Fear and Loathing of all things good

Sometimes people can be so insecure, that they are paranoid. Sometimes people are so damaged by things such as abuse of all sorts, they are damaged spiritually. A person can become damaged by bad luck, uncertainty, poverty, etc. Then, they won't trust when something good comes their way. Or, people don't trust when someone good comes into their lives. Sometimes people get so hardened by life, that when the blessings come along, they either miss the blessings, or they flat out sabotage their blessings.

Maybe this has been you, or maybe this is you right now. You find that for whatever reasons, you just can't, or you just won't trust. If you are very honest with yourself, you'll find that you play a series of games with yourself, or with others, designed to expose whatever good thing that you have going on in your life as being unreal. But, have you ever had the sick feeling of finding out that you've ruined a good thing? Whether is was a good relationship, a good friendship, or even something like a great job interview, or a great resource, have you ignored it or sabotaged it, just because you didn't believe that it would lead to anything good? Do you feel that good things and great people are for other people, but not for you?

I have, and I suspect that we all have at one point in our lives. That might be part of being human, but what I want to challenge you guys with, is to learn to accept good things. Open up your heart and your mind to things, people, resources, and possibilities that could either work to your advantage, or that prove to be a real blessing in your lives. If you are in transition, then open up your mind to the possibility that you can have a better lifestyle, or at least that you deserve better.

If you have a home, but you are poor, then start thinking about ways to increase your station in life. It might seem like nobody wants to see you win and get ahead, and sadly, a lot of people won't. Life can be unfair in that way. But every now and then, we are sent people who do want to see us win; we are sent people who might be able to see us through, even if only for a little while on our journey in life.

My next post will further expand on this thought, because while some people become hopeful and move towards positive things, some people are stuck in negativity, and they'll never see the good things or people in their lives. Some people just don't get it, but maybe you can be a person who does get it.

My name is Terrah, and I will be sharing with you ways that my Community Voice Mail phone number has helped me, and I will be sharing tips on how it could help you as well. It might seem like a small thing, but having a phone number gives hope, and that hope can be the seed for so much growth in your life recovery. I hope you continue to read my post, and I wish you well in your journey. These lilies represent the fact that within the seeds of one form of life, rises the beauty of a new form of life.

Just Ask

"The questions that we ask ourselves determines the quality of our lives" - unknown.

Hey, it's Terrah again. I just wanted to share a really cool quote that I came across that I learned during my personal inspiration time. You see, in order to survive the time that I was in transition, and in order to keep my head up as I survive to elevate myself above poverty, I have to use a lot of tools to keep my spirits up, and my mind focused. One of the things that I do, is find free resources that either teach me things, or that help me to learn about myself.

So, I came across this quote, and it made so much sense to me. When I lost my place and became homeless, believe me, I asked myself a lot of questions. I really had to ask myself along the way questions, such as how I wanted my life to look like when I regained my private life back. I had to ask myself if I was willing to fight for my life, instead of allowing life to knock me down. I had to ask myself if there was anything that I could have done differently, or that I could have done better, in retrospect.

Now don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that it was my fault (in my case) that I became homeless. In my case, circumstances of health issues and being laid off, was my downfall. However, I came to realize that I didn't care for myself or my health as well as I could have. I didn't use the best coping skills and therefore, I wasn't prepared for the worst. I was so angry about things, like past trauma, that I didn't focus on the present, or on the future. I didn't dream big to propel myself forward. It took for me to lose everything to start dreaming big, and to think about the future. Then again, it's easy to think about the future when you lose everything, and all you have to think about is the future.

While I was in transition dreaming about the future, I thought about taking care of myself. I needed a way for people to contact me for appointments. I thought about jobs. I needed a way for people to contact me about jobs, and about opportunities. Thank goodness that I had my Community Voice Mail to count on, so that I could make my future plans. For example, doctors were able to contact me about my health appointments. When I applied for jobs in the community, I had a contact number besides that one at the shelter. I didn't have to worry about missing my messages, because employers were able to reach my professional sounding voicemail (More on that later!) directly. And, in questioning myself about the future, I decided that I wanted to start a side business for myself. And I did!

While I was still in transition, I was able to turn a job inquiry into a self-employment opportunity. I questioned myself about my previous work experience, and about how I could sell those skills. I used to be a telemarketer, and I spent many years working in call centers. I also had some college credits, where I had picked up formal communication skills. I used these to make career opportunity recruitment calls to potential financial planners. So, while the job market was crappy, and when I couldn't get hired, I was still able to put some legal money in my pocket. The best part is that I had a phone number to put on my business cards, and on my resume. And, the legal money that I earned helped to propel me towards independent living!

