Hello all!
"You've been approved!" Oh how exciting those words were to hear Friday!
I was in the market looking for a tasty treat for a bbq with the other managers from the company I work for when I received THE call from Community Partners. (Quick reminder... Community Partners is an organization who works as an umbrella org. for new non-profits trying to get off the ground. The new non-profits are able to work under CP's non-profit status, enabling the new non-prof to receive funds and to further legitimize the work.) I have been in a submission and waiting process with CP regarding the research grant with UCLA. And then the call came Friday... ACA IS APPROVED!! I must have been quite the sight to other shoppers as i hopped up and down the aisles in excitement!
So, you may be wondering, "What does this all mean?". Good question! Having Community Partners operate as ACA's umbrella means ACA can receive a research grant from UCLA and further legitimizes ACA's work.
I will operate as the Project Director for the research project, working with 3 local inner-city high schools to research and document playable field space in their respected area. For more information on the project itself, please feel free to e-mail and/or call.
Overall, this is an exciting time for me personally and for ACA!! 2 years of dreaming, working, wondering is seeing some fruit. So exciting!!
Thank you all, again, for your encouragement and support! A more detailed e-mail will come soon, but I wanted to share this news with you!!
16 September 2007
From Knowing, to Seeing, to Acting - August '07
"You only learn from what you don't want to look at. What you don't want to see..." These words I just read tonight are stuck in my head, repeating itself over and over. "You only learn from what you don't want to look at. What you don't want to see..."
There are few things in this life I don't want to see. I have always been one drawn to danger, to the unspeakable, to the horrors of life. Never one to shy away from the photographs and news broadcasts of the starving, the dying the brutalized. In a twisted way, I find comfort in the realness of the pain and devastation. So then why, why do the above words refuse to leave my head, refuse to allow me to move-on with the evening? What don't I want to look at? What don't I want to see?
I don't want to see me. I don't want to see the way I walk past the many nameless men and women in this city without homes. I don't want to look at the annoyed face I give the drug addicted woman in my building who comes to me often to ask for prayer and "help". I don't want to see the "me" that isn't who I want to be, yet is part of who I am. I may not want to see, but I now choose to see.
Awareness, Connection, Action exists to raise awareness on issues of poverty and injustice, to connect human to human and to move individuals and communities to action in addressing the many needs associated with poverty and injustice. This is the mission of an organization. Now it needs the reality of the lives behind it. I want to be perfect; to perfectly know how to address each man and woman who asks me for money on the streets, to perfectly know how to help the woman with her drug addiction, to perfectly live out the mission of ACA. But, as we all know, I am not perfect.
As ACA continues to progress forward in exciting ways (research grant with UCLA, articles of incorporation and bylaws filed, tax forms being processed, connections being made!), I am trying to learn from what I don't want to look at, from what I don't want to see. I am not perfect. I will make mistakes and have victories as ACA moves forward. My hope is for you, each of you, to join me in my imperfection to create change in our lives, our communities and our world.
To start, let's not quickly walk past the man or woman asking for change. Instead, let us ask their name, their story, perhaps over coffee or a meal. The simple task of being authentically interested, I am learning more and more, can be most important and life-changing. This, I am learning from a dear friend who daily spends time with his friends without homes in his community.
I would love to hear your experiences, your stories. We have much to learn from each other and I look forward to continuing to learn and grow together!
Thank you, as always, for your excitement and encouragement over the last couple of years. Again, none of this could continue without your love, encouragement and challenge!
-amanda
There are few things in this life I don't want to see. I have always been one drawn to danger, to the unspeakable, to the horrors of life. Never one to shy away from the photographs and news broadcasts of the starving, the dying the brutalized. In a twisted way, I find comfort in the realness of the pain and devastation. So then why, why do the above words refuse to leave my head, refuse to allow me to move-on with the evening? What don't I want to look at? What don't I want to see?
I don't want to see me. I don't want to see the way I walk past the many nameless men and women in this city without homes. I don't want to look at the annoyed face I give the drug addicted woman in my building who comes to me often to ask for prayer and "help". I don't want to see the "me" that isn't who I want to be, yet is part of who I am. I may not want to see, but I now choose to see.
Awareness, Connection, Action exists to raise awareness on issues of poverty and injustice, to connect human to human and to move individuals and communities to action in addressing the many needs associated with poverty and injustice. This is the mission of an organization. Now it needs the reality of the lives behind it. I want to be perfect; to perfectly know how to address each man and woman who asks me for money on the streets, to perfectly know how to help the woman with her drug addiction, to perfectly live out the mission of ACA. But, as we all know, I am not perfect.
As ACA continues to progress forward in exciting ways (research grant with UCLA, articles of incorporation and bylaws filed, tax forms being processed, connections being made!), I am trying to learn from what I don't want to look at, from what I don't want to see. I am not perfect. I will make mistakes and have victories as ACA moves forward. My hope is for you, each of you, to join me in my imperfection to create change in our lives, our communities and our world.
To start, let's not quickly walk past the man or woman asking for change. Instead, let us ask their name, their story, perhaps over coffee or a meal. The simple task of being authentically interested, I am learning more and more, can be most important and life-changing. This, I am learning from a dear friend who daily spends time with his friends without homes in his community.
I would love to hear your experiences, your stories. We have much to learn from each other and I look forward to continuing to learn and grow together!
Thank you, as always, for your excitement and encouragement over the last couple of years. Again, none of this could continue without your love, encouragement and challenge!
-amanda
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