Volunteer Spotlight: Susie Marshall

I often get random requests from people wanting to volunteer with our education programs. Usually the requests are very specific. They want to come on a certain day (usually a weekend or an evening after we're closed) and during a certain time frame. Oftentimes, they want to bring a large group of people.

I truly appreciate a person's willingness to give of their time, but I struggle to try to reconcile a group or individual's willingness to give of their time (working around their work schedules) with our actual need. There has got to be some way to engage people in volunteering without making our staff work 50 hours a week to accommodate them. There has also got to be a way to engage volunteers in a way that is beneficial to the program instead of just busy-work that is created because non-profits feel the need to cater to volunteers.

The consistent and genuinely engaged volunteer is very rare and hard to come by but they are possible. We have a couple of them.

Today, I want to spotlight Susie Marshall as one of those people.

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Susie works with the Gleaning Network of Texas. She helped our After-School Academy get their garden started this summer. Her original commitment was to teach a garden/environment class one Friday a month last school year. But she took it upon herself to visit us more than that. Susie would stop by every so--in between meetings or if she was down the street for some reason--often just to say hi or to check out something for the class she was going to be teaching. Because she was so consistent, we convinced her back in the summer to help the kids to start a garden.

Due to different obstacles here and there, we couldn't start the garden when we wanted to. Many people would have stopped coming. But that didn't stop Susie. She kept coming. She hung out. She got to know the kids better. She assisted some teachers and sat in on some classes. She became a part of our program, despite there being "nothing" for her to do.

By the time we got approval for the garden, Susie was ready...because she never went away. Since we were behind in the process, she recruited different people to help. She ran into more obstacles (the ground was too hard). She did more research. She decided on a "lasagna garden." Since the process was too big for small kids, she recruited a group of teenagers to work with the kids.

We could have set aside our project and waited for a volunteer group to come along, but we needed to get the garden going so that vegetables could grow and so that the kids could work in it. And we didn't want it done *by* somebody, we wanted it done *with* the kids. Susie knew all of that and was quick to accommodate--even gathering and purchasing the supplies needed.

Because we had a long time relationship/partnership with Susie, she didn't need a lot of nurturing. We didn't have to provide a staff member to supervise her and her group on a Saturday because she was very familiar with us, the garden, the kids, and our expectations. Susie's volunteering efforts didn't (and don't) take time away from what we spend with the kids, they enhance them.

The garden now has green peppers, red tomatoes, and ripe black-eyed peas and jalepenos. Susie is still researching new practices and has become a part of our summer planning committee. Our After-School Academy is doing some great things with the help of volunteers like Susie.

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If you are someone who wants to be involved, offer your time. Stop in on your lunch break and be willing to enter data or shelve books. Get to know the program's day-to-day activities and needs when kids and big events *aren't* happening. We have to have staff to run our programs like everyone else. Our kids deserve that. But in preparing for our programs, we don't always have time to get the behind-the-scenes things done. Help us with those behind the scenes things...or just show up regularly so that we know we can call on you when we need something. And we need those kinds of volunteers beyond Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Who are mission trips for?

Bob Lupton does amazing urban ministry in Atlanta. He has a way of saying things I want to say, but he seems to always add a little twist that creates a profound challenge to my thinking.

Honorable Marketing
August 2009

Cheerios just got a black eye. For as long as I can remember, those little round “O”s have been a breakfast favorite of both children and adults. Kids have spelled words with them in their cereal bowls, moms have carried baggies of them in their purses for snacks, dads have shoveled down spoonfuls as they hurried out the door on the way to work. In recent years these nutritious, fiber-rich, toasted 100% whole grain oat delights have boasted an amazing ability to lower bad cholesterol. I believed them. Who wouldn’t believe in Cheerios? Then some whistle-blower or competitor cried foul and the Federal Trade Commission took a close look at these health claims. Cheerios may be nutritious but no longer can they claim to lower cholesterol. They got caught doing false advertising.

