On this day, when he answered my call, his voice sounded different. Slower, perhaps a bit slurred … it alarmed me, so I asked “Are you ok?”. “Yes, now … but we haven’t talked since before the New Year, and I had knee replacement surgery and the recovery is coming, but it’s painful. I’m working at home so I can keep my leg up.” I offered that I would keep him in my prayers for a speedy, pain-free recovery. I told him that prayers of family and friends in addition to my own meditation focus on a return to full functioning after my shoulder surgery had given me a quick and solid recovery without medications. “Prayer works”, I offered. He concurred … and then the deeper story began as he asked for prayers for his wife.
A few weeks ago, as he was recovering from the surgery, limited in movement by a walker and the inability to drive, his wife had walked out to get the mail and fell in the driveway. Hitting her head as she fell, bleeding began into her brain. In the hospital, she spent days in the ICU as her physicians worked to help her recover. While that is enough of a challenge, for this loving husband there were the multiple issues of getting to and from the hospital to support her, his own physical therapy needs, and the daily living tasks that are simple for most of us, but a trial when there is limited movement. Of course, I would pray for her and them together and separately for a return to full health and functioning.
And then the heart of this servant leader was obvious. As the CEO of one of our region’s large non-profits, his focus was on “how do our clients manage?” and he reflected on the blessing of having friends and family who brought meals, drove him back and forth to the hospital and physical therapy, and the quiet but certain support of knowing that others were thinking of him and his wife as they healed. He focused on the many clients his agency serves who have no one around them or living nearby who can offer assistance, let alone emotional support. Looking at the complexities of medical care, home maintenance, access to transportation and emotional support, he talked about how important his agency’s work was to so many. Fundamentally, many of those his agency serves don’t have others who can help them. What would they do without his agency’s services? We talked about United Way’s “Safety Net” study currently underway and I promised him that I would keep his example in mind and offer it to my colleagues as a way to think about our role in helping so many. As we ended our conversation, I was reminded of the blessing of serving others in my own way, but this time I also reflected on the blessing of having CEOs and staff of so many agencies who are serving our community without adequate funding or staffing for the thousands they help. Maybe I’ll add that to my prayers too!
Latinos' we help everyone in need. We are touching base with Mittens who is a new organization offering mittens to adults and children. We have after school program and all these children are affected by the needs in their family We have a pantry that distributes food On Wednesday for the needy. Our need has increased 40%. Winter is close so now you have your construction workers out of work , You have your landscaping worker out of work and this area is in major need of help, The west coast has its need but it is not cold, IT is i could out this way so the need is in greater numbers. They are pulling our grants, they are trying to close down our avenues of support . We need to speak up and help with what ever we can .
I have a voice and will be heard , DO YOU. ????????????????
They say that "charity begins at home," but in one family's case, charity began with their home. The family choose to sell their luxury home, downgrade to a home half the size, and give the profits to charity.
What could you give up half of to benefit the greater good?
Check out the story, along with commentary from United Way Worldwide CEO, Brian Gallagher, here: Selling your home for charity.
I read an article this morning that’s been passed around Twitter since it was published, about how the number of first-time homeless people are soaring in metro Detroit. Below are the main points quoted from the Detroit Free Press (full article here):
- The number of people who say they are homeless for the first time is increasing in metro Detroit, spurred by unemployment and foreclosures, experts say.
- In Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties, advocates say people who are homeless for the first-time make up 20% to 40% of those seeking services, out of more than 10,000 homeless people in metro Detroit.
- Jason Weller, executive director of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, said estimates for 2009 are expected to increase by at least 10%.
With all the contributing factors that define a “poor economy”, many people who until now thought their basic needs were a given, are forced to rely on the help of others to sustain themselves and their families.
“...many who previously had jobs, cars and homes -- are straining already crowded shelters, having worn out their welcome with family and friends, and are unable to come up with money for motel rooms or gas for their cars.”
