Make your mother proud
I had a Mom just like Mary Kinney’s when I was growing up. My mother always made sure I said thank you and taught me to give back to the community. That’s why I asked Mary if I could re-post her blog from United Way of Central Indiana here. And why I’m going to ask you to go to www.liveunited.tv and vote today, tomorrow AND Friday so a Hoosier can show the country how we do volunteering in the Heartland.
Make your mother proud
by Mary Kinney, United Way
When I was growing up, my mother, a fourth-grade teacher, was obsessed with teaching me how to write a proper thank-you note. I would write drafts for Christmas or birthday presents, and she would critique them until it satisfied her standards. It was almost enough to make me dread getting presents…but not quite!
As it happens, my mother had some flawless insights into the life skills I would need. Almost daily, I find myself either writing a thank-you note or brainstorming with a colleague about how to effectively thank someone who went out of their way for our community.
Sometimes our tools involve techniques that didn’t even exist in mother’s day.
What does this have to do with you? I’m about to involve you in a community-wide expression of thanks to two special people.Don’t worry. It won’t give you either writer’s cramp or block! It involves a simple form of feedback for some of our community’s best assets. Let me explain.
In June, United Way Worldwide announced a national story search to find a volunteer who would become the “face” in the 2010 United Way advertising campaign. United Ways all across the country submitted two-minute videos about a volunteer who LIVED UNITED by giving, advocating or volunteering to advance education, income and health.
Our local television stations were already committed to producing short stories for us as part of a Simulcast for Sept. 2, so we worked with them to submit stories about our local volunteers.
A 3-step selection process ensued. It began with online voting. The top 20 stories were then submitted to an expert panel which included The Ad Council and McCann Erickson New York. The upshot is that our community has two of the five finalists in the national search. The winner will be selected based on the top vote getter in a one-week online vote.
This is where you come in. Please join me in thanking our Central Indiana volunteers who are in the finals.
Ruth Rusie, a retired teacher in Martinsville, is co-chairing United Way’s fundraising in that county AND she’s also helping start up an early literacy program of United Way’s called Early Readers Club. Ruth’s 91st birthday was yesterday!
Duane Ingram is a 25- year- old young professional who could be spending his spare time any number of ways. One thing he does do is mentor a team of fifth-grade boys at an IPS school on the Near East side as part of United Way’s partnership with 100 Black Men of Indianapolis. His message is about attitude, and it’s a message that has already helped produce scholastic improvement for all the boys he mentors – a team which named themselves the Unstoppable Thinkers!
Online voting ends Friday at 11:49 p.m. Please join me in letting the Ruths and Duanes in our community know how much we appreciate their everyday giving. I know my mother – and maybe yours – would prefer that we all simply write them a heartfelt, handwritten thank-you note. But I think she’d still approve of this.
Please visit www.liveunited.tv today, tomorrow and Friday. Vote for one or both of them and invite your family and friends to do it too.