Is it buyer beware or do we want government watchdogs checking the validity of our marketing practices? Frankly, I’m glad there is some ethical standard in our society that attempts to maintain a modicum of honesty. Can you imagine living in a culture where you could believe nothing that you read or heard? What chaos! I’m disappointed in Cheerios. I wish their advertising were as wholesome as their 100% whole grain oats. But I’ll keep eating the little “O”s for breakfast. And I’ll also keep taking my cholesterol pills.

The Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the U.S. government, is charged with keeping American business free and fair. Included in its many responsibilities is “to prevent the dissemination of false and deceptive advertising of goods, drugs, curative devices, and cosmetics.” False claims, whether by Cheerios, car dealers or snake oil peddlers, when detected are subject to public exposure, penalties and immediate corrective action. The FTC has jurisdiction over a broad spectrum of activities but there is one realm it cannot penetrate — the church. The church-state barrier offers protection against government intrusion into the practice of organized religion. Of course, one would expect that, since the Judeo-Christian traditions are foundational to the ethical and moral codes of American society, the church would be the last institution in need of ethical policing.

Certainly the church is not without its flaws. The moral failure of church leaders is legendary. The media feeds off such scandal. Yet, in spite of the damage caused by the occasional fall of religious leaders, the church as an institution strives to preserve and protect high standards of conduct. Though its members, and too often its leaders, fail to measure up to its high ideals, the church remains the primary guardian of moral and ethical values. It may wrestle with controversial issues of the day such as gay marriage and abortion, but it does so in pursuit of a moral high ground.

But there is one area that seems to have eluded the ethical scrutiny of the church. Churches from the left to the right, high and low, share the same blind spot. Perhaps it’s because the practice is so pervasive or because the claims seem so spiritual. But if the FTC were to shine the spotlight on the marketing of missions, the expose would be, well, perhaps not damning but certainly embarrassing. Take a look at most any promotional package for a mission trip and you will get the distinct impression that lost, starving, forsaken people have their last hope riding on the willingness of Christians from the US to come and rescue them. The pictures are heart-rending — a close-up of a child’s sad face, a tin-roof shack beside an open sewage ditch, an old woman struggling under a load of firewood sticks. The emotional call goes out for the “healed, trained, empowered and Spirit filled teens to be missionaries to the world.” Such experiences promise to touch lives, change the world, and have a dramatic, life-changing impact on those who will sacrifice their comfort to go. For a week!

Can we be honest? Mission trips and service projects are important. For lots of reasons. But the truth of the matter is that dropping into a strange culture for a week or even two creates far more work for the local leadership than it’s worth, except for the money and gifts we leave. And those gifts more often than not do more long-term harm than good. As one local leader told me: “They’re turning our people into beggars.” Much of the work we do is make-work — painting a church, digging a foundation, leading a summer Bible school — all work that could and should be done by locals. “Our men need the work,” a seminary president once told me as we discussed the impact of US mission trippers in her impoverished country.

But this treatise is not about the downstream impact of mission trips. Some ambitious young reporter seeking to make a name for himself will sooner or later handle that expose. This is about the dishonesty in our marketing of these trips. Our “people-are-dying-and-you-can-save-them” rhetoric may be effective spin to lure young people (and older as well) into signing up but we know that only on rare occasions is this actually true. Yes, there are Katrinas. But the overwhelming majority of our mission trips are to places where the needs for development are far greater than for emergency assistance. And development is about enabling indigenous people to help themselves, not doing the work for them. Development is much longer term, calls for professional expertise and planning, requires lending and investing — not the sort of things that lend themselves to a typical short-term mission trip.

I am not saying that mission trips don’t have value. They do. Great value. They open up new worlds, new perspectives, new insights. They expose us to fascinating cultures, connect us with new friends, allow us to experience God at work in surprising ways, inspire us, break our hearts, build camaraderie among traveling companions. Any one of these benefits might well justify the time and expense. But isn’t it time we admit to ourselves that mission trips are essentially for our benefit, not for the benefit of the ones our marketing material portray? Would it not be more forthright if we called our junkets “insight trips” or “exchange programs”? Or how about Kingdom adventures? Do we really need to justify our journeying to exotic lands under the pretense of missionary work? Religious tourism would have much more integrity if we simply admitted that we’re off to explore God’s amazing work in the world.

