Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
Every Thursday night you can find 15 high school kids at United Way taking time from their very busy schedules of school, college searches, music lessons and soccer practice to invest two hours of brain power to plan Break Through with Farmway Village, this year’s alternative spring break project. In addition to the 30+ hours they have already invested, these students will spend two full days of their spring break getting down and dirty creating community gardens, renovating housing units, fencing a basketball court, painting and doing trash pick up. This is tough stuff; we’re talking about breaking up concrete and hauling it away with wheelbarrows and buckets. Like that.
Which might lead you to ask–who does that? What high school kid, already juggling a hundred responsibilities, spends every Thursday night talking about sponsorship needs and concrete cutters?
These are kids like Mara Truslow. Mara is a senior at Riverstone International School. Mara is completely and totally dedicated to service, and not because she’s building her resume, but because, in her words, “What else is there?”
It is this spirit that helped seperate Mara from 350 other candidates to be selected for the Ingram Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship at Vanderbilt University, specifically for students showing and outstanding commitment to service and volunteerism. This scholarship is just the next step for Mara, who will go on to create, serve and lead people in ways that make the world a more livable place for everyone.
I am honored to know Mara, just as I am honored to know the rest of these amazing students who are giving so much of themselves, many just for the fun of doing it. This is one of the coolest parts about being a part of United Way–there’s a lot to do out there, and a lot of different ways to do it. And I think we’ve struck gold with the alternative spring break project and the process of planning it.
My thanks and admiration to Kylie, Maddie, Karl, Adam, Monica, Ali, Carol, Daniel, Janelle, Linda, Lucas, Shannon and Tamara. It is an honor to work with you.
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
This week we marked a momentous achievement for our community–the announcement of the signing of a joint powers agreement to build, fund and provide for the operation of a community detox center.
The need for a detox center has long been recognized, but what it took to make the vision a reality seemed too large of a project for any one entity to take on, which is where United Way’s unique position in the community could be of greatest service. As a convener, United Way could pull together our friends in the business community, the human services sector, elected officials and state agencies to come to the table and stay there until we had a plan.
We stayed at that table for almost a decade. The project required intricate funding and operations planning for it to be successful and sustainable. And now, because of that commitment, the visionaries of this vital community service will see groundbreaking in April, 2009 on a 9,200 square foot facility that will begin operation in 2010.
The detox center is a testament to the caring power of this community, and at United Way, we are very proud to be a leader in service to this community that knows what it means to give back. Thanks, Treasure Valley.
Posted by Neva Geisler, Director, Volunteer Engagement
A few weeks ago, our staff participated in a Persogenics Workshop, led and sponsored by Carl Arriola, CEO of Tates Rents. Carl is on our Board and is the Chair of our Community Impact Council. Carl is a very smart guy, and an outstanding leader, so when he suggested the training we jumped at the opportunity.
If you’re not familiar with Persogenics, it’s much like a Myers-Briggs type of exercise, only this one is specific to your style of communication. There are four basic patterns: Dominant, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical. The names are fairly descriptive of the types. Most people have a primary pattern and a secondary pattern.
It goes without saying that knowing yourself is very helpful in matters of work. You know your strengths, weaknesses, and you get better at what you work at. But knowing your communication style as well as those of your co-workers is tremendously useful. In fact, it was so helpful to us, that we all put our Persogenics style on a name tag outside our door: Neva Geisler, Express/Dominant.
About half of our office are Expressives, which makes sense, as Expressives are very people oriented. They are constantly ’selling’, selling their ideas, their passions, themselves. Being out in the community, working with others to improve the quality of life for all people in the Treasure Valley, is a natural fit for an Expressive. In fact, it’s a kick in the pants.
The other half of our office fit in other styles, but most commonly they are Analytical. Here is the description of the Analytical Pattern, as provided by Persogenics:
“Analytical Patterns are task-oriented. they are careful to be certain that the job gets done right the first time. Analyticals focus on facts and details…are thorough in their work…and might seem more concerned with information than with people.”
