Faith, Hope, and Believing

Before I begin, I am going to apologize to Melva Florence, executive director at The LaStraw (pronounced “Last Straw”) in Greensboro, NC. Melva, I saw your comment on the iParticipateNH blog posting about our journey about a month ago and I never responded. I never reached out to you and told you how wonderful and meaningful your comments were, well really - still are, to us. How you were the first organization to believe in us – to accept our invitation (through Facebook, no less!). I never even alluded to it or highlighted it.

Truth be told, I was rendered absolutely speechless by your words and your belief in what we are trying to accomplish (“Tell her that it’s really really difficult to get you to be quiet. She should consider herself a miracle worker!” Tim quips slyly from the corner. Well, jeez! I guess the joke is on him - he signed on to take a fifty-day ride with chatty Cathy over here!). But, seriously, Melva, I was/still am completely floored. So, please accept my sincerest apologies for my tardy response, but I wanted to make sure that I had my words back so I could thank you properly. If I were any closer (and we will be soon!), I would need to give you a big ole bear hug.

For those who have no idea what I am referring to, this preemptive apology probably seems out of place. But it is very well deserved.

About a month ago, I was having a “day”. One of those days where nothing is going right - a day where you feel like you can’t accomplish anything because you reach impasses at every turn. Left turn, SMACK (hit a brick wall); right turn, SMACK (is that the same brick wall?); left turn, SMACK (you have to be kidding me! How many of those could possibly be in here!). I had a rain cloud following my every step. Even Eeyore had asked me over for lunch and for a lesson in ornery comportment, because his dour nature couldn’t hold a candle to mine (at least that day, that is). We had been turned down by a few organizations. We couldn’t get seemingly anyone to call us back. Some people had been asking some very difficult questions, challenging the absolute foundations of our journey. On that same day, about a month ago, I looked at the iParticipateNH’s blog and saw the following comment:

“The Civic Projects seeks to bring awareness to community-based service organizations hard-pressed by today’s economic climate.” There is a gospel song titled “I Almost Gave Up” by Kurt Carr. Community based service is rooted in faith, hope and believing. Faith in people wanting to help, hope that we are making a difference and believing one day things will be different. In most cases especially with small community-based service organizations it is one person hanging on to that faith…hope…belief…and dragging others along. That is me.

When I received Kirsten’s message/invitation – on Facebook no less, I had been toying with some major decisions. For years we have had a Geocities website and in the last year, we stopped updating it. When Yahoo decided to close Geocities I had to decide whether or not to take on the added expense of a domain, technology coordinator and the added effort of keeping the content on the website up to date considering I felt like we are not making a difference and it wasn’t even worth it – although I would never say it out loud. I was also struggling with deciding what our 2010 was going to look like and if it was worth extending our organization even that little bit.

Kirsten’s message/invitation perked me right up. It made me feel, when I needed most to feel, that somebody understood what I was going through. Their impending visit to Greensboro has given me energy to make it to 01/17/2010 and beyond. Tim Malcolm and Kirsten L’ Orange are taking a leap of faith, hoping they can make a difference and I believe they will be successful. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of their journey.

Melva L. Florance, Executive Director


The LaStraw


Greensboro, NC – Stop #14

And I stopped. I read it again. The cloud evaporated. The walls, though not disappearing, did shrink down a bit - enough that if Tim gave me a leg up, I could easily, if not semi gracefully, scramble over. I called to cancel my lunch date with a certain cartoon character (his spread is never worth the trip anyway). I thumbed my nose at all our obstacles. Immature yes, but it is more mature than sticking out my tongue, crossing my eyes, jamming my thumbs in my ears and wiggling my fingers. Tim, (who is much more mature than I) simply and quietly, as is his manner, deemed it a benchmark, a small victory of sorts. Because, beyond raising awareness and motivating others to start volunteering at local organizations, we want our journey to remind these community organizations to recognize how vitally important and appreciated they are.

Melva hit the nail right on the head – “Community based service is rooted in faith, hope and believing. Faith in people wanting to help, hope that we are making a difference and believing one day things will be different.” I couldn’t have said it any better. Melva, your belief in us has been an incredible motivator. You, and all of the organizations out there fighting for change, have given us the strength to make this leap of faith, because we believe that, together, we will make a difference. We couldn’t be happier to have you as stop #14!

