What Would You Do With A Million Dollars?

In preparation for winning the lottery I have spent a lot of time on listing names of individuals that will share in my good fortune. The list is grouped in 'flights'.  Here's the Flight List:

Flight 1:  My kids
Flight 2:  Family members
Flight 3:  Select friends

It's no fun to have money if your family and friends aren't there to enjoy it too and until last week I was perfectly content with my Flight List .  I've just been waiting for the news of my inevitable lottery winnings.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Loaned Executive (LE) training started last week! To be honest, it was a little like anticipating the first day of a new school year.  (Yes, I did buy a new outfit.)  All the training is taking place at the United Way of Dane County building on Atwood Avenue. The familiar faces of United Way staff where on-hand to greet us and I was thankful for the previous networking events that allowed the LE's to meet the staff and fellow LE's before Day 1. 

Day 1 Highlights:  Building Tour, History of Philanthropy, How LE's fit into the campaign,  introduction to the Agenda for Change and a Connections exercise aimed at getting to know our fellow LE's.

Day 2 Highlights:   An energy charged Brand presentation by the United Way Marketing team, team photos, introduction to Leadership Giving and our first trip to one of the agencies, Community Action Coalition and the scary and much discussed Agenda for Change Data Walls.

Day 3 Highlights:  Campaign Strategies, Divisions and Overview Rosenberry Society.

First Agency Visit

Community Action Coalition Visit
August 1, 2013

Community Action Coalition (CAC) is located just off HWY 51.  I had never heard of CAC and, despite spending 'some' time at Sports Pub and Lazy Olf, had no idea the building even existed.  Some people know CAC for their housing assistance and Koats for Kids campaign.  We learned that it's much, much more...

Poverty Stops Here is the recently adopted new slogan for the agency, Greta Hansen, Executive Director, shared. For many individuals and families poverty does end here as help from CAC can make a critical difference with clothing, food from the food pantry, rental assistance, community gardens, eviction prevention and case management. CAC distributes approximately three million pounds of perishable and non-perishable food. In 2012, there where 824,712 individual visits at the food pantries and meal sites served by CAC and 142,000 pounds of fresh food donated.  Greta told us that in addition to individual food donations, vendors from the Madison area Farmers Market regularly donate food to CAC. 

The staff at CAC that we met and the stories of their individual effort to end poverty and make a difference in the community were amazing. We heard about how it's not unusual to find a homeless individual sleeping around or near the building, making shelter out of the food pallets or shrubs.  How CAC case workers juggle 40-60 families in need of family support, food and housing. It is clear that the staff is passionate about the work they do and the services they provide. 

Sooo.. about that Flight List...officially adding a 4th flight to cover philanthropy in the form of an unrestricted gift to the United Way.