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JUNE 7 – 8, 2016
Promises to be the best event of the summer for area children! Will also be an excellent opportunity for our tenants to shine a light on what they do everyday to improve the lives and wellbeing of West Virginians!
By Earl Hardaker, Regional Director
When I was a child, I was a typical rowdy, Southeastern Kentucky boy who played in my neighborhood and whose parents always taught me the importance of helping others.
My chosen professions for “what I wanted to be when I grew up” were plentiful and unusual: garbage collector (I loved helping mom and dad by bringing the cans to the back of the house after pick up), postal worker, teacher, fireman, wrestler, zoologist, or even a police officer. I would even pretend I was a clerk in a grocery store and help bag the groceries we were purchasing.
Pretending to be a bagger at 8 years old, I never thought one day I would become a member of store management for one of America’s largest grocery store chains. I thought I had found my career for the rest of my life. I soon discovered doing the same thing every day wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to do something new and exciting every day, and I eventually left the retail world and went into sales.
I did so by joining an organization built on helping other—both now and in the future—an organization based on fraternalism. I joined Modern Woodmen of America.
For some context, I need to take us back to my college years in the late 90s. Some of the guys in my class asked if I would be interested in joining their fraternity. I have always bounced to the beat of my own drum, and in my mind, I didn’t want to belong to an exclusive club that picked my friends. Any person that knows me would attest to the fact that while I follow the line, I like to see how far the line really goes. So, joining a fraternity sounded like sitting through 8 hours of infomercials with no bathroom break. I wanted so badly to be me that I didn’t realized I could have done both.
With that in mind, when the recruiter from Modern Woodmen contacted me, I did not like the sound of the word fraternal. I knew I wanted out of retail, but I didn’t want to simply jump at the first thing that came along, especially when that something had fraternal in the title. I thought it sounded too exclusive, too restrictive, too much like a fraternity.
Life is about a series of chances, and you don’t often get to get a second chance on a door opening, but I did. Modern Woodmen graciously allowed me to walk through the open door not once but twice. You see, I didn’t go for the first interview. I told them I wasn’t interested. After some soul searching and at the prompting of my then-girlfriend (now wife), I approached them for a second chance at a first interview. I officially joined Modern Woodmen of America on August 1, 2006. I soon became a fraternalist, and my, how my life has changed—because fraternalism is a way of life.
Fraternalism’s formal definition is: of or being a society of men associated in brotherly union, as for mutual aid or benefit. Now, I want to clarify, this also includes women and children. Essentially, it’s a group of like-minded people getting together to help others in our community.
Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal benefit society, so I get together with everyone who is a member, and we do really cool things for the community. We plant trees, donate youth educational programs, paint benches, build little free libraries, sell lemonade, do matching funds programs, collect can food, cook food, donate food, watch movies together, wrap presents, go bowling, and partner with other awesome people at other awesome organizations. If you replace “fraternalism” with “volunteerism,” you will understand who we are and what we do.
Since our beginning in 1883, Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) has been consisted of our members helping other members and their communities. Much like organizations that volunteer to clean up a neighborhood playground, Modern Woodmen members donate their time doing the same thing; we just have a different name for it—we call it being fraternal. We bring together like-minded people for a common good.
You may see MWA members purchasing swings and slides and then installing them on a playground, you could very well see us planting flowers and trees for municipal parks or schools, or you could see us presenting a dollar-for-dollar match at a fundraiser (up to $2,500). You may ask yourself, who are these members? Well, they are people just like you and me. They are people in our communities who believe in a creating a better tomorrow by starting today. MWA’s president, Kenny Massey, is a fraternalist; our home office staff in Rock Island, IL, are fraternalists; our regional office staff at the Schoenbaum Center are fraternalists; and our members are fraternalists. You very well could be a fraternalist, too. All it takes is an interest in making the community a better place.
For more information about how you can become a fraternalist, please check out our website at www.modern-woodmen.org, or, better yet, swing by the Schoenbaum Center and ask us.