Cheers for Volunteers Event - Jan 7th, 2009

A belated very merry and a whooping "Happy Holidays" to everyone! I hope your day was jolly and bright, and that Santa (if you choose to partake in that particular tradition) was good to you. Speaking of Mr. Claus, have you read this article? According to this health expert's assessment, Santy is quite the poor influence!

We got our first news coverage! The Civic Projects were featured in Motif Magazine (to see the article, click the picture below. We really recommend reading the whole magazine! Very cool stuff). Thank you, Jess!

Wait! Before you run off to read the article I need to tell you about your present!

Yes, you get a gift!

Since I have assumed that you have refrained from being too naughty this year, you get a present. For your holiday gift, Tim and I would like to extend to you an invitation to the "Cheers for Volunteers" Bash at the Hi-Hat in Providence, RI on January 7th. We will be joined by Motif Magazine, Save The Bay (our RI service stop!), Clean Water Action, The Amos House, and Serve RI in an evening celebrating community service. So please please do come! As an added bonus, the night will conclude with music from RI's best Latin band, Santa Mamba (bring your dancing shoes!). This event is free and open to the public, so bring your friends, bring your family, bring your co-workers - bring anyone and everyone. This is a great opportunity to listen to some tremendous music, as well as meet some awesome organizations in RI and find out how you can get involved.

Quick Recap -

When: Thursday, January 7

Where: The Hi-Hat, 3 Davol Square, Providence (plenty of free parking)

Time: 6:30-10pm

Cost: Free and open to the public!

The Tree Hunt (or, A Complete Departure from Anything Terribly Pertainent)

I must warn you - I am procrastinating (so EASY to do on a snowy Sunday). We already answered some emails, edited some documents, started our press kit and power (?) point (?) presentation (?...We are experimenting with different mediums for information transfer. Some people, apparently, learn best through the bulleted method). The dogs have been out. And I need to give you an update, but I can't right now. See! I just snuck away to make a cup of tea! You are being terribly patient. Since you were so kind to stop by, we might as well talk about something. The weather?

There is an uncanny deliciousness to the holiday season - a spicy, almost palpable flavor that permeates every conversation, every interaction. It is warm, enveloping, and, most of all, addictive. You remember the high from years past, and just as you think you have properly fortified your senses and you will resist this year (BY GOD you will!!!), it overcomes you and defeats you, leaving you, weeks later, shaking and jonesing for your next hit. But unfortunately for you, this feeling will not be available until the day after Halloween the subsequent year (Don’t believe me? Visit CVS any day in the latter third of October and tell me Christmas has not begun…I double dare you).

Tim and I went tree hunting. We strapped on our best snow boots and bundled up in our warmest mittens. I had a scarf; he had a hat. We trudged through the ice-crusted snow, equipped with our trusty saw (which, to me, looked mighty slim. Tim assured me it would do, but the city kid who bought her trees from the pre-cut stock housed in the lot next to a gas station on Geary - near Parker I believe - had her doubts). We approached the hunting ground to find that the herd had thinned substantially. The hording instinct set in. We were forced to sprint from tree to tree, leaving one person to guard the last while the other scouted the next, fearing all the while that the other people on the prowl would sense a hole in our defenses and move in for the kill, taking “our” tree (though so dissatisfied with it we were that we were making eyes at all its neighbors. “Hey there, pretty tree. Great posture and - my, oh my - what a full base you have!”). And finally, it appeared – all 6 feet of spiny green branches and sticky piney smell. Yep, THAT is our tree. We circled and took a defensive stance. Tim, deftly welding his blade, made the killing stroke and let me finish the job (“You need the experience, of course,” he claimed). I do have to admit, it was very satisfying to cut down the tree, rather than audition the trees in the lot, forcing them to spin and twirl on their rickety, temporary stands. I am converted.

And, once she got all dolled up, she was quite the looker, don’t you agree?

Introducing our new and improved FAQ page! We save you time by condensing answers!

We thought an FAQ page would be a plesant addition to our website and would nicely address the veritable landslide of questions we have received (okay, I exaggerate, we have received SOME questions, but it seems to be the same ones, over and over and over again). Now, hopefully, people won’t have to scrounge around our website and blog looking for answers. Scrounging is just so time consuming, isn’t it?

