The health care reform debates in D.C. are painful to follow. The corrosive influence of money in politics…Americans’ unreasonable expectations of what one human being can accomplish in a short period of time with a deeply divided Congress. Then there’s that inescapable sense that reform opponents are rooting against the best interests of their own country and even themselves. But hope is alive and well, change is still in the air, and UP is thriving on people’s power and the generous support of our donors and the foundations that have been increasingly funding our work. So while we’ve largely been side-lined in the D.C. goings-on, we’re hard at work helping the people solve real-life problems, and that feels great.

Under the leadership of Karen Reimus with assistance from Torrey Rodgers and Amy Bach, all 120 of our wonderful Disaster Survivor Support Network volunteers are now armed with reference manuals. Several of them wrote testimonials that were used at a September 17th program in Santa Barbara titled “The Rebuilding Process Unmasked,” organized by Santa Barbara County Wildfire Recovery Ombudsperson Pat Saley and the Mission Canyon Association.

But the best news I’ve heard since my daughter reported how much she loves her 6th-grade teachers is the smashing policyholder victory in the Corban case in Mississippi. (See Amicus Update for details) Score a very big one for the good guys. Go team!