Today in the United States is Thanksgiving, a national holiday where family and friends traditionally get together to enjoy each other’s company and give thanks as another year begins to come to a close. Here at CASE we have a lot to be thankful for! We have several new people joining our team this year, we’ve helped inspiring organizations scale their impact through the Change Academy, we co-hosted the largest Sustainable Business and Social Impact Conference to date, we’ve had a number of pieces published in national news outlets, including Cathy Clark’s most recent piece on impact investing, we inspired global health social entrepreneurs in India to partner together to scale their impact, and many more successes that can’t fit into a single blog post.
At our most recent CASE team meeting, we asked some of our team members what they are thankful for this year. We hope that you enjoy their reflections as much as we did!
For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving today, we hope you have a restful holiday weekend and we thank all of you for joining us in supporting and furthering the field of social entrepreneurship. Happy Thanksgiving!
 |
“Every Thanksgiving I am thankful for my family and friends and how blessed I am to have them in my life. And that includes my CASE family – the teammates, students, alumni, and partners – that make my life richer and are fellow travelers on this journey of changing the world for the better. I’m grateful to be reminded every day that despite the enormous problems we are facing around the world, there are talented, passionate people that will not accept the status quo and are constantly inspiring me to do and be better!” | |
 |
“I am thankful to work with people all over the world trying to make the world a better place for future generations. And also for the great state parks and campgrounds across North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia my family has gotten to experience; gifts from past generations to inspire the next!” | |
 |
“I’m thankful to work with people who genuinely want to make the world a better place and are actively working towards that goal.” | |
 |
“I am thankful to have had the opportunity to transition from being a student to a staff member at Fuqua. I feel fortunate to continue being part of the Team Fuqua culture I appreciated so much as a student and I love working with our students who are committed to bringing that culture out into the world as they work with others to solve big, important, consequential social and environmental challenges. Working with Fuqua students is continually inspiring! I am also thankful to carpool with my husband to work in the same building and that we have a 5-minute commute back home to see our two smiley boys at the end of the day.” | |
 |
“I’m thankful I have such a connected group of CASE colleagues and alumni who are so willing to help students in their job searches. And I’m thankful I get to live vicariously when students go to work doing interesting and impactful jobs!” | |
 |
“I am so thankful to work somewhere that every day I learn something new and am continually inspired by the amazing people and organizations we are able to surround ourselves in through our mission. When I first started this position, social entrepreneurship was a vague concept to me. Now I am not only able to tell others what it is but also get them excited about what people are doing in the field! And I’m able to pass this excitement down to my daughter in the hope that one day she can proudly call herself a social entrepreneur!” | |
 |
“I’m thankful for the increasing number of social impact-committed students coming into Fuqua’s MBA program and to the school and our funders for trusting CASE to help develop them and make this world a better place. I’m also thankful – in advance, with hopes that it will be so – for NO TRAFFIC between Durham and DC this Thanksgiving as my husband, children, and I travel to be with family.” | |
 |
“I’m thankful to be working with such a wonderful group of Duke students, staff, faculty and alumni who are committed to pursuing and supporting innovative solutions to world’s most pressing problems. I am honored to engage with incredible social entrepreneurs in Durham and around the world, whose profound dedication, creativity, and resilience inspires me daily. Finally, I am deeply grateful for the wisdom, humility, and moral compass that CASE co-founder Greg Dees shared with us for so many years.” |