Going to Guatemala

I am very sorry that it has been so long since I posted on my blog. I am going to try to get better about that.

1) I am leaving on Sunday to spend a week in Guatemala for what was initially planned to be a spiritual pilgrimage but is turning into a mission trip. My friend Karen Brown and I will be spending the week with people from Lemonade International in La Lemonade which is the ghetto of Guatemala City. We will be primarily working with children. I have never done anything like this. I am looking forward to moving out of my comfort zone, doing something different and releasing my mind of all things cancer related for the week. Shifting my focus to the severely impoverished will be good perspective for me to gain.
2) Striving for More had their June Board Meeting and we added a new board member. We were all feeling a gap without a member that had experience with fund raising so that was a focus of my prayers for most of May. Deborah Harrell Meehan was voted onto the board and was quickly assigned as the chair of the fundraising committee. Deborah is the leader of the Wild Wacky Wonderful Women of the World and served as the President of the Wake Women's Center for the last 5 years. Her background, experience, contacts and wealth of knowledge make her a wonderful addition to our team. I am really excited that she has joined us.

3) FWV Distilled has agreed to take on Striving for More as a pro bono client to design and develop a new website for us. This is very exciting because they will be doing some market research work to determine the best approach for designing the new site. This has been the missing piece since I don't have a creative bone in my body.

Please pray for Karen and I as we travel to Guatemala. Also, please pray for Vince and Mackenna as they will be alone this week. Since most of you know how spoiled I am, I have no doubt that Vince is perfectly capable of handling things on his own. However, I will not have a cell phone and will not be touching base at home and we have never had time apart where we have not at least spoken to each other. This will be different for us.

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Extraordinary Board in Place for Striving for More

Last Tuesday, I held the second Board Meeting for the Board of Directors for Striving for More. There were 3 new people that were voted onto the board.

I am proud to announce the new additions to the Striving for More Board of Directors. (if you don't know who the equally impressive team that this group is joining, check out the blog with those details here):

• Tom Stevens, MSW - Leadership Coach, Mayor, Author, Keynote Speaker - The way that Tom and I met can only be explained by divine intervention. God wanted our paths to cross and He made sure they did. Ask me about it and I will happily share the story with you so I can enjoy your reaction. Tom is currently on his second term as the Mayor of Hillsborough. He owns his own consulting firm called Think Leadership Ideas where he brings his clients two decades of experience in engaging people to create meaningful change and raise the bar on performance. He previously owned his own family therapy company in Durham. He brings an amazing wealth of experience to our board and I am confident that he will be a key player in helping Striving for More determine the best strategies for moving forward as a successful organization. I am so glad that he agreed to join us.
  

• Melissa Hicks, MS, CCLS, LPC, RPT - Child Life Specialist & Licensed Professional Counselor - I have been told that networking is the key to this business. It is a good thing that I am not shy. I have been telling everyone I know and everyone I meet about Striving for More and what my vision is since October. Well, in Missi's case, it is proof that it paid off. Two separate people told her to call me. Which is so fantastic because she is a goldmine of a find. Not only is she a Child Life Specialist who is highly experienced with Oncology patients but she was the co-founder of a nonprofit organization in Austin, Texas so she brings a tremendous amount of experience that we can benefit from. She is highly respected in her field and it is rare to find a Child Life Specialist with Oncology experience not working at an Oncology hospital. Since I already have one board member from Duke and one board member from UNC, it was important for me not to add anyone else from Duke or UNC so we do not tip the scales in either direction. This could not have worked out better. Missi started providing me guidance before she was even voted onto the board. She is fantastic. We are very fortunate to have her join Striving for More.

• Karla Diener, CPA - Karla and I met during one of my first but her very last Duke Non Profit Certification courses. She quietly asked me for my card during a break but we did not talk very much. I did notice that she seemed to know as much as the instructor and I wondered why an experienced CPA would be in the course. Karla called me a few weeks later and we decided to meet for coffee. We instantly hit it off. She is my kind of woman... driven. She gets things done. She wanted to learn more about Striving for More and after she did she was interested in being on the board. How fortunate am I? She came to me! At this point, I have figured out that God really wants good things for Striving for More. I must be on the right track. Jill is already our treasurer but Karla is an experienced CPA. The two of them met and they got along great. I need idea people around me. I can execute but I lack creativity when it comes to generating ideas. So I appreciate idea people so much and Karla is an idea person. We need that.
  

