The Capacity to Endear

Last week, we held our Annual Foster Parent Appreciation Dinner.  My co-worker, Becci Crane, works hard to make sure that this event is very special to match the specialness of our foster parents.  The theme this year was Superheroes and Victory.

Becci Crane (right) presents NDI foster parents with “Victory” medals as she stands next to a poster of foster parents as superheroes, drawn by their foster children

I sat next to foster mom extraordinaire, Jody, who told me a story about her very first foster son, “Colin.” She told me that Colin tested her in every way. He did all he could to annoy her, challenge her, make her lose her patience and anger her. This lasted for five months, but she refused to give up on him. She told me that he grew on her. She said, “You know, I still found a way to love him.”

Jody went on to tell me that recently Colin’s birth mother called her with the news that Colin was currently in juvenile detention, but that he’d specifically asked to hear from Jody. Jody told me that she would write to him. I told her that she’d made a difference in Colin’s life and she should be proud. She replied that she’d always remember him.

As I sat in a conference later in the week, learning about child development in babies, the lecturer spoke about a baby’s “capacity to endear.” She said that even when babies cry and fuss and need their diapers changed, their caregivers love them because babies have that ability to make people love them.

This made me think of Colin, and even though he was a challenging teenager, he still had the capacity to make Jody love him.

Learning from our Partners

Few could guess the amount of work that takes place in this humble building in Forest Grove–the office of Adelante Mujeres

Two weeks ago, four of my co-workers and I got to take a field trip to Forest Grove, Oregon to visit Adelante Mujeres, a fantastic organization that helps thousands of people every year through a variety of programs.  A few of these programs are similar to those of Nuestra Comunidad Sana, including our Raices/Roots Greenhouse and Community Garden and our Promoting Prosperity Business Services program.

Six employees at Adelante Mujeres took time out of their busy day to tell us all about their community garden and their small business development program, called Adelante Empresas.  We learned a lot and most importantly learned that we are on the right track with both of our programs.

We hope that we can return the favor and host our counterparts from Adelante Mujeres in Hood River someday soon.

Here is La Esperanza Farm’s greenhouse on a beautiful day in late April

Amazing What a Window Can Do

From the outside–east side of the building

From the inside of the office

It’s hard to tell what a new window looks like when a) you forgot to take a “before” photo (opps!) and b) the office is so small you can’t really take a good whole office picture.

That said, it’s pretty amazing what a small, cramped, dark office in our facility in The Dalles looks like now that it has a window–it’s a whole different space. Our Families First/New Parent Services director, Charlie Hill, has claimed it and is finally able to have a private office for himself–only three months after he started work at NDI!

When I think back to last year at this time, most of my co-workers in The Dalles had pretty miserable workspaces.  Then we moved, made nice upgrades and now everyone has a light, airy office space in a centralized location–the same as our office in Hood River.

I certainly can’t complain about facilities these days.  Now for the economy to truly pick up so I don’t have to complain about funding!

The Delight of Reading

Home Visitor, Tami Swanson, reading a book with a young mother and her baby

I’ve  had the privilege of reading books that I own since I was a small child.  But many children do not have the access to books that I had.  They can go to the library if their parents take them, but they do not have books of their own.

Last week, I got an email from my co-worker, Julie Ryan who is our Healthy Start Program Manager.  She was excited to have received a $725 book grant from the First Book Advisory Board Hood River County, OR, #32.  Here’s what she told me,

“I know this is not cash for our program, but it really is a perk for the Hood River families we serve! This grant and the ability to purchase books for families helps with Parent/Child attachment and school readiness activities, while helping some families meet their personal goals of learning more English (we make sure to get bi-lingual books). A big bang for a few bucks!!”

We are very grateful to First Book, an amazing organization out of Washington DC, with local chapters, whose goal it is to distribute “one hundred million new books to kids in need.”

Here’s our annual family celebration and picnic in Wasco County. I love pictures of babies playing with books. They will be our readers of tomorrow!

 

What would we do without them?

I couldn’t possibly count the amount of help that The Next Door has received from an unsung type of volunteer–partners of employees.  It seems as if every time I turn around, something that needed repairing, beautified or cooked has been done by the husband, wife or significant other of one of my co-workers.

In the past two weeks alone, one husband found used tires and changed them on our car in The Dalles and another husband built a partition in lieu of us buying a cubicle in Hood River.

If I were to keep a list of these “donations” of time, expertise and love (because, let’s face it, they are doing it because they love their partner), it would be pages long.

These are the unsung heroes of non-profit organizations everywhere.

A new partition, constructed by one co-worker’s husband from scrap wood he got from his workplace

New used tires for our Ford Taurus, purchased at a discount rate and put on by the husband of another co-worker

And last, but not least, my very own husband, who dressed up like a turkey for a Thanksgiving children’s fair I coordinated back in Chicago in 2002. I surely don’t know what I’d do without him!

 

Learning Skills While Being Green

Students in our Independent Living Program are learning how to recycle computers

Here’s an amazing partnership: teens in foster care are taught how to recycle computer equipment–learning a valuable job skill while contributing to society.  A few months ago, The Next Door’s Independent Living Program (ILP) partnered with Mid Columbia Council on Government’s StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology) program.  Here’s what ILP Coordinator, Livia Colbert, told me about the experience so far:

We have been out to StRUT twice so far. The first time was a fairly full day during spring break and last week was the beginning of our every other Tuesday after school schedule. The kids have really enjoyed it. They are doing a combination of volunteering and learning activities.

