A Love Letter to Community by Amanda Cassiday

This month, we’re exploring the theme of Love Letters in the Hudson Valley. Several local changemakers and visionaries were invited to express their ode to love in original ways to honor any person, being, or place in the region. Amanda Cassiday is a storyteller, visionary leader and advocate for community-driven growth and co-creativity.

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I’m in love with a dream.

A dream so loud, it speaks when I speak. A dream so alive, it breathes when I breathe. This dream exists as much outside of me as it does inside of me; its heartbeat keeps me alive.

It’s a dream of how we once were. Sprawling, natural landscapes. Fertile soils. Clean rivers and streams. A godly ecosystem unencumbered by man, a flowing equalizer of living beings whose force was as ubiquitous, unbiased, and unapologetic as it was awe-inspiring and sacred. A time when humankind was in deep reciprocity to land, wildlife, spirit, and each other. A dream where the game of life is not won or lost but generously honored. Where we are stripped of our bank accounts, debts, digital worlds, property, and institutionalized systems, and equipped with stories, wisdom, customs, and community values. Where the fount by which we live is not measured by power or resource hoarding but by the well-being of our relationships.

This is a dream of community. Where I am but a cell among cells on a much larger organism, and our working together in concert keeps us alive and thriving. Where I do not exist without this grander network of relationships, I am so deeply woven within, and my simple existence and identity, like all others, offer strength and sweet nectar to the collective life we lead.

This dream ain’t no fantasy. It is hard work. A community where we don’t work for money but for one another and forces us to face the realities of our circumstances. There is always work to be done. Food to grow, mouths to feed, the sick to care for, homes to build and mend. Storms to weather and droughts to face. But this work feels honest. Because in this dream, there is nothing to shield us from the intimacy of being alive: facing our fears, our vulnerabilities, our wholeness amid the rawness of life, death, love, heartbreak, abundance, scarcity, grief and joy. And doing it all together: belonging with, not apart from. That is the dream.

It’s a love that has run deep in my bones for a long, long time. A love that has germinated in many moments and chapters of my life. And as my roots deepen here in the Hudson Valley, I find this love blossoming in me now more than ever. It blooms while I’m moving about in our corner of the world: spontaneous neighbor gatherings across fences to offer company, humor, and oftentimes much-needed guidance on one of my many DIY projects; attending one of the Hudson Valley’s community potlucks to find elders around a fire and children frolicking in between; sharing a vibrant and vulnerable conversation with someone I hardly know, yet trust I will meet again; stumbling through conflict with others while finding forgiveness and grace along the way; a connection is made between strangers through an act of unconditional generosity; delightfully and unexpectedly running into warm and familiar faces I’ve come to know… It is the moments like these that make my dream feel like a reality.

Though oftentimes, this potent love still feels like a distant dream: at the grocery store buying industrialized food shrink-wrapped in plastics; witnessing some of the most talented individuals that make this area so beautiful struggle to find affordable, safe housing; interacting for even 5 minutes with our healthcare system; experiencing competition and resource hoarding amongst some of our very own community organizations. The individualized, zero-sum game that dominates much of the world today echoes through our daily Hudson Valley interactions, including my own. Sometimes it drowns out the whispers of my dream. Other times, it incites a Kali-like rage that brings a fiery voice and action to this dream that I love so dearly.

The truth is, this love is both present and absent, dream and reality. And as I live through it wanes and waxes in my daily life, my heartfelt and determined duty is to tend to it, nurture it, support it, share it, celebrate it, even grieve it. And do so with others who share this deep love, too.

–Amanda Cassiday, Co-founder Engather

Read More Hudson Valley Love Letters:

A Love Letter to Our Hudson Valley Rivers by Eric Archer Dahlberg

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MORE ABOUT AMANDA CASSIDAY

Amanda Cassiday is a storyteller, visionary leader and advocate for community-driven growth and co-creativity. Her work spans diverse fields, including social impact, design, and innovation. Her transformative experience living in a rural village in Burkina Faso deepened her belief that thriving communities are cultivated through experiences that empower individuals, teams, and, ultimately, the collective to flourish. For over 15 years, Amanda has applied this principle to both her personal and professional endeavors, from facilitating a women-led microfinance group in Takaledougou—still thriving since 2009—to leading high-performing design teams at Johnson & Johnson, where she played a key role in launching some of the company’s most successful products. A passionate maker, gardener, student of herbalism and permaculture, Amanda also invests her time as a mentor and supporter of entrepreneurs, championing projects that blend purpose with innovation to create sustainable, positive change.

Connect with Amanda via website | Instagram

Co-founder, Engather
Director, Strategy & Development, Kingston Common Futures
Business Consultant & ; Coach
Emerging Family Constellations Practitioner

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Click HERE for more of our “Love in the Valley” Series.