Can you please review the basic plan for me – using two sentences or less?

We are traveling to all 50 states in 50 consecutive days, during which we will volunteer with 50 different organizations. We are doing this to raise awareness for community based organizations, as well as motivate people to seek volunteer opportunities in their own communities.

What organizations are you volunteering with? How did you find the organizations?

We are volunteering at 50 distinct, community based organizations. We define a community based organization as an organization that is located in and operates from the community it serves. We tried to get a good variety of organizations, to demonstrate the diversity of volunteer opportunities available. We will be visiting animal rescue centers, adaptive sports programs, food banks, homeless shelters, rape crisis organizations, soup kitchens, family centers, AIDS awareness organizations, and eco-restoration projects. This list is by no means exhaustive, but gives you a taste for what we will experience.

To find these organizations, we scoured chamber of commerce websites, googled “non-profits in area ‘x’”, searched VolunteerMatch and Idealist, and asked the opinion of friends and family in the area.

If you would like to view the calendar of our stops, please jump to our journey page.

How are you spending my donation money?

100% of the money raised will go directly to the organizations we are visiting. Yes, ALL. Every penny. We will not be using any of the donation money to help fund our journey (more on that later!). So, in summary, you donate and the money directly benefits the organizations.

We are collecting donations over the course of our trip. At the end of our journey, we will cut the sum of the donations collected by 50 and send a check to each of the organizations that was kind enough to host us along the way.

Well that is awfully nice of you! Since you are giving 100% of donations to the organizations, how are you funding the rest of the trip? How can I help you with your journey?

Well, shucks, we appreciate it! We are funding the logistics of our journey from our savings. We are able to do this, primarily because some really amazing people across the country have been willing to take us in as we head through their respective areas, thus eliminating the cost of lodging and keeping us from having to sleep in the car. If you would like to sponsor us with cash or in-kind donation, or even just kick us a few bucks for gas, please contact Tim at tim@thecivicprojects.org.

How much are you trying to raise for the organizations?

We think a total of $16,200 is a good (read: doable) initial goal. How did we come to that number, you may ask? We anticipate we will complete approximately 800 hours of community service during our 50 days on the road. The average volunteer hour is valued at $20.25. Simple multiplication will get you to $16,200.

It would be amazing to raise a boatload more, but that is the initial amount we are aiming for, given this is our first real foray into extreme fundraising from a moving vehicle. Dive right in to that fundraising pool, right? And for all those who are wondering, raising $16,200 means that each organization would receive $324. Though this isn’t a huge sum, we are hoping that it will make life a bit easier for these organizations and remind them of the support they have, from people all across the nation.

So the plan is to go to all 50 states? Wait - that includes ALASKA and HAWAII? Are you two bonkers?

I’d say, yes… pretty much. Good intentioned, though! We are indeed traveling to Alaska and Hawaii (and, mister, you’d better believe we have the plane tickets to prove it!). We are hitting all 50 states: 48 by car, 2 by plane. We decided, early on, that driving to Alaska was a bit much, and have elected to fly. Good choice, don’t you agree?

So what happens if you hit a snowstorm and are completely mired in for a few days? What then?

Please, please, please tell me you are rigorously knocking on wood as you pose that question! Snowstorms happen, we recognize this. Traffic delays, road construction, flat tires, and fender benders also happen (if you were here with me, all you would hear is a hollow, yet resounding “BANG, BANG, BANG” as my knuckles make repeated contact with the kitchen table). But we have allotted 50 days for this trip. We are going to visit 50 organizations in 50 states in 50 days, not 50 organizations in 50 states in 61 days, or 74 days, or even 53.5 days. We, for better or for worse, did not build in a buffer. But that is part of the fun, if you call tempting fate “fun”, which, I guess, we do.

We hope that our decision to arrive in each location the night before will give us plenty of time to meander from state to state, perhaps even allowing time for slight detours (pictures in front of quirky national landmarks, anyone?). If we miss a stop due to something beyond our control, we will ask for understanding, and make it up on our drive back.

So, how exactly do you two know each other?