So, as you can see, if I just sat back and accepted what life handed my way, I'd be in a bad place, and I'd probably still be in the shelter. But because I asked questions of myself, and of life, I was able to create more for myself. Heck, even this blog post that I share with you guys now, is the result of asking if I could share my stories with you! The lesson is that if you want things to get better for yourself, don't wait for the opportunities to come to you; just ask! Use the resources that you have, and you never know how they can help propel you to your future.

My name is Terrah, and I will be sharing with you ways that my Community Voice Mail phone number has helped me, and I will be sharing tips on how it could help you as well. It might seem like a small thing, but having a phone number gives hope, and that hope can be the seed for so much growth in your life recovery. I hope you continue to read my post, and I wish you well in your journey. These lilies represent the fact that within the seeds of one form of life, rises the beauty of a new form of life.

The Road To The Beginning

I looked around the apartment to make sure that I got all of the last belongings out. I needed to make sure that everything was cleared out, because once I turned in the keys, that was it. There would be no turning back. There would be no way to retrieve any of my stuff. I had a heck of a journey on the bus to get back to the Salvation Army downtown. I had already been there a day or two, and the last thing that I was looking forward to, was walking down the block to get to my bunk bed. I didn't want to go back to the cramped feeling of laying on top of all of the other women, and their kids. I especially didn't want to get back to that filthy bathroom. I wanted to feel and smell a clean environment one more time. I laid down on my clean carpet in the apartment.

All of a sudden, the weight of my situation hit me like a ton of bricks. The sound of my crying came up from the pit of my stomach. I let out a huge wail, and the tears burst forth from a crack in my spiritual dam. I lay on my stomach, wailing, flailing, and beating the floor. Why was this happening to me? And, how in the world could I possibly manage what I knew I had no choice but to live through? After about 20 minutes, I picked myself up, and then I locked the front door. I walked across the street to the manager's office. I took my house keys off of my keyring, and turned them into the night drop box. For the first time that I could remember, I had no house keys on my keyring. It was finished. I was officially homeless. - November 2008

This is a recollection of the beginning of my 18 month journey in which I was displaced on a hard-core level. I had always had people to let me stay with them, and to otherwise help me out. But this time, I was on my own. You know, it's amazing the things that you take for granted as being part of your everyday life, until you lose them. Your house keys really become precious metal. You realize that you don't have a phone number to call your own. You find yourself in a Catch-22 situation: You have no way to be reached to obtain services to better yourself, and you can't better yourself without a method of contact. But more than this, you have no idea what it feels like to not even have the dignity of having something so basic as a phone number, but you do know the shame of feeling utterly helpless. This is why it was so meaningful to me to obtain a phone number from a local charitable organization that worked with Community Voice Mail. I first received my Community Voice Mail number two years ago. I still have it, and it has been the one constant in my journey back to independent living.

My name is Terrah, and I will be sharing with you ways that my Community Voice Mail phone number has helped me, and I will be sharing tips on how it could help you as well. It might seem like a small thing, but having a phone number gives hope, and that hope can be the seed for so much growth in your life recovery. I hope you continue to read my post, and I wish you well in your journey. These lilies represent the fact that within the seeds of one form of life, rises the beauty of a new form of life.

3 Good days in NYC

Recently two of my board members and I traveled to New York City to celebrate being one of eight finalists for the Lodestar Foundation’s elite Collaboration Prize. The Prize was created by the Lodestar Foundation to expose and reward successful collaborative model in the nonprofit and public sector, ultimately creating an extensive database of models and lessons learned. See the database at the Foundation Center .

Databases don’t ordinarily inspire most of us, but this database is the gateway to an endless supply of national good news stories infused with a heavy dose of candor and a tone of humility. The overarching themes? Set aside egos, replace with a shared vision, and maximize complementary strengths to fill service gaps. Said another way? Mission, mission, mission.

The Grand Prize went to Adoption Coalition, an Austin-based group that set out to reform the failed system of foster-kid adoption. Their post-collaboration results were stunning—not only did they increase the rate of adoption by 70% within two years; they reduced the number of transitions that foster kids experience and created “forever families” for kids who are too often forgotten.

What had started as a competition became a feast of inspiration, ingenuity, and hope, with stories like these:
• Graduate! Philadelphia fixed the problem of “brain-drain” by mobilizing the assets of loyal Philadelphians. Now, local talent has a supportive and flexible path to finish their college degrees.
• FeedMore, admitted that the community didn’t need two food distribution agencies and kitchens, and then knit together the donors and resources of the former competitors to ensure that no one need go hungry in Richmond Virginia.
• Twenty private colleges in Wisconsin, WAICU, took on the unglamorous but valuable task of consolidating back-office administration so that savings could be re-invested in financial aid.
• Network for Good recognized that most technology does not abide by the “build it and they will come” tenet. They merged with the customer-support-focused Groundspring to train nonprofits and recently celebrated reaching the half a billion dollar-mark in brokered donations.