For the volunteering component they have been in the warehouse taking apart computers and separating them into various parts to be recycled. The kids have gotten really into it and often keep track of how many computers they took apart or get really excited to share an interesting piece that they found inside their computer. I can already see the experience giving them many valuable employment skills such as working together, asking questions, following directions, and taking safety precautions. I think that this will be something many of our kids can put down on their first employment applications when they are ready to get jobs.

The second portion of our time at StRUT will be educational. Marty Willie [StRUT Program Director] has been wonderful about asking the kids what they are interested in and is planning a variety of activities for our group such as building computers, robotics, and programming. This will give our kids an introduction to technology skills that will help them in school, employment, and life.

I am really excited that we have gotten this opportunity!

I second that.

Making Jam and Other “Firsts”

Making jam–a first for Rebecca

Here’s a fantastic story from our newest program, Mentor for Success, which matches caring adult role models with teenagers.  I’m so happy this program and its amazing volunteers have joined our ranks!

This was written by a mentor who is matched with a 17 year old girl, whom we’ll call Rebecca.

At our first meeting, my mentee ”Rebecca” held her head down and could not look at me. It took time for her to speak to me. She had bright turquoise blue hair, a cat ear headband, and was dressed in all sorts of colors. I appreciated her spirit and the obvious artistic side of her. I soon learned her life was filled with “nevers”  -  she had never eaten pizza in a restaurant, never gone to a play, never had done a lot of things that would be common for someone her age.

We’ve done lots of “firsts” together – gone out for pizza, taken art lessons, tried windsurfing, attended plays and outdoor movies, made jams & jellies and homemade Christmas cookies and cards and lots of crafts. She’s worked with me on community service projects and helped with fundraisers. A friend and I taught her to groom and ride my friend’s horse.

Rebecca did choose to leave high school, but has started in the GED program at CGCC. She now sees that she has options for her life and has to make important choices for herself, and her confidence to do that has grown. She wants to succeed.

Rebecca’s still somewhat shy, but is now eager to try new things. With each new adventure her confidence has grown.  She now talks with me about her life and future plans, and asks questions and offers suggestions freely. She has started calling me just to say hello, or to ask for some help with something.

On the way home after an event we attended recently, she said to me, “How did you like the play? Was it fun for you? And thank you for taking me because I had so much fun!” Wow! What a change for this girl. She left the car that night to go inside, happy, with her head up, with new interpersonal skills, and looking to the future. I felt happy too.

What is a Lending Circle?

For three years, The Next Door has been assisting Latino-owned businesses to start or expand.  We consider this work to be a natural outgrowth of Nuestra Comunidad Sana’s health promotion work.  Instead of helping people learn about healthy living or helping them navigate the health care system, we are helping Spanish speaking business owners to learn about how to keep their business healthy or navigate the many systems needed to start a business.  It relates because we all know that having a job is one thing that helps keep someone healthy.  For those who understand the latest jargon–employment is a “social determinant of health.”

So, what is a Lending Circle? Throughout history, communities have gotten together, pooled their money and loaned it out on a rotating basis to those who contributed to the pool.  I first learned about them years ago when I was in school studying Asian American communities and came across reference to a Korean Mutual Aid Society.  In Mexico, it’s called a Tanda.  I’m not going to go into detail here because all you need to know about Tandas or Lending Circles can be found on our newest partner’s website.  The Mission Asset Fund is a fantastic organization out of San Francisco that helps organizations like ours to start Lending Circles.

We are thrilled that soon we will be able to offer this type of financial support to our Latino community–another way to help improve people’s health.

 

 

We Love Being Green

Once again, The Next Door has been rated one of the best green companies in Oregon by OregonBusiness magazine.  Here’s what this means, from a press release that OregonBusiness sent us:

This ranking shows that your workplace has implemented a variety of green policies, and that your employees place a high value on sustainable practices and believe your commitment to them is exceptional. 

 It’s a remarkable feat considering that 442 companies and nonprofits participated and more than 18,000 employees completed the survey. We congratulate you and your employees for fostering an outstanding workplace that focuses on sustainable practices. 

We’re pretty excited to have ranked again this year.  We have a Green Committee that meets quarterly to discuss how we can conserve.  Here are a few of the things we’ve discussed and decided to implement: 1) double sided printing as a default setting for all staff, 2) encouraging staff not to print at all, if possible, 3) walk/ride to work, 4) composting in our staff lounges and Klahre House School kitchen (not implemented yet, but soon to be!), 5) scanning all contracts and streamlining forms to cut down on copies, 6) recycling boxes for all staff, 7) sensor lighting in the Hood River office, 8) battery recycling and 9) buying recycled materials as much as possible.  Our Hood River building got approval and rebates from the Energy Trust of Oregon after it’s renovation in 2011.

There is still much more we could do–I’ve always dreamed of solar panels, for example, but cost is a factor.  The important thing is that we’re committed to being Green.

Fundraising by Kids for Kids

The Eastside Rolleritos, ready to bowl

For the fifth straight year, my husband helped put together a great bowling team, the Eastside Rollers, for Bowl for Kids Sake.  This is the primary fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Columbia Gorge.  We are still counting the checks, pledges and sponsorships, but I’m pretty sure this will be our best year to date.  Thanks go out to so many people, but mostly to Program Manager, Kristin Reese.  She devotes a good three months to the event and it shows for all who come–fun, food, prizes and bowling!

This year, I asked my children and their best friends if they would be willing to fundraise for kids who don’t have as much as they do.  There was no hesitation from any of them.  My kids did an email to special relatives and friends and raised $625!  Their best friends went door-to-door asking their neighbors and raised $366.50!  How amazing is that? For me, it means so much more that our children raised this money.

Here’s another photo to show the fun:

My daughter, Lani (right) and her friend Lucy, have a unique way of bowling.