No matter what kind of work you're involved in, it is important- now more than ever - for nonprofits and individuals to be capacity-builders. We need to daily consider how we can make deposits into other people’s work and lives, and help them do what they do better. We need to be willing to shift gears, take risks, and respond to the growing need in new ways.
GIVE
Build capacity through a financial gift to a family or organization you trust.
ADVOCATE
Identify one person who could use a boost and advocate for his needs within your personal and professional networks.
VOLUNTEER
While money can be a quick and necessary fix, giving of the intangibles (our time, our priorities, our strengths, our personal space) has the power to plant seeds that will bear lasting fruit in people’s lives. Consider who you are as an individual and what you bring to the table, then block out some time to give it away (seriously, put it on the calendar). If you’re not sure where to volunteer, find out who needs an extra set of hands in your area: www.volunteersolutions.org/uwsem
John Azoni assists in working on solutions to homelessness in Detroit through United Way for Southeastern Michigan's 2-1-1 service. For more information, check out http://uwsem.org/211, or follow @UnitedWayJohn on Twitter.
Click here for part one of the Digital meet 'n' greet
Since I'll be the one taking you on this digital meet 'n' greet tour of United Way, maybe I should tell you a little about me first. My name is Ursula Adams and I'm the United Way for Southeastern Michigan webmaster. You can call me the Digital Diva.
Read More »
In my role as webmaster at United Way, I review every piece of electronic communication that comes to us via the website. If you fill out one of our contact forms, or make a donation, or comment on a blog post, or sign up for a newsletter or send a letter to your Senator using our online tools, I see it.
I monitor all the conversations that are taking place on the web about our organization as well. If there's a blog post, or comment on a news story, or a Tweet about United Way, chances are, I see that too.
It's one of my favorite, and least favorite, parts of my job.
It's my favorite because, admittedly, I'm nosey. I just like knowing what's going on. But, more than that, I love connecting with those that care enough about the work this organization and its volunteers are doing to drop us an email or make a donation or write about their experience with us online. I believe in the good work of United Way and I like to meet like-minded folks.
But then there are the naysayers and they make this part of my job so very unpleasant.
Please help me to fundraise.
Sincerely,
Fedcmi
"On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html)
For just about every one of the hundreds of people who walked by that morning, Bell was just another wanderer - another part of the DC landscape. The most interesting part of the story for me was the contrast of privilege versus ordinary depending on the context.
"Three days before he appeared at the Metro station, Bell had filled the house at Boston's stately Symphony Hall, where merely pretty good seats went for $100. Two weeks later, at the Music Center at Strathmore, in North Bethesda, he would play to a standing-room-only audience so respectful of his artistry that they stifled their coughs until the silence between movements."
When you place a world famous musician in a setting you'd expect to see such an artist perform, his work becomes a privilege to behold - one worthy of dropping hundreds of dollars to witness. Take that same person and place him on a street corner, even with a $3 million violin (literally), and he is quickly lumped together with the guy playing Michael Jackson covers on a dirty saxophone. I don't think this is necessarily a bad or unheard of thing. It's the human condition. As much as we say we don't judge, we do. I've met some pretty interesting people who are currently or formerly homeless. These same people have seen more pain than I can imagine, and overcome more struggles than I could withstand. I see very talented people who can't catch a break because no employer sees them as anything more than someone they can get to push a broom around for minimum wages. Restaurants pay them less than minimum wage under the table with the notion that "they should be greatful to even be working."
The funny thing is, they could probably run circles around us in some areas, but we lump them together with a whole population of people we view as "lazy" and worthy of little more than our second-hand clothes and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If we were to just stop and listen, as only a handful of people did when Joshua Bell played for them for free, we might behold an incredible and irreplacable gift.
If you watch the video in the link to the article above, you'll notice at the end of it one point of redemption. One girl recognizes what's before her. She had seen Bell play not long before, and couldn't believe her eyes (and ears) that he was offering such an incredible gift. Bell wasn't out to receive any glory in this experiment, nor do I think he was offended when people didn't recognize him, but I bet it was interesting to play the part of the meek shaming the prideful, watching quietly as the notes he played fell on deaf ears to all but one.