I know we have to have good reason to justify spending the kind of money we do on mission trips. US churches spent well over $2 billion (that’s with a “b”) on them last year. This is not at all inconsistent with our normative pattern of church spending, however. We typically spend upwards of 95% of church budgets on ourselves anyway. So to admit that mission trip expenditures are primarily for the spiritual benefit of our members would not be out of line, that is if we feel justified spending that percentage on ourselves. But that’s a discussion for another time. Our subject here is marketing with integrity.

So how do we capture the imagination, the compassion, of a younger generation if not by appealing to the tenderness of their hearts? Come to think of it, it was the story of fatherless children that drew me into urban work nearly 40 years ago. I wanted to make a difference. That was a powerful motivator. So maybe “touching lives” and “changing the world” is appropriate rhetoric after all. It certainly appealed to my compassionate side and it played at least some part in shaping my call into ministry. The idea of sacrifice was also appealing to me, to offer myself up to a cause of great importance. I wanted my life to count. That was important. But playing to those tender Spirit-sensitivities should be done with great care. Setting up unrealistic expectations can lead to discouragement. Portraying false representations can lead to cynicism. Is it not enough to simply say “come and see” and then allow the Spirit to do the touching and surprising?

Here’s my bottom line: the Kingdom doesn’t need our hype. The Kingdom needs people who speak the truth.

Bob Lupton

Recognizing the presence of adult illiteracy

Adult illiteracy plagues our society, yet it is a problem that we are often unaware that exists. Each year I meet or hear about a handful of adults who cannot read, many of whom have graduated from high school.

The adults I know learn to function. Some may find jobs that don't require reading; others may manage by living off of governmental assistance, too ashamed to seek out a job and be exposed.

The solution may seem evident: take classes and learn to read. However, it is not always that simple.

Recently, we worked with a grandparent who is raising her grandson. After much talking, encouragement, and coaxing, she got the courage to enroll at the only adult literacy program we could find in Dallas...only to be told that there was a long waiting list. We were then asked to see if we could provide volunteers who could teach reading.

After finally moving up on the waiting list, she was assigned a volunteer tutor. Yet, after only a month, the volunteer tutor decided not to tutor any more. The change and inconsistency was too much for the grandparent, who simply stopped attending instead of re-orienting and starting over with another volunteer.

Adult literacy...and so many other social programs...are too important for us to leave to volunteers. Volunteers can be a great asset to an already existing program, but their jobs, families, and other time commitments often take priority over their volunteering ability. The people and the services that use volunteers need more consistency than a volunteer can offer.

A newly released report "Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of the America's Least Literate Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Supplemental Studies" produced these key indings:

* Seven million adults, or about 3% of the adult population, could not complete even the most basic literacy tasks in the main assessment and were given the supplemental assessment.

* Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the nonliterate in English group had a high school diploma or GED. Among them, more than half (representing roughly 600,000 adults) had earned their high school degree in the US.

* For those for whom Spanish is a first language, a delay in learning English is associated with low basic reading skills. Those who learned English before age 11 had basic reading scores similar to average native English speakers (97 words read correctly per minute); however, for those who learned English after age 21, average scores were 35 points (or about one-third) lower. Due to the correlational nature of these data, it is impossible to make causal attributions, i.e., to say that a delay in learning English causes low basic reading skills.

* Adults who took the main literary assessment were able to read, on average, 98 words correctly per minute (wpm), in comparison to 34 wpm by those in the supplemental assessment.

We cannot leave volunteers to solve the ills of our society. If we are truly serious about the impact and if we truly believe that raising all people up to their potential is important, we must commit to dedicating consistent funding and ensuring quality. Volunteers should be an augmentation of a successful program...not the program itself. The people who take the huge step of courage to enroll in these programs deserve that. If our society is to become healthy, we deserve to have people who are able to work to their capacity.

