Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Sun, Jun 28, 2009
Our board meets this monday to discuss the budget for the fiscal year to come, which begins July 1st. The Finance Committee has already met to approve the budget and has recommended that it be passed. This is the only major agenda item for the meeting.
Read my past blogs on the budget to discover how we have reached this point and what the major challenges are for 09′-10′.
As always, we are thankful that we have reached our ministry goals for this year. While we do all that we can do, I’m sure you agree with me that it is God’s blessing upon this work that allows us to have the resources to feed, house, and reach out to the poor with the love of God.
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Tue, Jun 23, 2009
Every year the female members of the Mission team have a weekend retreat to build community and get to know each other better. It’s so important due to the fact that we have so many sites and shifts that many people don’t know each other well and cannot connect on a regular basis.
Talking with members of our team who went to the event I understand it was a great event. Thanks to Kathy Austin, Marlene Hamilton, Juliet Lee, Jann Sonntag and everyone who made it possible. Special Thanks to Cynthia Tobias for coming a sharing on the Strong Willed Woman.
I’d love to get feedback from those of you who attended. What was the best part of the retreat for you?
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Mon, Jun 15, 2009
Several years ago I saw an interview with Brett Favre, at the time a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, talking about the hiring of his quarterback coach at the Packers to a high-profile head coaching position on another team. An all-star player at that point, Favre seemed genuinely bummed out that he was losing the quarterback position coach, despite the fact that the head coach, offensive coordinator and other coaches would remain the same. I remember thinking: Why would he care who his position coach is? Especially since he’s one of the best in the game, does it make a difference?
Now flash forward to a new book I’ve been reading, A Leaders Legacy by Kouzes and Posner. Kouzes and Posner conducted massive research to write the book and it’s predecessor, The Leadership Challenge. One of the most interesting findings of their research was that the most important leader in any organization to the staff wasn’t the CEO, it was THEIR DIRECT SUPERVISOR.
When you think about it you know it’s true. Most people don’t see the big boss every day and their environment isn’t directly affected on a minute by minute basis by some unknown vice president. But if they have a supervisor that is a good leader, or more commonly a bad leader, they feel it every day. No wonder Brett Favre was bummed about losing his coach- that was the person who most directly affected his life on a daily basis.
This should be incredibly encouraging to managers who wonder if anyone notices the time and effort they put into being a good leader. Conversely, it should be a wake up call to bad manager who make excuses for why they are not doing what they need to do.
To quote from the Leaders Legacy, “You can’t pass the leadership buck. Just because your manager doesn’t do leadership well doesn’t excuse you form doing your very best. Your direct reports don’t really care about what your manager does, but they care a lot about what you do.” ”Whatever your role in life may be, you make a difference. There’s a 100% chance that you can be a role model for leadership.”
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Thu, Jun 11, 2009
I’m pleased (ecstatic) to announce that the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund has awarded $3 Million to the Adams Sq. Family Center project. This project, which is to begin construction shortly, will provide 36 units of housing in addition to supportive services to homeless families. Here is a link to a past post on the Adams Sq. and some videos of the project. This brings the total raise to date to $9,262,793! Praise the Lord!
Thanks to all the great people who are contributing to this project and to those who helped us raise the total we have so far. Special Thanks to Mar Corpuz, Lynette Grubbs and Jann Sonntag. Without these three and many more we couldn’t have gotten this far.
I know I speak for all of them and the board when I say that we feel this is a miracle and that God has again provided for the poor that are served at the Tacoma Rescue Mission.
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Tue, Jun 09, 2009
Past, present and future are all represented in the new mural at the Tacoma Rescue Mission’s New Life Square facility. Created by BCRA and using an old photo of the Tacoma Rescue Mission from 1932, the new mural will inspire clients in our Good Neighbor Cafe for years to come. Covered with inspirational quotes and scriptures, it sends a positive message to those we serve. Please take some time to come by New Life Sq. to check it out.
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Fri, Jun 05, 2009
Thursday June 11th the Finance Cmtte for the Tacoma Rescue Mission board will meet to go over the budget that we are proposing for the new year, which begins July 1st.
Here is an earlier blog on how our budget meeting with staff went.