• The WIN Family Network in Southern CA created a first-in-class program of clinical case management for infants and their families, breaking down the old silos of care so that families can achieve stabilization faster and more completely.
• And, the Gulf Coast Consortia coalesced by recognizing that the big and meaningful problems that science sets out to solve are rarely solved by one discipline alone. Their efforts have yielded multi-institutional training, shared access to state-of-the-art facilities and tools, and tradition of interdisciplinary scientists who are encouraged to think big.

Congratulations, Adoption Coalition, and fellow finalists! Thank you for inspiring us and for elevating good news about everyday miracles in the nonprofit sector.

Jenn Brandon

The Heart of CVM

Last week, we received nearly fifty poems describing the heart and soul of what we do. The winning poem was submitted from Pinellas, Florida. This wonderful poem has been submitted as our entry to the CTK Foundation Heart and Soul 2011 contest. It was especially powerful to hear poems submitted by voice mail in the voice of the authors. Take a moment and read or listen to a sample of the varied submissions we received. They are posted on our web site.

Thanks to all who participated!

"Onward I’ve walked a thousand miles in these torn and tattered shoes I know I’ve made mistakes but this is not the life I choose I’m the soldier that defected to a life of drugs and drinking I’m the scientist that lost his mind, now, Lord KNOWS what I’m thinking But the truth is that I think the same as all my brethren do I stand today, a broken man, but I was once like you At least, with CVM, I know I stand a fighting chance Today I plan, tonight I sleep, tomorrow I advance" – CVM Manager

Los Angeles CVM & Groupon

Are you one of the gazillions of people who use Groupon? Once you've signed up for discounts on a local restaurant or maybe a bungee jumping adventure, why not click on a truly great deal: donate $10 to the Los Angeles Community Voice Mail program, right from the safety and comfort of your Groupon account.

LA CVM is Groupon's featured campaign right now on the LA Groupon site, selected through the company's g-Team program. You don't have to be in Los Angeles to participate; just go to this link and sign up for the deal. Your $10 contribution will be sent by Groupon to the Weingart Center, the host of the Los Angeles CVM program. The money will help provide voice mail boxes to homeless and low-income people in Los Angeles County. It's a small amount of money that will help people get jobs, find housing, gain access to health care, and stay in touch with loved ones.

This is a great use of the Groupon platform to support a worthy cause. Get clicking!

Wanted: Community Voice Mail Love Poems

Submit a 4-8 line poem for a chance to raise $10,000 for Community Voice Mail.

The CTK Foundation is once again having a nationwide contest asking people to describe the heart of their favorite nonprofit's mission in a poem. Community Voice Mail needs your help to find the perfect poem. How would you describe the heart of Community Voice Mail's mission in 4-8 lines?

Who can submit a poem?
Anyone! To be valid, your poem entry must include your full name, phone number, city, and state. Poems must be 4-8 lines, and emailed to info@cvm.org and we invite you to perform your poem via voice mail too – just call 206-441-7872 x150 to record your poem.

Need inspiration?
Find out why Community Voice Mail is worth waxing poetic about. Visit our web site at www.cvm.org to read about our mission, and learn more about us. Go off to a quiet beautiful place. Contemplate phonelessness and what it means to get reconnected. Get friends involved. Be deep, be zany, rhyme, don't rhyme. Poetry, like Community Voice Mail, is versatile!

Previous CVM Poem Winner
There was a time I stood tall and proud
Unaware that I soon would be under a cloud
No home, no job, no family, no hope
Until CVM I just couldn’t cope
Now, once again, I stand tall and proud
“You can reach me here!” I cry out loud
The clouds will soon lift and I’ll be okay
Because, you know, I wasn’t always this way

How do I participate?
It's easy. Just email your poem along with your contact information to info@cvm.org or record by voicemail at 206-441-7872 x150 by March 23rd, 2011.

What if we win?
We will select our favorite poem and submit it as CVM's official entry. If Community Voice Mail's poem is selected by The CTK Foundation, we will receive a $10,000 grant. If the winning poem is submitted by a CVM user, staff or volunteer of a local Community Voice Mail program, the grant will be split between the CVM local host agency of the winning region and the Community Voice Mail National Office. The winning poem will become the basis of a song, written and produced by Bill Dillon for non-commercial, community education and awareness.