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Dear Reader,
What a week. A full moon. An earthquake in Canada leading to a tsunami warning in Hawaii. A hurricane. Homes and businesses in NY and NJ flooded. Long-planned events cancelled. My daughter's 15th birthday. The build-up to next week's election. And, in the midst of it all, Halloween, complete with indomitable trick-or-treaters cheerfully making their way through the windblown streets of our neighborhood.
Somehow, the week was laced with grace. Last Sunday, I heard Mary Oliver, a poet whom I consider a national treasure, and Poet Laureate Billy Collins read their poetry and talk about being poets. To hear poetry spoken in the poets' own voices felt like intimate access directly into to the hearts and minds of the human being. And as Billy and Mary shared their work, these great poets sounded like old friends.
Chatting together on stage in response to audience questions at the end of the program, Billy commented "we're all born with 300 bad poems in us. Most of us don't write them out and get to the good ones." He encouraged budding poets to master their craft and write out the bad poems to give voice to the good ones. Mary Oliver said, "Yes, voice is important, but before you give voice, you must know who you are, what you stand for. And you must have a vision to share so that your voice has a point of view." Finding your voice is as much about discovering what you have to say as it is about saying it. What do you see that may be hidden from the rest of us?
Perhaps my favorite moment, however, came when Mary Oliver responded to the question, "You write so much about animals and the natural world. Which animal do you most relate to?" Without missing a beat, she said in perfect deadpan. "Human." Indeed.
On Monday, November 5, you will meet Irasema Salcido on Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life. Her life story is astonishing; the impact of her work even more so. She is an educator dedicated to the slow, painfully hard and deeply rewarding work of changing public education to give poor children the best chance in life. Irasema's voice offers no platitudes. She expresses the wisdom born of on-the-ground experience working for 15 years in some of the poorest communities in Washington, D.C. and also the abiding faith that strengthens and sustains her. Please don't miss Irasema's voice. Here is a human being whose heart will speak directly to yours.
I hope you have found moments of grace in a challenging week, too.
Very best,
Kate Ebner
CEO
Nebo Company |
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Monday, November 5, 2012 11 AM Eastern Time On VoiceAmerica Business
Listen on Monday. Working for Our Future: The Transformational Faith of Educator Irasema Salcido
 Nationally recognized as an innovative and ground-breaking educator, Irasema Salcido, who counts the Declaration of Independence as one of her inspirations, has dedicated her life to ensuring that the poorest students receive the best education and can live the American dream as fully participating citizens. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Irasema came to the United States at age 14 without speaking a word of English. Overcoming the language barrier, she persevered, completing an undergraduate degree in California and a Masters degree in Education from Harvard University. Guided by her strong faith, today she is the CEO of the Chávez Schools, named after her role model César Chávez. Listen to this story of courage, dedication and service with Host Kate Ebner as Irasema shares the vision that illuminates her path -- and the perspective gained from 15 years of hard work that is changing a broken system and opening doors to the future for disadvantaged young people. More Be inspired. Missed the Live Show?
Past Episodes are available on demand and podcast-ready via iTunes or RSS feed.
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Marching Out to Meet Change with Robert Egger: Visionary Founder, DC Central Kitchen
by Rachel Wold
In the midst of the worst hurricane to make landfall in the US in decades, Robert Egger and Kate Ebner braved ferocious winds and rising tides to speak about DC Central Kitchen, the non-profit organization he founded in 1989 that uses food to strengthen community through meal distribution, nutrition education, food recycling and a job training program. Robert explained that he never intended to run a non-profit organization: "What I really wanted was to hand off this idea to someone else and go back to running nightclubs." However, a combination of a sense of obligation and "the American desire to leave your community better than you found it" inspired Robert to stick with idea and turn it into the success it is today. So far, about 60 other cities and universities have developed their own organizations based on the model of DC Central Kitchen. Robert himself is leaving the DC organization to start the new LA Kitchen early next year.
 Robert shared one of the driving questions behind his work: "How do you liberate people and set them free?" He explained that he doesn't just mean those receiving food aid and job training, but included the volunteers supporting the organization and even himself: "I see that many people are burdened by their sense of limitations or by what they think they can accomplish. Even the awards that I get, like being one of Oprah's 'angels'- is that supposed to set me apart from others? There's this idea that I've done something that makes me different from other people and that's not true. People everywhere want to make their communities stronger."
One of Robert's goals with DC Central Kitchen (also known as DCCK) is to inspire a "calculated epiphany" for the people who come into contact with the organization, either as recipients of one of its programs or as a volunteer. He stresses that he doesn't want to tell others what to think, but rather hopes to inspire people's original ideas through conversation and education about food and DC's under-served populations. "I want people at DCCK to think, 'Wow, I never thought about food that way before,' or 'Wow, I never thought I could have such a great conversation with a former convict or drug addict.'"
One of the ways Robert has created these perspective-expanding experiences for people is through his leadership example. He noted that "Cultivating power for others is difficult- it's a lot easier in theory than in practice. Over the years, I've learned how important the difference is between a leader and a boss." We couldn't agree more.
To hear more about Robert's vision for the future of non-profits, why he thinks philanthropy should be addressed more often in the presidential campaign, and what volunteer inspires him the most, listen to his episode on our website or download the podcast.
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Hurricane Sandy
Nebo was closed last Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy's arrival in the DC area. While we were spared the worst of the storm, our thoughts and prayers are with our many friends and colleagues in states further up the coast near New York City. If you would like to reach out to storm victims in their time of need, information on helping out can be found here. |
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Create Your Vision!
We have designed a quick and easy visioning exercise just for you! You will receive your own personal vision statement immediately upon hitting "submit." To create your vision statement, CLICK HERE.
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