After meeting to discuss the budget in detail, our finance staff tabulates all the numbers and comes up with the sum total. After that I take one final look at it and decide if anything further needs to be added or subtracted before we propose a final budget to the Finance Committee. When it’s all said and done we will be proposing a budget that will be $4,764,128. This will be a growth of 11.7%, a large number considering the economic challenges-but a number which I believe is an achievable figure.
Here’s the reason for the growth:
We’ve added a new department this year, Need a Break Services, which is direct aid for people who need direct financial assistance with things like car or home repair. The addition of this department is a large reason for the growth in our budget.
In addition, we have scheduled to improve salaries of the front line workers at the Mission, the shift managers. This will be a big help. Most importantly, I feel like we are making a statement that we believe we are not only going to survive this economic downturn, but with the partnership and support of our donors we will do more than ever before to reach the poor with the love of God.
If the finance committee approves the budget, we will present it to the board at the June 29th board meeting.
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Wed, Jun 03, 2009
In the past few months I’ve been talking to whomever would listen about Twitter and the value of communicating with the larger community through social networks. Here at the Tacoma Rescue Mission it is required that staff working with the New Life Program and other programs get involved with Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch with graduates and clients. I think it will be especially useful for our Alumni department, which needs to touch base with graduates who may have moved back to their home state or city, making it hard to maintain effective support. With social media/internet it is easy and inexpensive to keep touch with large groups of people.
While I’m just a neophyte to social media I’ve got some theories on how it can best be used:
1. Build a large LOCAL network: Twitter and Facebook people often encourage the growth of your network getting as many “followers” as possible, regardless of who or where they might be. I disagree. While I follow a few sellect people outside my circle of influence I find the real power of these networks is connecting with those who are in your local area or have some affinity for you or your organization.
2. Share what excites you: Nothing worse than a series of FB/Twitter updates about inane details, yet most people do it regularly. My experience says people don’t mind hearing some of the details of your life, as long as it’s something that you are passionate about or that you are learning. Folks at the Mission should have lots of great stories, info, lessons to share about how you are changing lives. Update your friends and family on these things!
3. FB/Twitter don’t take the place of FaceTime. Yes, more and more people are socializing over the internet, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take time to touch base with people face to face. I call it FACETIME, sitting across the table from a friend and chatting. In fact, I think there is a cause and effect happening with these social networks. People are connecting through more impersonal methods, thus making real FACETIME all the more valuable. It has become even more important to get out and touch base with people. This is why I’ve scheduled a series of Coffee events and dinners to connect socially with the supporters of the Mission and why I take the time to have coffee or lunch with various staff each day.
4. It’s Not Either/Or, it’s Both. Don’t fool yourself that you can avoid getting connected through some form of social networking. While next year may bring a different company/site for social networking and companies like FB/Twitter may fold, connecting over multiple channels is here to stay. Your kids and grandkids are going to be doing it, it’ll be required for many jobs and you’ll avoid it to your peril. Anyone under the age of 75 needs to get connected to this! The thing is, it’s not FACETIME or FACEBOOK, it’s both. You need to connect with the new technology and make the time to get together with people in real time.
These are just some of my thoughts. What do you think?
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org
Posted by Rescue Mission Team on Mon, Jun 01, 2009
It’s so easy to forget that everyone around you is carrying some weight of concern in their life. We humans tend to judge everyone by the exterior appearance. If they are smiling they must be happy right?
Unfortunately, we also learn at an early age to put on masks that hide our true feelings. It’s uncomfortable and awkward to let people know of our deepest disappointments and fears. Somehow we forget that others have those same kinds of pressures and concerns we do. Even if someone seems like they have it all together, they still need your love and encouragement.
Make a plan and a habit to encourage the people you see today – regardless of whether or not they seem to need it. And don’t go half-way either. Really communicate what makes them special. ”You have so many great qualities. I really appreciate you.” or “I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate the hard work you do” will do wonders in a persons life. You’ll be surprised how by encouraging others you will feel better yourself.
The amazing power of encouragment. Use it wisely today.
DC
Read all of David Curry's blogs at
http://blog.rescue-mission.org or visit the Rescue Mission at
http://www.rescue-mission.org