Independence Day is red, white and blue. It’s one day. And we celebrate it tomorrow.

For one day, we all look to the same sky, fireworks ablaze above our heads, and we each pull our loved ones closer for the thunderous grand finale. For one day, we identify with not only friends and relatives, but with the entire country. Families sit together with neighbors and the feeling of community is in the air.

Then there are the other 364 days of the year. After the fireworks dissipate and charcoals turn to dust, we resume routines largely unaltered by one day’s influx of extra ordinary kinship. It’s difficult for many to feel connected to the community year-round, let alone feel invested in such a macrocosmic system. Luckily there are people whose lives revolve around improving their communities, independent thinkers fiercely protective of our democracy. They are the real patriots.

The real patriots see their communities desperately in need, and they do everything in their power to provide help. They see students across the country in need and they start an enrichment program to keep young minds inspired after school. Parched by a creative drought, they join a performing arts foundation that quenches the nation’s artistic soul. They see starvation in their community and start a soup kitchen.

Nonprofits are a crucial part of our society. Their philanthropic missions favor community over the benefit of one individual. They pull resources into the areas that need it most, working hard to compensate for budget cuts and political agendas. They create a more civil and just society by improving the lives of people as a whole. Visions of this magnitude reform economic systems. They work from the outside to shape society towards the greater good.

We at DISTINC are inspired by these people every day. We are moved by their passion and honored to be of assistance. They are changing society, and they’re doing it out of love. What could be more patriotic?