My, aren’t you forward! Just kidding, it is a very valid question to ask of two people who intend to spend 50 days (well 48, at least we can walk around on a plane) cooped up together. We are dating. Well, since deciding to go on this trip, we haven’t actually gone on many dates, but that is beside the point. Maybe we don’t date anymore, maybe we simply organize projects. Okay, we are organizing. Sound good?

December? Really?

My, my, my – how Time flies (or trips, or skips, or full on SPRINTS, without breathing heavily, needing water, or even breaking a sweat. What a nimble athlete that Time is! Remind me to never challenge Time to a foot race). Wasn’t Thanksgiving a second ago? What is this business about it being December already? Absurd, I tell you! We have so much left to do. Who hit fast forward? You know…On life? Does anyone know how to slow this down? PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME!

And now I am taking a deep breath, exhaling (whew) and removing my fingers from the tangled nests they have created in my hair. Pardon my momentary lunacy. I’m over it. And am now in desperate need of a comb.

Anyway.

Oh no, I think I may have caused some confusion with all that momentary panic. Please don’t think that I am complaining – really, I promise I am not…pinky swear! Because today is special, so wonderfully and frightfully special I am having a hard time not smiling into the face of my computer while bouncing up and down in my seat. Today marks a month till we embark! (Am I only writing on benchmark days? I feel like I am. Hmmm, I’ll work on that.)

Side note: I love using the word “embark” when describing the beginning of our journey. It makes me feel like Tim and I are loading up our vessel, leaving behind life as we know it, and having ourselves a good old fashion adventure, “Lewis and Clark style”. Or perhaps it should “Henry Hudson-esque”. Scratch that – think Lewis and Clark. I envision us pushing off from the shore with a run, run, double hop into a boat and then sailing toward the distant horizon with nothing but possibility between us and the edge.

On January 4th, exactly one month from today, Tim and I will have finished the vast majority of our planning (I stress majority, because there is no such thing as a complete plan, right?). We will have confirmed all of our organizations (pssst! We are up to 46!). We will have packed up our car. We will have drive up to VT. And, exactly a month from today, we will join Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports for our first day of volunteering (Check them out - http://www.vermontadaptive.org/).

As for now, Tim and I will keep hacking away at our plans, confirming organizations, and keeping you in the loop. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention…we bought our plane tickets. One hurdle down and just a few more to go. Plenty of time!

50 days till 50/50/50

Well, I have my first official experience of typing on the go. I am writing to you as a fly my way to Florida (yeah, I know, rough life) for my last business trip before Tim and I head out on our journey. Today is a very special benchmark. We are 50 days from our 50 day, 50 state, 50 organization odyssey (or, as one of the organizations we are visiting has appropriately termed it, our 50/50/50 project). As of this moment, we have 32 organizations completely confirmed. With each day, we receive confirmations from additional organizations and I exhale a little bit more. Because this is happening. It is really happening!

"Tackling" Community Problems

We got a really good question the other day: “How do you expect to tackle the problems of a community if you are only there for a few hours?”

It is something that I mulled over for a long time when discussing our plan. I mean how much good can we do if we are only spending approximately 4 to 8 hours at each stop? Oh, no. Buckle your seatbelts and prepare to spiral into the free fall of self-doubt. What could we possibly accomplish? Is it even worth it? How can we expect to “tackle” anything if we are in each place less than a day?

Those questions got me thinking about expectations, and effectively managing those expectations. What I finally decided is it was really all a matter of properly defining what “tackle” means in the context of our project. Depending on how we choose to interpret the word, then the answer is really quite simple – either we will or we can’t.

If I interpret “tackle” to mean “solve”, then we can’t. No way. No how. No dice. We have no intentions of solving all the problems of each community we visit. Heck, I am not sure we could necessarily solve the problems of any given community with a life time of dedication (Please note: “we” in this context is limited to Tim and me. Some of you folks out there are simply miracle workers and “we” would like to you to know that “we” respect your skills when it comes to social justice and problem solving). This is not to say “we” (ok, I am losing the quotation marks now) won’t or shouldn’t try, but to say the purpose of our journey is to solve the problems of every community we would be giving us way too much credit and would render our initiate futile, given we would most surely fall short of that goal. If we emerged from our trip and the world wasn’t obviously saved, we would feel defeated.

