think that that is precisely w...
04/30/2026

Border Joy

“What I intend to do is to showcase the good on both sides of the border. And I think that that is precisely what connected me to Abara,” says Yorch.

Photo of Yorch with his “Border Joy” print block (SWIPE), and the finished print.

***

Abara allows for your dreams to develop and helps you to find joy in the tragedy. That’s really how our slogan came to be: Border Joy. That’s what it’s all about—that we can find joy in suffering. — Rosa

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