I have been compiling personal stories and quotes to use for our website. I decided to share a few quotes from volunteers & students with everyone.
"My volunteer work at La Casa Hogar has been a pleasant experience and has helped my self-esteem a lot. To feel that money is not necessary to share something with others; putting to work the gifts that God has given us and knowing that we can be useful is something priceless."
-Luz Monroy, Technology Coordinator at La Casa
"Because my free time is limited, I want to get the most "bang for my buck" when I volunteer somewhere. There are many worthwhile organizations to get involved with in the community. However, at La Casa Hogar, I not only feel needed and appreciated, but I get and learn so much in return. Walking through the front door of La Casa Hogar is always a humbling experience. I am continually inspired by courageous, committed, hard-working, generous women who at first glance, seem very different from myself. But, of course, we have so much in common-as women, mothers, daughters, students of life. I will be eternally grateful to the women of La Casa Hogar, for so warmly welcoming me in to their "home"."
-Peggy Ludwick, Annual Dinner Committe Chair
Student describing Spanish Immersion:
"A warm, non-threatening learning experience which melds people of different Spanish abilities together in a fun cooperative educational opportunity of language and cultural enrichment."
-Ann Willis, Spanish Student
"To me La Casa Hogar is like a visit to my beloved friend's home, or the home of my loving Aunt. Because here at La Casa Hogar, I have found affection, amiability and trust from the staff and sincere answers for all of my questions. Overall if fills some part of my expectations as a woman and human being. Thanks Casa Hogar for opening your doors to whomever needs a sincere friend. God bless you forever."
-Lourdes Contreras, La Casa Student
We have begun a new Capital Campaign at La Casa Hogar. Our board of directors has been working on a 5 year strategic plan for expanding and improving facilities. We are also hoping to expand our Emergency Services Program into a new drop-in center across the street from our current facility. But, to complete all of these wonderful plans we need money!
We are using a new circular model to explain our organization to the community. The middle circle states "Our home is a great investment." Around it are 5 circles that represent different elements of our services. They are as follows:
Invest in Education & Leadership with Hispanic Women
Invest in Cross Cultural Education with Business, Organizations, & Individuals
Invest in Facilities with Neighborhood & Community
Invest in Assest Development with Homeless People
Invest in School Readiness with Children, Youth, & Families
I am also attaching a compelling case statement that establishes the need for La Casa Hogar in the Yakima community. I wish I could say that I wrote the statement, but it was written by a community volunteer. I have also been busy writing & compiling our United Way report to increase funding for the organization.
The Annual Dinner that we had on March 13 was a success! We've been compiling forms, donation checks, and art information, and have determined that we raised $20,000! This is pretty good for our small organization. I did a lot of the planning and feel good about the results. I organized the art auction donations and bios, worked with a new database that organized information on seating, invitations, sponsors, and table capatains, and was in charge of creating printed promotional materials such as programs and newsletters.
Things got a bit hectic at the end, but I was relieved when so many people showed up & the art auction went well. The "energy" at the event felt right-people were enthusiastic about being there. The entertainers were well-received, and the speakers did a good job of emotionally appealing to the audience. We received comments that many people came to the dinner knowing little about La Casa Hogar, but left with an understanding of the great service we provide to the community.
I enjoyed the event & learned a lot about planning fundraisers. The committee was well-organized, but some things still have to be done at the last minute. I learned about the amount of promotion that needs to go into an event like this-initial letters, newsletters, recruting sponsors & table captains, church promotions, newspapers & radios, etc. Overall, I would say the event was a success both financially & for the purpose of gaining greater awareness in the community for our Capital Campaign.
Next on my list-
I'm implementing testing & evaluation to our existing programs. I have pre & post test information to evaluate for the computer class & the Children's Learning Center, and I am no working to establish this data for other programs. I will also be teaching a driving skills class this trimester. This does not include actual drivers training-but we teach the concepts to pass the written drivers test at the DMV. We will be incorporating a new computer simulated driving program, and I will be team teaching with another staff member.
Also on my list is finishing a United Way report so that our grant funding gets renewed.
I just returned from a 3-day Grantwriting Conference in Seattle. It was called Practical Grant Writing and Evaluation, hosted by Karl M. Hammer, Ph.D. of KMH Consulting, Inc. The workshop was very thorough, and I learned a lot. It began with the elements of successful grant applications and moved to budgeting and evaluation. We talked extensively about logic models, writing objectives, and methods for evaluation. Some of the information was far too technical for La Casa Hogar, but interesting nevertheless.
I am working on compiling a grant file with general summaries and all of the information needed for grants. This workshop was very beneficial in helping me discern what is most important or necessary for this file. I also got some good ideas for ways to modify the Program Outcomes I've been working on. In several of our programs we need to begin monitoring & evaluating so we can then use this data to justify future grant requests. Currently, we collect data on class attendance and the number of people served in individual programs, but we need to begin collecting data in more depth.
I am writing another weblog which includes information from the workshop. Some of the stuff is helpful in writing objectives or writing about programs.