Instead, we are interpreting “tackle” to mean “work at”, which creates much more realistic expectations for what we are trying to accomplish. The intent of our trip to highlight local organizations that are making a difference in their respective communities (i.e. are working towards solving the problems in their community), and join them for a day. During our time with each org, we will complete service, while exploring what volunteer opportunities they have to offer, in an effort to get people really jazzed up about service. You don’t want to work with food? Hey, you don’t have to! There is a family center down the street that would love to have you. Allergic to animals? Bubba, have I got an opportunity for you – a children’s literacy program! Feeling cooped up? Work outside with eco restoration program! You get my point – the choices are endless. By getting people interested in what their local organizations are doing to solve the various community problems (literacy, poverty, hunger, unemployment, etc) and letting them have a peek at the diversity of volunteer activities, we hope that people to have take an honest look at their own community and see where they can help. Our work is not to solve problems in each community (though I desperately wish we could), our effort is to bring awareness and motivate others to volunteer.

Additionally, and I cannot emphasize this enough, this trip is also our way of demonstrating that a little every little bit counts. Let’s repeat that, just for the sake of ingraining it - every little bit counts. I am as guilty as anyone for choosing to watch tv instead of donating my time. I am guilty of thinking a service project is too early on a Saturday morning and I have better things to do (a.k.a. sleep). I am guilty of thinking “it is two hours – what could I possible do in two hours that could help anyone. I don’t need to do it.” I am also guilty of thinking “I don’t want to commit to this long term, because it might infringe on my personal time.” So many times, I have convinced myself that it would only matter if I could donate a full day every week end, or give an entire evening every week. I have convinced myself, on occasion, that one evening every few weeks or every month would not make a difference to anyone, so why should I miss out on what ever it was I was planning on doing to engage in an activity that wouldn’t really make a difference, one that doesn’t really matter.

Well, it does matter. It matters to the person who eats the meal containing the potatoes you spent an hour chopping. It matters to the child you read to for 30 minutes, who now has experienced the wonders of Dr. Seuss. It matters to the recipient of the wheel chair you just spent two hours refurbishing, or the kid you just spent 45 minutes teaching to use a computer. It matters to the dog that has now had a good long walk and returns to his newly cleaned pen. It matters to the family that shows up to the shelter and finally feels safe (and hey, you only volunteer there on holidays). It matters to someone – no matter how little you feel that you are giving, it matters, primarily because it all adds up. Once you think back on all those times you didn’t volunteer because you only had a little bit of time to give, you notice something funny. You notice that all those times you had an excuse add up to a pretty big number.

So this is your challenge, if you choose to accept it: whenever you have even just a little bit of time to give, volunteer. You’ll be surprised how quickly the time adds up. Because in the end, we are not asking you to solve all the world’s problems – we are asking you to support the organizations that just might.

Final note: We love getting questions from people! Tim and I have spent so much time with this project, we forget that others may not understand aspects of it. So throw your questions our way - we are more than happy to share our answers with you.

How the heck are you guys going to pull this off?

So, two things have recently occurred to me: One, I need to start blogging more to gear up for the 50 posts I will be writing during the course of our journey. This is terribly intimidating! I envisioned that I would sit here and my thoughts would effortlessly flow from my mind to the page, each word wrought with significance and clear, concise intent. In reality, this is a really “exposing” experience. So please, friends and soon-to-be loyal followers of this blog, bare with me while I find my voice. Two, I think we need to talk logistics. What Tim and I have set out to do is fairly daunting. To be honest, it is completely overwhelming when we consider it at any length. I think an explanation of how we will execute this odyssey of this nature is necessary, especially because Tim and I get a lot of crazy looks when people realize our journey does include Alaska and Hawaii (and, no, we won’t be driving to either location…I know, I know, bad joke).

So how do you go about traveling to 50 states in 50 days? How do you do it while keeping your sanity, your health, and some semblance of routine? And how do you not only get to every location, but also have time to volunteer?

Well, we aren’t completely certain, because this is the first time either one of us have attempted anything like this, but we have spent quite a bit of time talking about it, google-mapping it, and consulting others who have ventured to all 50 states in 50 days to fish, hike or what have you. Our goal is to maintain somewhat of a routine – to begin driving at approximately the same time every evening, to go for a run every morning (wishful thinking), to blog everyday. It is these little things that will help us maintain sanity.