No surprise–our Expressives work on the campaign/community engagement/communication side of UW, and our Analyticals work on the finance/data management/administration.
I’m an Expressive. According to the Persogenics people I ‘prefer to deal with the big picture rather than supporting details’ and ‘have an aversion to activities and tasks of a routine, meticulous nature.’ This shouldn’t excuse my lack of ability with numbers, or my disinterest for the little details of a big project, but it did provide a complete AH-HAH! moment for me at UW.
When UW pledges come through our front door, here’s what happens:
Connie, Resource Development Coordinator (Analytical) puts it in an envelope and seals it and records where it came from and the amount. That envelope then goes to Anita, Finance Associate (Analytical) or Susan, Office Manager (Analytical) who open the envelope and verify the contents. Then the envelope goes to Joyce, Administrative Associate (Analytical) and it is entered into our database.
From my Expressive Big-Picture Lovin’ perspective, this process always seemed a little on the inefficient side. I mean, why should we bog down this process by having three people do what one person could do in half the time? All I could see in this was that it seemed to slow down what I thought we should be racing to do, which is to recognize and thank the donor for the gift.
But then I sat in this year’s audit report meeting (UW is audited every year) and heard the auditor’s glowing report of our clean audit, specifically that our separation of duties assures high standards of internal control procedures, and thought, heyyyy, wait a minute…then I began to understand. What seemed a weird process to me was the very thing that makes UW a trusted place to donate money to–the donor’s money is meticulously sheparded to ensure the utmost stewardship. In short, the donor’s money is the donor’s money. The donor says where it’s going to go, and the process it goes through to get there is protected, checked and double checked.
So at the Board meeting when our Board Treasurer, Kevin Andersen of Eide Bailly LLP gave us accolades for our finances, I finally got it. I was going to try and blog about what he said exactly, only I can’t remember because there were too many details, but here’s the basic idea, as told from the Expressive perspective:
Blog post by Neva Geisler, Director of Volunteer Engagement
We’re going to raise $6 million during this year’s campaign.
I say this with confidence because I believe it. I believe it so much, in fact, that I’m already thinking of the agencies who are going to be relieved to hear that in an economic downturn, when their resources are being stressed to the max, they’re going to get a little extra help from their community.
I believe it because the Idaho Foodbank just told me not to send over a group of volunteers because they didn’t have enough food on their shelves for them to sort. I believe it because Jesse Tree, an emergency rental assistance agency who receives UW grant money, recently told us they are receiving more requests for help from intact families than ever before.
Hardworking people who are living paycheck to paycheck, are struggling under dramatic increases in food, energy and gas prices. When they can’t quite make it to the next paycheck, these are the services that are there to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks.
And it’s not just these emergency services, it’s the stuff that prevents people from being at risk in the first place–it’s programs that help youth reach their potential, families achieve financial stability, and substance abuse recovery and mental health crisis services. Last year’s community donations are at work at more than 30 different agencies in the Treasure Valley. View the list.
When you look at the web of services, how they all work together to lift people to a better quality of life, it is impossible to choose where you’d make the cuts.
Which is why I believe that we can raise $6 million–because we can and we have to.
Ever wonder who you’re helping when you check that little box for payroll deduction during your United Way campaign? Look around—because 100 percent of your gift to the United Way Community Fund is going to work to improve lives of people who live right here in the Treasure Valley.
The entirety of your donation is invested in your community, reaching people in 50 different programs at 32 local agencies.
Chances are, you interact with someone touched by your gift to United Way every day; at work, at the grocery store, at school—your gift supports your community. Listen to stories from people whose lives have been changed in the Community Campaign video:
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About United Way of Treasure Valley
United Way of Treasure Valley advances the common good by focusing on education, income and health. These are the building blocks for a good life -- a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health. Our goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place. We invite everyone to be part of the change. Together, united, we can inspire hope and create opportunities for a better tomorrow.
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