Entries For: September 2009

Welcome back!  There's so much on my mind and yet instead we'll post our next guest blog!  Why?  Because Lisa Lewis, District 8 DHS Self Sufficiency head and star United Way board member, supervised her first Day of Caring site and was moved immediately to guest blog that night.  Lisa stepped up at the last minute to help out and brought her wit, wisdom and wealth to our 14th annual Day of Caring.  She writes...

Saturday morning, September 26, dawned bright and clear. I heard the birds chirping outside of my window as I awoke with a happy heart knowing today were the 14^th annual United Way of Jackson County’s Day of Caring. I sprang from bed; so very anxious to let my day begin. I might even have been whistling a happy tune, but I’m not sure about that part.

Okay – so it didn’t happen quite that way. It was more like the alarm blared at 5:30. I threw my shoe at it. It must have accidentally hit the snooze button because somehow I drifted away again. The second time it went off, the thought of throwing another shoe didn’t seem appropriate somehow; after all this was the Day of Caring. It’s not that I wasn’t looking forward to the day, but no one who knows me even slightly would say that I ever awaken with a smile on my face and true-to-form; this day was no different.

Sparing you the details between the shoe incident and actually arriving at my day of caring site, although suffice it to say I had my coffee, took a walk and began to return to some semblance of my normally cheery self. As I became fully conscious I began to have little worries about the day ahead.  Would we have enough volunteers?  Would we have too many?   Would there be enough work for people? Would there be too much work? Exactly who was it that entrusted this duty to me?????

When I arrived at the prearranged meeting site for volunteers, people were already beginning to meet and greet one another. Apparently they don’t have the same aversion to mornings that I do?  It was quickly apparent that these volunteers were happy to be there and it was also apparent from the conversations I heard that this wasn’t their first day of caring. I introduced myself to the Harry and David site coordinator and we began taking people to the site as they arrived.

Several of my worries were quickly put to rest.  There was plenty of work to do and there were plenty of volunteers to do it. Before I had even rounded up all of the volunteers people had begun their own personal day of caring, these kind people were there to get a job done.

I noticed that there were several young people in our group of volunteers. I met 4 young women ranging from the age of 15 to 19. As I spoke to these women and their mothers, I learned that giving back to the community is a way of life for them. One young woman told me she did her first volunteer experience at the age of 5.  She answered phones at the MDA telethon and then handed the phone to her mother since she herself couldn’t write yet. She named off several organizations that she volunteers for, I should have written them down so that I could fully recognize her giving. The 19 year old told me that she and her sisters had been volunteering since they were very young and one of her favorites is volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

The Day of Caring was definitely a family day for the employees of Harry and David. They brought their spouses and they brought their children and every one of them worked hard to beautify our site. It was humbling to see young people who gladly gave their time on a sunny Saturday when undoubtedly they had other offers from friends. It was incredible to see the amount of work that can be done when more than a dozen people but their hearts and their labor to the job. It was gratifying to be a part of the United Way Day of Caring and to work side by side with people who really do Live United.

Deelia Warner, US Bank and campaign chair, writes this week's blog as we kick off our campaign today.  She rocks!

Well, okay, here goes my very first blog.  Yes, that’s right, you’ve got a virgin blogger here, so be kind while reading, please. 

I first heard of United Way when I was working in the Portland area and someone from US Bank (oddly enough, not the bank I was working for at the time) came to a staff meeting and explained she was a Loaned Executive, talked about agencies that United Way helped support, yada yada.  Let me tell you, I was not so much impressed with what she was saying, but how she appeared to me.  Now, at that time, I had recently moved to the Portland area from Josephine County, and I was already dealing with significant culture shock, but there stood a very attractive, professional, articulate woman who was sharing her story about why she was going from bank to bank to share the story of United Way.  I figured if someone as impressive as her thought highly of this United Way thing, maybe I should look into it myself.  After all, she appeared to be exactly the kind of professional woman I wanted so much to be.

