Ownership

     I had The Talk with my 12 year old son this week.  No, not "The Bird and The Bees" talk.  This was the "You have Autism" talk and it was time.  My son is at the age where he is noticing that things are different for him than they are for other people and he has been coming up with reasons why.  My wife and I had been discussing when to have this talk with him.  He came back from the Midnight Sun street fair this weekend talking about how it was so overwhelming for him...probably because of the sin and darkness inside of him.

     So...this conversation needs to happen now.

     For those of you who do not know, Autism is primarily a sensory issue.  Some senses are heightened.  Some are dulled.  The brain has a hard time filtering and prioritizing the senses.  Just think about everything your senses are telling you at the moment.  What does your room smell like?  What taste is lingering in your mouth?  What noises are in this room?  How about the next room or down the hall?  As you are reading, what do you see in your peripheral vision?  Are you walking, sitting or standing? Are you hungry or thirsty or tired?  What if every single answer to those questions was screaming in your brain to be the top priority?  What if all that was happening while you were trying to have a conversation with someone and pick up on the subtle non-verbal cues that their eyes were giving you?  People on the autism spectrum usually have to teach themselves a lot of social skills that other people pick up on naturally so as kids they are often isolated and have a hard time maintaining relationships.  My son is brilliant and talented and has the sweetest spirit I have ever met...and he spends a lot of time alone or being reprimanded.

     Our conversation went well, but I am under no illusions that it will fix his autism.  My hope was not that he would just alter his behavior through sheer force of will.  My hope was that my son would begin taking ownership of his life and his circumstances.

     I have spent the rest of the week thinking about ownership and taking ownership of our lives.  This means having an accurate picture of what is going on both around us and within us.  We know what is happening.  We may know why or we may still need to dig for some root causes.  This is the baggage that we carry around with us.   The Ownership comes when we make conscious choices to make our lives better with our baggage in mind instead of denying those realities and hoping they do not surface again.

     For example:  I get grumpy about going new places and trying new things.  Grumpy is probably sugar coating it.  I hate "new."  Where does that come from?  I have a significant perfectionist streak that resides in my heart...perfection or failure are the two options that live in my brain.  Doing new things usually does not result in perfection so I live under the shadow of failure a lot.  Failure equals rejection.  So when I do some introspection I find that I tend to avoid new things because I am afraid of rejection.  Taking ownership of that means

• verbalizing that fear in order to dispel it
• regularly trying new things in order to grow more comfortable with the risk
• setting up a routine so that I am not in a constant state of agitation
• knowing that new ideas will make me grumpy and being mindful to not communicate "I hate it and I hate you" to the people (especially my wife) who suggest them

     Here are some of the realities of Joel's Place that I am coming to terms with in order for us to take ownership.

• We predominantly have teenage boys attend here
• We do not pay our staff well
• We are better at asking for money than making money
• We have a faith foundation but are uncertain how to implement that into our programs
• Our community really wants us to succeed and is looking for opportunities to help
• Our cash flow is heavily, heavily weighted towards the final 3 months of the year 
• We have 15 years of history here which means there are a lot of positive and negative stories circulating about us.

How do we take ownership of these?  I am still working that out.  But if I can embrace the challenge with the same bravery, faithfulness, curiosity and character that my son displayed this week...we are in for an adventure filled with discovery and joy.

Two Years

     This week marks my two-year anniversary of coming to work at Joel's Place.  We had our monthly Board of Directors meeting this week and this was the Executive Report that I filed:

This month marks two years for me in the position of Executive Director.  It has been a steep learning curve full of laughter and angst and prayer.  I thought I would give a bigger picture report this month to highlight how far we have come as an organization.

• ·         We have invested nearly $300,000 in our building.  Projects have included new Red Room Floors, outdoor paving and fencing, new siding and insulation for the walls, fuel for our tank, a new sound system, as well as new outdoor basketball, volleyball and riding areas.  The building looks great and is much more cost effective.

• ·         We have a full, engaged Board of Directors.

• ·         Staff are being paid on time.  It sounds like a small thing, but I was 2-3 paychecks behind for the first 6 months on the job.

• ·         Everything is up: donations, morale, cash flow, attendance, community reputation.

• ·         We have cut nearly $400,000 of annual payroll without sacrificing mission.

• ·         Two words:  Free Skating

• ·         Two more words: Debt Reduction- we have paid off nearly $80,000 of our building debt and come up with a plan to pay the rest off that fits within our budget.

• ·         Positive, Creative programs: Food Service, Field Trips, Ride Team, Operation: OnRamp, Special Needs Camps

• ·         Ramp It Up used to average $10,000 profit.  2012 was $23,000 and 2013 was nearly $40,000

• ·         Successfully transitioning from Founders to next generation

This is only a partial list, but it paints a good picture.  We have done well.  There is still a lot to build, but we are on a good path.  A deep thank you to all of you who are giving so much assistance and support.