Looking toward the future of our children

First of all...sorry for being absent! I went on vacation and didn't realize how little internet access I would have. That being said, I'm going to try to get back on the bandwagon again! :)

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I'm a big advocate of what technology can do for us and for our children, IF we work with it and utilize it. There's so much out there that I don't even know about. Recently, we were given a $5000 grant to use toward capital expenses. They have agreed that I could use it all toward technology. So, I have a challenge for you...

1) Watch the video below...



2) Think about...even research...software (computer "games" like the cancer game?), hardware (Nintendo DS? TAG reading system?), and/or other innovative ways we could use that money so that our kids in the ASA and summer program would be able grasp concepts and generate ideas in ways they may not have unlocked yet. (note: this summer our theme is environment and recycling, in case you come across anything like that)

3) Offer your time or help me find others who would be willing and able... Help guide kids who have primarily been exposed to Nick.com and standardized testing on the computer to this new world of technology.

Real simple...one afternoon a week. This would allow us to utilize the technology we already have (4 computers) and would help them become independent. Once they become knowledgeable and independent, they could do stuff on their own...or you can continue helping us get them to a new level so that they can be competitve in our world.

Sound exciting? It is!! Help us get there!

Teaching algebra with pizza, water balloons, and ice cream

How many of us grew up taking math classes thinking there was nothing useful about them? How many of us have finally discovered that math has a purpose and is useful in nearly everything in every day life?

Wouldn't math had meant so much more if we had been taught Algebra served with a side of ice cream?

Steve Norton uses his creativity to teach algebra in a very practical...and fun...way. His students learn, love to learn, and are figuring out how to apply math to everyday situations.

I love that they learn algebra to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Graph a line, graph a line, here is what we know: Draw a table, pick an X, plug it in, and go.

Get a list of five or six, and graph your ordered pairs. Connect the dots, a line you've got, if you've graphed with care.

Graph a line, graph a line, from slope-intercept form Y equals MX plus B. Here is what it's for:

At B you cross the Y-axis, and M, it stands for slope. Begin with B and move with M. It makes a line, we hope!

Anyone out there who can teach algebra and math creatively?...or know someone else who could? I'd love to talk them into volunteering their skills at our After-School Academy one day a week.

Want a volunteer project?

Every once in a while we get a large group wanting a one-time volunteer project. I don't often advocate for one-time efforts. But here is a situation where I think a group could really come alongside in a way that would benefit people long-term.

Help purchase and install television converter boxes for seniors.

For those of you who don't need the converter box coupons, collect them anyway. Encourage your church groups to collect them. The government is providing $40 coupons. I've seen some computer stores with $40 converter boxes. So, at no cost to you, you can purchase a converter box and help a senior, who may or may not have the technology experience to know or understand the upcoming change.

The House just approved a bill that extends the February 17 deadline to June 12. So, there is now time to collect contact different senior housing and retirement homes, collect converter coupons, purchase converter boxes, and plan a day to install them. The management at Roseland TownHomes, where I work, has requested this kind of help for the senior high rise in Roseland.

It doesn't matter where you are in the United States, the change takes place for everyone. And I'm sure there are seniors across the country who aren't sure how to handle the change, but need their TV for information purposes.

Phone victims

Phone Victims... P.V. It's becoming our own "gang" symbol.

A couple of weeks ago I took about five teenagers to another church to blend with their teenagers in hopes of creating a partnership.

As we sat in on their meeting, the group was trying to figure out what they wanted to call themselves.

Though the teenagers I know and call on come from many different neighborhoods, I suggested that our teens should come up with a name for themselves as well. We don't meet on a regular basis, but I have several who I know are consistent and will come to take advantage of a good opportunity...or will come if I sound like I desperately need their help. It didn't take very long before Vanessa piped up, "Phone Victims!" she offered.

Everyone laughed and agreed that they are my "phone victims" so it was a fitting name. Personally, I don't think that sounds like a very good group name, but they didn't offer up any other suggestions...nor did they ask my opinion.