By Laura Williams, Community and School-Based Program Manager
Before I began employment with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central West Virginia, I had a vague idea of what I thought it meant to be a Big. I assumed you had to have plenty of free time. I assumed you needed lots of special training and qualifications. I assumed you would be matched for a short amount of time. I assumed wrong.
In West Virginia, the public school truancy rate tops 30% statewide, with some counties topping 50%. Our state is infamous for prescription pill and illegal drug addiction, with our drug overdose rate doubling the national average at 34 deaths per 100,000 residents and a new heroin epidemic sweeping the region. More than 6% of West Virginia youth are raised by grandparents or other family members—the highest rate in the nation. The children affected by these statistics are the children that we primarily serve through our program. They are living at or below the poverty line, being raised by single parents, grandparents, or other family members. They are children who do not have the opportunities other families might be able to provide, due to lack of transportation, funds, or available adults. They are children who need a Big.
I had a preconceived idea of what a Big Brother or Sister was and did, and it quickly went out the window as I began to learn more about what the program was all about. Our volunteers make a BIG difference by giving just a LITTLE time: in our community-based programs, we ask Bigs to spend 2 hours with their Little every two weeks, with calls or texts in between outings. In our school-based program, Bigs visit their Littles on school grounds for roughly an hour a week. Our volunteers do not need any special qualifications—they must have a clean background check and a desire to improve the life of a youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters provides all necessary training via online training modules and ongoing professional support for the length of the match relationship. This is all done to promote the longevity of the match. Bigs are asked to commit to a one-year relationship with their Little, but many of our matches extend far beyond that. Our average match length in our community-based program is more than three years!
When you first become involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, it doesn’t take long to realize that impact that it has on both Bigs and Littles and their families. If you ask a Little about their Big, they will say things like, “My Big is my favorite person,” and “I don’t know where I would be without my Big.” And the impact doesn’t stop there. Through participation in Big Brothers Big Sisters, we have had Littles who have met Shaquille O’Neal and families participate in events like the circus or Marvel Live! So many say thank you later, explaining “I wouldn’t have been able to treat my family to something like this on my own.” Those experiences are something that Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central West Virginia strives to create for each participant—the chance to see new and exciting things and to explore a world outside their home neighborhood.
So how can others help us in our goal of creating long-lasting, professionally supported mentoring relationships for these youth? The first is exactly what you are doing right now: educate yourself about the program.
Below are statistics that illustrate exactly how effective our program is:
With a mentor, youth are:
The second way to support our program is to become a Big. As I mentioned earlier, the qualifications are simple: a clear background check and a desire to help local youth through a mentoring relationship. The application process is just as easy. Simply visit www.biglittlewv.org, click on the “get involved” tab, and fill out the form. Once your application is submitted, a Big Brothers Big Sisters staff member will contact you to schedule an interview. During the interview, we will gather more information about your interests and personality to help us match you with the best Little. We will also provide you with online training that can be done at your convenience to enhance your match relationship.
A third way to support the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to donate. Each dollar we receive goes towards matching an at-risk youth with a Big Brother or Big Sister who will provide a stable, positive influence in his or her life. Any amount, big or little, will help us to reach that goal.
I hope that you will join us in our mission to change the life of a child for the better, forever. Rita Pierson, a lifelong educator, said in a TED talk recently, “Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best they can possibly be.” Will you join us and be a champion for children?
By Toni Walters, Director, Connect Child Care & Resource Referral
One major characteristic about those of us in the early care and education field is that we love to talk. We love to talk to children. We love to talk to families. We love to talk to our co-workers. We just love to talk, and we can talk about almost any subject. As care givers, we have also learned to be great listeners. We listen to others concerns. We listen to their stories. We listen to their joys, and we listen to their concerns.
But what happens after we’ve listened and talked, and then talked some more? Often times we move on to the next topic. We move on to the next conversations as if everything is solved since we talked it out. Sometimes, we shrug our shoulders and decide we can’t change what we were talking about or have an impact. We put our needs aside and move on to helping others because that’s what we do: we care for others.
What would happen, though, if we stopped talking about what could be or should be and started to be about it?