That’s when I became a United Way giver, but it was many years later that I actually became involved.  One year I helped one of my coworkers with her responsibilities as an LE, this time back in Josephine County, but still I was just looking in from the outside.  And then Stan Penn, my boss at the time, asked me if I would help him with the United Way campaign that year.  Now, to be honest, there’s not much I wouldn’t do for Stan Penn.  So of course, I said yes. Talk about a pivotal decision. It’s like when Jason was speaking during one of the campaign luncheons last year.  He was talking about his many volunteer, activist and leadership roles at RCC and then SOU, and how all he really wanted to do, in the beginning, was to open a lemonade stand to raise a few dollars.  All I really wanted to do was help Stan.

 Now look at me.  Campaign Chairperson.  How did I get here, I wonder?  Along the way I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that agencies are really just people that want to make our little spot in the world a little better, and sometimes it takes quite a spell for that to happen. I’ve watched a wonderful woman create an incredible opportunity for people with cars they no longer want, to give them to people who really, really need them.  I heard an amazing young leader ask for a little help feeding her clients Thanksgiving dinner, and watched volunteers racing each other (literally!) to be the first in line to help. There’s so much more, I could go on and on. 

If you’re wondering what my point is, here goes.  Even though I have volunteered in many other ways, it’s because of United Way that I’ve been able to witness and/or be part of those things I just described.  It’s because of United Way that I can happily recruit new volunteers and know that their lives will be touched in some way.  It’s because of United Way that I know a small group of committed people can, and will, change the community we live in for the better. 

There’s a song I hear on the radio, goes like this “...What about now? What about today? What if you’re making me, all that I was meant to be?”.  Well, that’s how I feel about United Way.  No one’s really making me get out there and share the United Way story, or share my very personal Live United story, but I’ve become much closer to the person I always wanted to be by doing just that.   

Remember our blog takes comments, chime in!

Hi there!  Now that summer's ending and fall is approaching, I've completed my vacations until the holiday season.  That means I'm back here.  And this time with friends, volunteers, great people doing great work!

This week's guest blogger is our board member, raising awareness council member and the Dean of Students at Southern Oregon University, Jonathan Eldridge.  He's also the guy I saw walking with his two beautiful children last weekend.  Jon and his kids had walked to get donuts.  Yep, I just gave him up!  And now for Jon's thoughts and the big news is this time you can add feedback!

Jonathan Eldridge...The United Way of Jackson County’s annual campaign kicks off soon. The campaign allows United Way to support dozens of community agencies and organizations that promote education (helping children achieve their potential), income (helping families become financial stable and independent), and health (promoting healthy lifestyles).

In these times of local, national, and global financial instability, there are those who think a campaign like this won’t be able to reach as high or raise as much as it needs to. People are spending less. People are focusing on their own (often precarious) needs.

I think we will meet our goal. I think we will exceed our targets. And I think this because of Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel. You may recall this children’s story by Virginia Lee Burton. It was one of my favorite books when I was a child. The story goes like this….

Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel named Mary Anne.  Mary Anne did great work—but over time Mike and Mary Anne hit upon hard times. In order to survive they needed to dig a cellar for Popperville’s new Town Hall—in just one day. Could it be done? With the encouragement of more and more townspeople, Mike and Mary Anne found a way to work a little faster and a little better and finished that cellar just as the sun was setting.

This is where you shout, “Hooray!” But Mike and Mary Anne dug so fast that they were down in the new cellar with no way out….until they came to understand that if they reframed their thinking, they didn’t need to get out. Their future was secure if they could go about things differently. Mary Anne became the new furnace of that new Town Hall. And so Mary Anne and Mike lived on in their newly configured, different-yet-still-critical role in the community.

The United Way of Jackson County is known for supporting reframed thinking and innovative approaches to local issues. The approach to this year’s campaign might be informed by this creativity. I believe that this year’s campaign will resonate in new and powerful ways with people across Jackson County.

We all see neighbors who have hit upon hard times. We all see services we have come to count on being threatened or eroding. We all see people not unlike ourselves—who seemed immune to an economic downturn—now unemployed or out of their homes.

Despite this, we know that our communities are only as strong and stable as we are willing to make them. We know that giving what we can in the form of time, compassion, and, yes, money will make the whole of our communities greater than the sum of their parts. And somewhere inside we also know that we could be the one in need, perhaps much more easily than we ever thought possible before. That alone creates a new level of understanding and appreciation for the importance of education, income, and health.

So even in tough times, by working a little faster and a little better, the United Way will continue to expand its reach, to touch lives, to exemplify the best in our communities….and help all of us reframe what it means to Live United.