Though I could be offended by them dubbing me as an evil captor, ever since they came up with the name, I have watched them eagerly tell everyone they come in contact with of their "Phone Victim" status and caution new teenagers I meet (sometimes introduced by the Phone Victims themselves), then roll their eyes...in typical teenage style...as if they were unable to choose whether or not they were there. (mind you...most of the time they ride the bus to get to wherever or whatever we are doing).

When I first moved to Dallas, I read a book called, Real Hope in Chicago. It's an easy read that I highly recommend if you want to understand how to do urban ministry...or any kind of "ministry" with kids, for that matter. On pages 118-122 Wayne Gordon talks about how to invest in people. His points have always stuck with me in a very profound way:

1. See Fifteen Years into the Future.
2. Make them feel important.
3. Don't Go Anywhere Alone
4. Be Accessible.
5. Expose Them to Other Role Models.
6. Involve Your Family.
7. Remember Those Who are in College.
8. Love, Love, Love.
9. Let them Fail.

I have always heard that kids like discipline and structure and like for adults to be involved in their life. Despite their outward resistance, I truly believe that. I think kids like the praise and accolades that happen as a result of their good and responsible behavior. I think they want to hear what the respected adults in their life think...about anything from politics to ethics to everyday opinions.

I also believe that they like to be Phone Victims.

The desire to serve

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was from my mentor and friend, Lisa Nigro, who founded the Inspiration Cafe in Chicago.

I had visited the Cafe while on a spring break campaign in college. A fire was lit in me as Lisa explained the concept: The restaurant is only open for breakfast. People who are homeless can request to be in the program. There is a limited number of spaces. If they are accepted, they eat breakfast here every morning (a nice and hearty breakfast prepared and served as if you were in a diner...complete with a short-order menu. The cook and the servers are all volunteers.). For guests to continue in the program, they have to be actively looking for a job and be actively working on their sobriety (if that is an issue). The cafe also offers GED classes and other classes that might be necessary in helping people move forward in their quest for a more stable life.

I was extremely excited that she agreed to hire me for a 6-week paid summer internship at the Cafe! I was so excited and eager to serve!

My first day, I immediately asked Lisa what she wanted me to do.

Her response?

A very calm, "Sit down and eat breakfast with the guests."

So I did.

...but then I was ready to serve!

I approached Lisa very eagerly, once again, "I'm done! Now what would you like me to do?"

To which she replied, "Get to know the guests."

So I sat back down and talked to a few people, somewhat disappointed that she hadn't given me some great, meaningful assignment.

The next day, once again, I came in ready to get to work. Lisa once again replied, "Sit down, eat breakfast, and get to know the guests."

After a few days of me continuing to request things to do, she finally explained that my "job" for the first two weeks was to simply sit down and get to know the guests. She explained, "Though they are homeless, they are people and they have thoughts and opinions. Find out what they think about politics, who their favorite baseball team is, etc. Get to know the people."

I had only six weeks to be there and this lady is paying me to sit down and talk to people for the first two of them! It was ridiculous in my mind, but it was her money so I did what she said.

Fortunately for me, Lisa had already learned something that I didn't know: there is power in a two-way relationship.

As I built new friendships, I was given the opportunity to stand in line and eat at the Salvation Army, experiencing life from the recipient's point of view. I attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. I learned about the 12-steps. I learned that Cooper was a poet and a great salesperson...he introduced me to Kahil Gibran, an author he enjoyed... and he taught me about having a positive outlook on life (Every morning, when asked how he was he would say, "Mighty fine, I woke up this morning!"). I had great talks with Lena and Tommy. Harry always looked out for me and Richard was a great friend--both were addicts in recovery who ran the cafe and amazed me with their ability to know when someone was running game.

Now that I am in a non-profit that accepts volunteers, I realize the importance of Lisa's words. I am so thankful that Lisa was steadfast in teaching me about valuing people.

In the non-profit world, volunteers want to come in and "do." But often what is more beneficial to them and to our neighbors is if they would simply come, get to know people, and build long-term relationships over time. Listen to people's hopes and dreams...and share their own hopes and dreams. Find out what someone needs, but also find out what they have to offer.