Are we spending time talking about how child care isn’t viewed as a profession even though we spend hours in trainings, or are we taking action and showing others how we are professionals? Are we teaching others the importance of quality child care in our society, including dressing and acting in a professional manner?
Are we talking about how we would like to have more family involvement and how some of them don’t seem to care, or are we inviting our families into our homes and classrooms? Are we taking time to involve them in their child’s learning and giving families options for ways they can be involved that will work with their life situations and schedules?
Are we just discussing how important child development is and how children need more, or are we attending trainings to gain knowledge about development and appropriate practice? Are we reading current information about child development to better our teaching strategies? Are we designing our daily plans and lessons around the individual children in our care?
Talking is a great way to start change, but to be a leader, you have to be those words. You have to be the one to step up and take action for children and families. You have to be the one that shows others how. You have to be the change you talk about.
By Brent Pauley, CEO, EnAct Community Action
EnAct Community Action has seen its share of changes over the past seven years, from logo changes, to office moves, to changes in leadership, but two important things have remained constant. First, our stability and growth. We have remained true to our mission to help move low-income individuals and families from poverty to self-sustainability. This is being accomplished by an extremely dedicated team and their ability to obtain new grants and stretch existing funds. Last year EnAct set a record of receiving new grants for workforce development, summer work camps for home improvements, and food and baby pantries.
In addition to our traditional programs and services, such as emergency assistance, workforce development, educational assistance, money management training, EnAct added a new program in late 2014, Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT). This program has grown to seven vehicles, 13 new employees (many of which came from our low-income workforce development program) and is now the largest NEMT provider in the state of West Virginia.
In the spring of 2015 we added Personal Care as another Senior Services program in addition to our Aged & Disabled Waiver in-home care services. This program will help us continue to grow and offer services in the every growing, aging population of West Virginia.
The second constant that has served EnAct well, is the stable location of our central office at the Schoenbaum Family Center (SFC). Being able to remain in the same location while experiencing such growth has been a blessing. Growth is a big enough challenge without adding the change factor on top. The SFC has been supportive of our mission and growth and we know that we can rely on them whenever we need internal assistance, meeting space, or just an attentive ear.
EnAct will continue to seek out new opportunities to better serve our mission and we want to thank all that have been supportive and will continue to be so. We also challenge and welcome any new collaborative partners to join in and experience the wonderful things that can happen as a result of teamwork. Please visit our website at www.enactwv.org for additional information on our programs and services.
By Loretta Jett-Haddad, President and CEO
As President and CEO of the Schoenbaum Center, it is my distinct pleasure to be the first person to contribute to our new blog. I invite you to check back regularly for future postings from our Board of Directors, service providers and other community leaders. We plan to feature postings on a variety of informative topics such as child care, nutrition, wellness, financial sustainability, elder care and emergency assistance resources.
Let me introduce you to the unique and wonderful Schoenbaum Center!
With the vision and generous support of Alex and Betty Schoenbaum, the Schoenbaum Center opened in 2002 and is West Virginia’s premier multi-tenant non-profit complex located in the heart of downtown Charleston. Our mission is to provide or coordinate needed resources for people, families, and businesses through services, community partnerships and opportunities. With eight community service providers under one roof, the Schoenbaum Center helps more than 20,000 people each year with resources to improve their health, safety, education, income and happiness. In addition, we provide more than 70 jobs, plus many volunteer opportunities for members of our community.
As always, our doors are open to everyone in our community and Hope Grows Here through a wide range of programs and services offered by our service providers (a list of these nonprofit organizations is provided under the Links section in this blog as well as on our website) including:
The Schoenbaum Center serves as a shining example of hope and compassion by enriching families, businesses and the community. I would like to close by sharing one of my favorite quotes from our Founding Benefactress, Betty Schoenbaum, “The joy of living is the joy of giving”. Please consider supporting the Schoenbaum Center in your charitable giving. We need your support to continue to serve the wonderful people in West Virginia…our family, our friends and our neighbors.
And lastly, please stop by the Schoenbaum Center for a visit! I promise you will be amazed at who we are and what we do!