So, here’s the plan folks: we begin in the northeast, moving west by zigzagging up and down across the nation (see logo for our route - the yellow line is our actual path. One could say “just follow the yellow brick road”, but one will refrain from doing that in order to avoid looking foolish). We will leave each destination in the late afternoon/early evening, driving to our next location the night before we are serving in that state. Our longest drive time is approximately 7 hours, the average is around 3 hours – not too bad at all. On February 20^th, after 48 days of driving, we will serve in Seattle before flying to Anchorage. We will serve in Alaska on February 21^st and catch a flight to Honolulu that evening, where we will end our journey on February 22^nd. This is going to be whirlwind adventure, to say the least.

Now that we have covered travel, lets move on to other needs – lodging and food. We are very blessed that Tim’s mom knows a kind person in almost every state who is willing to house us (thank you for all your help Mrs. Malcolm - You have definitely made this trip seem a lot less daunting now that we are able to stay with friends and family rather than in the car!). For those states where we do not have the Malcolm connection, we are relying on the generosity of friends, both new (thank you Jess, you are awesome!) and old (you know who you are!), to put us up for the evening. And for those states where have yet to find accommodations, we are contacting churches to see if we can camp out in their rec rooms. We were going to try to camp for a portion of the trip, but we seemed to find housing in most of the “warm in the winter” states, and we are not ready to experiment with snow camping in the northern states.

A lot of people have been asking us how we are going to eat on this trip…umm, we are going to eat how we normally eat (insert shoulder shrug here). Though I may joke about Tim’s penchant for Quizno’s, we are actually going to attempt to be healthy eaters and avoid surviving off of fast food and gas station snacks (this is were we touch upon “keeping our health” during the journey). For all those who thought I was silly for buying a dehydrator, I will now have the last laugh - we are researching various nutritious meals that can be rehydrated (think camping food…anyone have any recipes?). We will also travel with a cooler so that we can hit the grocery store on our shorter drives and indulge in some fruits and vegetables.

So, that is a very generalized description of the main logistics of our trip (travel, lodging and food), answering the questions we are most often asked. There are so many other logistical considerations, but we will address those over time (like, how we will do laundry – stay tuned!). All I can say is that it is coming together and we are so excited to get on the road. T-minus two months and two days…

How big changes start small...

And so it begins, as anything else, with a simple statement – “I don’t know, I want to change the world…do something to make a difference…something I am passionate about.”

Tim had been laid off from his job a few weeks prior to making this statement. One night, while he and I were discussing his future, the conversation turned away from his unsuccessful and overwhelmingly unsatisfying job search, toward what he actually wanted to do with his life. Change the world, huh? Make a difference? Hmmm. Well, what are you passionate about, Timmy? “Helping people…doing something that makes the world a better place.” So, I got to thinking – how, exactly, do you make the world a better place?

Ok, yes, yes, yes – I know you can better the world by smiling at people while walking down the street, picking up trash when you see it, even letting people merge into your lane during a traffic jam. But, what if you want to do a little bit more? Well, you volunteer, of course.

Since joining the workforce, Tim and I haven’t “had enough time to volunteer” – we have been focused on our careers, our social lives, having enough time for ourselves, etc. We would dedicate some time here and there, but never as much as we wanted. It is a common excuse–lack of time. But what most of us don’t realize is that it only takes a few minutes or a few hours here and there to make a difference. Even if you are only contributing to a piece of the puzzle, you are working toward an overall change. And that is the mindset we are working toward embracing.

So we have decided to make time. We decided to take 50 days to travel cross-country and do community services in all 50 states. “Well, I get the 50 states part, but why 50 days?” you may ask (and even if you don’t get the 50 states part, you are still more than welcome to ask about the duration). “To add deadlines, conflicting engagements, and travel time, because adding those things makes it more true to life. To make it a challenge. To make it a 50 day journey of service and self discovery,” we will respond. Then we will say “And you are more than welcome to join us.”

So pull up a computer and check in with us from time-to-time, send us an email, or just head down to your local service organization and donate your time. Because, as corny as this sounds (and, believe me, I have major trepidations about typing this next statement in fear of nullifying any seriousness with which you took me for the past 5 paragraphs), but together, we may be able to actually change the world.