If you really want to be a blessing to someone, simply be a part of what is already going on. Get to know people. By getting to know people, you will know when someone wants to get in to college, but may not know where to start. You will know if someone is trying to pass their GED, but can't seem to pass their writing. You may come across someone who wants to open a bank account, but is scared to trust a bank and unsure how to write a check or balance their account. Through friendship, conversation may lead to discovering a genuine need someone has.

And on the flip side...

...you may also learn that when you have a need, you now have someone you can go to as well.

"Because of"...not "in spite of"

As I volunteered at an Education is Freedom (EIF) event on Saturday, I had yet another opportunity to meet a couple of amazing teenagers. The EIF event was set up to give 9th-12th graders short workshops on how to write college application and scholarship essays. EIF had rallied a number of adult volunteers to be on hand to assist the students with their writing process.

Though we were available for any teenager needing assistance, I connected with two girls who were struggling a little with getting their ideas down on paper. As I prompted them with questions about what they wanted to do in life, I received the response, "I don't know," quite a bit. That answer is pretty common in the areas where I work and can be seen as short-sighted. However, the more I talked to my new friend, the more I realized she actually has her plans pretty well thought out. She just didn't realize how thoughtful she had been about them.

My friend had thought about the Navy, National Guard, and college as the next step for her future. She is looking at the Navy because she felt it would provide more intellectual stimulation than the Army, which she felt was more about physical training. She is looking at the National Guard because it will provide her with college funding, something she recognizes she doesn't have right now (and because of her family's financial struggles, she has no desire to take out loans). Her third, and really last, option is college. She recognizes that college provides choices, yet she is afraid of the cost and hesitant because she thinks she needs to know what she wants to do before she enters college (How/why have we led our kids to believe this?? How many of us knew what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives as a senior in high school?!).

She currently lives on her own, is a senior at a DISD school, and works. I hope she gets past her hesitation of applying to colleges. I think too often we convince kids in poor neighborhoods that they can persevere "in spite of" their past. I think we need to change our way of thinking. This girl, and so many others I know, persevere because of their past, not in spite of it. Many of the kids I know have very strong character, a number of survival skills, and they have learned how to make things work no matter what the situation. We should praise those characteristics! I encouraged my new friend to really consider the three options she had chosen and not limit herself to what other people tell her she "needs" to do because of her income status or because of her indecisiveness about a career right now.

I encouraged her to write her essay, keeping in mind how much she has to offer a college. I hope and pray that as she writes, she thinks about how valuable she is because of her work ethic, her ability to raise herself, her desire to attend high school and even go beyond without goading parents, and the fact that she is taking initiative to make something happen post-high school without family guidance...

Every college, every military department, every job should want her for that.

Volunteers

I had a realization the other day. Quite often, I express my disdain for volunteers who want to come and "serve" our community. However, after thinking more about that, it dawned on me that I actually really like volunteers. We have some absolutely wonderful volunteers.

What I realized was that the expression of my disdain stems from two things:

1) The majority of volunteers want to "serve" on their terms. They will offer their time after 7:00 p.m. during the weekdays or on Saturdays or Sundays. Some even seem to get upset as if we should be appreciative of the time they offer and change our schedule so that we *can* have their volunteer services. Many volunteers explain exactly what they can and will offer, yet when we tell them what we need (i.e. homework help) they decline because it is not what they wanted to offer us. They come with their own solutions in mind without even asking what the problem is and without assuming that we might already have come up with a solution that we need help implementing.

It's almost like offering to volunteer is a way out. When we refuse what they have to offer, they are off the hook. They can then say they have offered and we won't accept it. It makes them look like the good guys. Volunteers and groups have offered Christmas gifts, winter coats, loads of bicycles, snacks for children, programs, etc.

I have said no to a number of these offers. I have had people leave very upset because we would not accept their "generosity." Our kids and families have too much to offer for them to be someone's "service project." If they were to get to know the people I know, they would realize how much someone has to offer. They would look longer term than a one-time Christmas gift that makes the giver feel more special than the receiver. If they got to know the people I know they would realize they have dreams, goals, and ambitions they are hoping to fulfill. One time neighborhood clean ups don't offer that. Offering one-time parties doesn't create partnerships that help them reach those goals.