The board meeting was terrific. What a great room full of intelligent people who speak their ideas. A room full of people who just want to help kids with cancer make sure that their emotional needs are met. What a blessing.

So lets take stock for a minute, shall we? The last 3 board members either came to me or were plopped down right in front of me and they are all perfect fits for Striving for More. We must be on the right path, huh? , God. I will keep listening and keep doing what you tell me to do. Thanks for all the help you have given me so far.

If you have played a part in talking about Striving for More, talking about our mission, thank you so much. I appreciate it and it is clear He is listening.

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Making a Meal Would Help Us Right Now.

Things are really starting to roll along and I am excited. I cannot announce anything official yet because I have to get things approved by the Board of Directors at our next meeting. However, I am starting to plan an event and I am energized.

I am also energized by how our website is coming along. I have a great graphic designer that has been volunteering for us and he is fantastic. He came up with a terrific concept and we are running with it. It has led to lots of creativity.

This is the point, however, when volunteers are needed. I have been using Facebook to post some of my volunteer needs and that has been working out well but I knew it was a long time since I had posted so I thought I would post here too.

One of my immediate needs is for a meal for the Board Meetings. We have monthly meetings. I had originally planned to spend money from our budget to cater this dinner but it seems like my budget is a bit slim to feed 9 people. The reality is, that the meal does not have to be fancy, it is more about function. In addition, this will ensure that more of the money donated to our cause is going to our cause.

The board members are volunteering their time, most of them on their way home from work and they need to eat dinner. We usually eat while we meet. Therefore, I am looking for volunteers to make a meal for the Striving for More Board Meetings.

We meet in RTP, right off of the Davis Drive exit of Route 40 at 6pm on Tuesday nights once a month (the next meeting is this Tuesday, 4/28).

I can even pick the food up from the volunteers home if the office is not close to where you live. Again, there are 8 of us. I would love it if you would conact me if this is something that you would be interested in signing up to help with. And if there is anyone out there that would like to volunteer to coordinate this, I would love that as well!

Thanks everyone for your continued support!

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Closer and Closer to a Federal Non Profit...

I worked all afternoon today with my attorney on the IRS 1023 form. That is the form that you need to submit to the IRS in order to obtain your 501(c)3 status which means that you are an official non profit charitable organization in the eyes of the federal government. It is a brutal form and they review it very carefully. It is over 28 pages long and with the written attachments it ends up being more than 50 pages of submissions. I still have a bit of homework to do but we are closing in fast.

I received my Employee Identification Number from the IRS today. That is the number that is equivalent to a social security number for businesses so I can open a bank account and do a lot of the things that I have been waiting to do regarding the business so I am excited about that.

Next Wednesday, I have my first Board Meeting. I have to complete all of the outstanding work for the 1023 and have the bylaws signed by the board members on Wednesdays. Then I can have the attorney submit the 1023 on Thursday. It is an exciting milestone. However, then the wait will begin. And it could be a long wait. Some say 3 months, some say 6 months, some say as long as a year. Obviously, I pray that it is as quick as possible.

Colleen died 8 months ago today. It doesn't seem like it has been that long.

We took Mackenna to the first of an 8 week grief children's grief group hosted by Hospice of Wake County. They serve a light dinner and spend a half an hour with the parent and the children and then they split the kids and the parents into groups. There are three groups (teens, kids 6-12 and parents). It was a good mix. I was glad to hear that there was glad to hear that there were two other kids there that had lost siblings (I know glad sounds bad but I hope by now you all know what I mean). Mackenna did not feel like she needed to go but on the way home she said that she was glad she went. The session for adults was rough on Vince and I. It is hard to sit around and listen to the stories other people's loss which is what the nights of introduction are usually like. Mackenna realized tonight that Colleen died on her "half birthday". That was sort of a bummer of a reality for her. Since her birthday is around Christmas she always appreciated recognizing her "half birthday" even though we never actually celebrated it with anything.

Need to sign off, I have class at Duke all day tomorrow... "Board Management for Non Profits".

By the way, I have decided that I am going to dye/bleach my hair some crazy color to create a stir before the shave. So if you know of a stylist in the area that is willing to do this for me for free in the next week as a way of contributing to the cause, I would love a referral (I believe it will help me raise more money for St. Baldrick's and also allow me to talk more about Striving for More).

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