There are these home videos floating around my parents’ house of my sister and I dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in the basement of our old house when I was about 2. Even at a young age I was pretty captivated by Michael’s music. My Moonwalk skills developed later in life though, as in about 5 months ago. Nick and I would practice our Moonwalk while waiting for a meeting to start, dancing around the conference table while nobody was looking. This was before Michael’s death though; allow me to make that distinction. Because apparently any interest in Michael Jackson post-death is considered “predictable” (insert winky face).
But I was amazed the day after the new spread about Michael’s death how many people were paying tribute to his music in the streets. I’ve never seen anything like it. I saw more than one person with a saxophone running down a playlist of songs off Thriller with an open instrument case for donations. Restaurants were playing “Billie Jean”, and I heard "Rock With You" blasting into the streets from Hard Rock Cafe.
But what’s even more compelling is the level of remorse for this celebrity; someone whose fame was sustained by some very disturbing controversy, rather than any recent display of his talent. I love what Water1st.org had to say about it on Twitter (Follow @water1st)
“Sad day yesterday. Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett passed. And 10,000 children died from preventable waterborne diseases.”
As I spend time mentoring kids in the inner city outside of work, I notice that they’re quick to rattle off Chris Brown’s next court date, but have little clue about issues that matter. It makes me wonder if America is indifferent, or just distracted. Do we really not care that there are people out there that are desperate for a miracle…forced to choose between a bug-infested shelter bed and the hard cement, or are we just buried beneath all the noise? If the homeless got as much attention on Twitter during the week of Michael Jackson’s death as he did, I wonder how many people’s prayers from the park bench would have been answered.
Homeless people die every day for various reasons, but the most disturbing is when they die because the system failed to properly support them. While we’re busy drooling over celebrity gossip, real life is happening, and real life is being lost.
So my challenge is this: Make a habit of shutting out the noise. Spend time with real people, in real life. Make it your default activity to meet the needs of others, rather than sitting in front of the TV cheering on your favorite American Idol contestant. Better yet, find out who in your neighborhood has a killer voice, and encourage them! Michael Jackson was great, but the need is greater.
Let’s put real issues in the Facebook News Feed. And if you need a little inspiration, check out LiveUnitedSEM.org.
Since working with the homeless for several years now, I've become hardened to panhandlers. Having seen first-hand the story behind many of those who are asking for money, it's something I feel we shouldn't feel bad about saying NO to. The alternative solutions discussed in this video I feel are good.
I bring this up in light of the firing of GM CEO Rick Wagoner, a generous supporter and friend of the United Way. Read More »
Nick and I, as well as few other UWSEM staff members, led the students in going out into different communities in the Greater Detroit area, to find employers interested in hiring our clients. We sent teams to Dearborn, Midtown, Ferndale, and Hamtramck to scour the local businesses (avoiding national chains, with the exception of fast food restaurants) talking to employers about the needs of our clients. The teams went out equipped with an understanding of 2-1-1 and 2-1-1 On the Go!, and how to pitch the ask to employers for full-time jobs.
They must've done something right because we ended the day with 51 employers interested in varying degrees in helping out in some way with our mission. Not all of those employers will have jobs to offer, but at least they are willing to learn about our program and keep us in their back pocket if jobs do open up. Hopefully some will take to the mission and spread the word to other employers in their networks.
Nick has organized all the contacts into one spreadsheet (a task I avoid at all costs), and we will begin following up with the employers on Monday. We hope to get some jobs out of this, but more important is the experience that the ASBers were able to gain in being a unique voice for our clients. Hopefully they learned that you don't have to be on staff with 2-1-1 On the Go! to be a vital part of our ongoing mission, and they will continue to work on reeling in employers for us as they go about their lives.
This was a fun bunch to work with, and I am privileged to have met some pretty rad folks willing to give their time and energy for the betterment of people's lives.
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