One-time events offer off-brand bandaids (the ones that don't stick) to the pain and frustration. It doesn't help a teenager fill out a college application and then walk with them through the process year after year getting paperwork, financial aid, college loans, tutors, etc. It doesn't help a parent get the education needed to obtain a job that is meaningful to them. It doesn't help a child learn basic (and advanced) skills so that when he/she becomes an adult, he/she is academically prepared to enter into any field he/she chooses.

2) When people talk about wanting to get volunteers to help, 99% of the time they are talking about getting people from outside of the community where they serve. They don't even think about the capacity that already exists right inside the community.

Though many of the parents of the kids in our After-School Academy (ASA) are not formally educated, they are willing to learn. Through our staff development meetings, we bring in the highest quality college professors, school principals, etc. in order to help us understand best practices in education.

But even without the educational training the ASA offers, the parents are an invaluable resource. The parents who run our ASA have recruited a full roster of kids #1 because they believe in it and #2 because they are running it. The parents and others in the community bond together in a way that people outside of the community would not be aware of because it happens before or after hours--when outsiders to the community are usually in the comfort of their own homes.

(For a few examples: I learned the other day that Sylvia has started a "walking club" with a few of the parents. I hear her warning them that she is going to call them the next morning to get them up so they can walk. She said they have also attempted a pilates class. Wyshina has two kids of her own and knows her neighbor isn't really motivated to read to her own kids so Wyshina invites the kids to her house and they all get together and read books to each other. Keisha and Wyshina dispelled some community rumors and frustrations of parents who thought it was it was unfair to have to pay for an after-school program. When they explained the many opportunities we offer--like chess, golf, ballet, and other great opportunities--the parents became interested in enrolling their own kids. Chanel invited another parent's child over to play because the parent had expressed frustration with the unsupervised children her son was around. 6th graders who were formerly in the ASA are now classroom assistants and some are even helping teach classes.)

We have a lot of volunteers and partnerships in our ASA. Only a few are from outside of the community. We are selective. We believe our community deserves to have people who are committed, passionate, and willing to get to know us, our needs, and our capacities. We do not need to be someone's one-time service project.

If you are interested in volunteering, we welcome you. But, if you are coming in from outside of the community, please think about what it would feel like if someone you didn't know knocked on your door then, when you answered, proceeded to tell you about some program you needed, without ever attempting to get to know you, your family, your needs, your wants, or your abilities.

If you are willing to get to know us, give me a call.

Growing and Changing Population

A friend of mine sent this to me recently. I thought I would pass it along for the statistics, but also in hopes that you or someone you know might volunteer for this. If you're outside of Dallas, I'm sure you could call or email the person below and he could direct you to your local office.

Per a U.S. Census Bureau news release dated May 10, 2006, about 1 in every 3 U.S. residents is now classified as belonging to a racial or ethnic minority. In 2005, the nation's minority population totaled 98 million, or 33%, of the country's total of 296.4 million.

Hispanics continue to be the largest minority group at 42.7 million. With a 3.3% increase in population from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, they are the fastest-growing group. Hispanics accounted for almost half (1.3 million, or 49%) of
the national population growth of 2.8 million between July 1, 2004 to July 1,
2005.

The second largest minority group was blacks (39.7 million), followed by Asians (14.4 million). The population of non-Hispanic whites who indicated no other race totaled 198.4 million in 2005.

A Census Bureau projection showed that the "minority" population would make up about half of the total population by the year 2050. There are two components of population growth - immigration and natural increase of births over deaths. Hispanics are leading the nation's growth in both factors.

Based on the above data, the SPEC (Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication) Partners and coalitions will need to recruit more Bilingual Volunteers to help staff the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites in 2007. Please distribute the attached Volunteer Interest Form to your colleagues, partners, associates, friends and families. Thanks in advance for your help. From: Johnnie Bowers 214-413-6032 johnnie.m.bowers@irs.gov