Why Lancaster?
By Kevin Ressler
President & CEO of The Alliance for Health Equity
When I left home for college, I had little expectations of returning to Lancaster, other than to visit my family for holidays. I do not think this is a particularly unique experience for a young person. As I have, in fact, moved back for my entire adult life, I also do not think it particularly unique that my appreciation for home gains as I age.
As points of comparison, Lancaster excels when it chooses to be welcoming to strangers, going back to its welcoming of Mennonite and other religious refugees through to this continuing spirit.
While the perspective is not uniform, I am deeply grateful to live in a community that routinely shows up to express with bodies, words, and institutions that we care for the disenfranchised and disinherited parts of our community where systems breakdown to fail people and a critical mass understands our best solutions are those that prioritize an equitable approach to community building.
We all win when we see one another as each other and make strategic choices and policies to support those that need a little extra.
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