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   I had someone ask me the other day if I was happy with my decision to join Joel's Place.  I am.  It has been a steep learning curve but I have been working with some amazing people who made the transition manageable.  I like the diverse job duties.  I like the value that my job brings to the community.  I like the faith aspect.  I like having to learn new things every day.  I like bringing out the best in my staff.  I like seeing kids leave our building drenched in sweat and beaming with smiles.  

     I am eager to see what this next year holds as we continue to grow towards sustainability and increase our impact in Interior Alaska.  As I said to the Board, thank you to all of you who have partnered with us in both the long term and the short term.  Your support, encouragement, generosity and prayers have brought us to this point.  It is humbling to be on the receiving end of so much good will and favor. 

Peace, hope and joy to you all.

James

Rounds

This month of free skating is sponsored by: The Fred Meyer Foundation

THANK YOU!!!

                     _____________________________________________________________

I will routinely pull myself away from my computer in order to see what is going on around the facility...check in on the staff, make sure nothing has been broken in the past hour, see what kids are up to and get a feel for how the day is going.  Come with me as I give a sample of what I saw today when I was going on rounds.

• First stop, the cafe.  Two kids were playing scrabble.  A board member was doing dishes with our kitchen intern.  Our new cafe manager was serving dinner while a half dozen teens greedily scarfed the food down.
• The Red Room had one kid playing the drums, five playing different video games and a fiercely competitive game of ping pong dominated the center of the room.
• I walked out back and saw a couple of teens weeding our garden while others were playing in the sand pit, four were playing basketball and another five were biking/skating/scootering around the outdoor park.  A local band was doing a sound check for an outdoor performance that they will be giving this afternoon.
• Back inside to check with the front desk where I promptly received some messages, mail and a hard time.
• Next I checked in on the music room.  Three kids working on different instruments/art projects or just reading.
• Finally I stopped by the indoor skate park.   Lots of laughing and jumping and "oooh"ing and yelling and pointing and crashing.  The two phrases that I heard most often were "Look out!" and "I'm all right!"  I had to wave down a couple riders because they were being unsafe.  "No it is not okay if you hold your helmet instead of wearing it."  "Stop snaking!"(cutting in line)

Along the way I talked with kids and adults. Some were angry.  Some were happy.  Some were hungry and whiney.  Some were focused and in no mood to talk.  All of them were safe and off the streets.  All of them are known by name here at Joel's Place.  I expect to see them all next week as they continue to grow and mature and develop.

It was just rounds, but it was a great snapshot of what we do and why we are here.

Numbers!!!

     My Financial Manager is gone for two weeks.  On the one hand, the office is lonelier and I have much more to do.  On the other hand...I am really a numbers geek and get an unhealthy amount of joy from poring through numbers and making sense out of them.  I have been forced to spend a lot of time on bank account reconciliations and accounts payable lists and demographic comparison analysis.  I won't bore you with all the reports, but the short story that the numbers tell is this: Joel's Place is doing really well and Operation OnRamp has been a huge success so far and we are only a month in.

     Operation OnRamp is the name for our free riding program.  Conoco Phillips sponsored our first month and the Fred Meyer Foundation is sponsoring the next three.  When I wrote the grant proposals, I said that we were hoping to increase our attendance and participation by 25%.  It was ambitious, but I thought that being able to offer our facility for free would bring in some new people and make our regulars eager to come back, even during the summer.  Here's how it is going so far.

• The number of visitors increased 24% over last May
• The number of meals served increased by 48% over last May
• The number of Skate Park ride sessions increased...254% over last May

The building has been hopping so far.  Usually the summer sees a dramatic slow down, but we are scrambling to keep up with all the new kids.  It is an exceptional problem to have.  I tell people regularly that Joel's Place is better when there are kids here.  So much better.  It feels like we are being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us when we can focus them on teenagers being difficult.  Which they do.  Often.

     The other fun piece of numbers has been around money.  Usually June is our bleakest time of the year.  Staff are not getting paid, bills are piling up and everyone is praying for some sort of miracle to tide us over until the fall.

     The forecast looks like we will end June with both our bills and our staff paid and some money in the bank to carry us through the summer.  Anyone who has worked or volunteered at Joel's Place knows what a monumental statement that is.

     Please do not take this as an invitation to stop giving.  Rather, know that your gifts are going towards building up the program, not just keeping us from sinking.  We will see what the exact numbers are when we finish August, but the staff and I are already dreaming about possibilities for this coming school year.  What could we do?  How could our impact grow?  What do our kids need and how could we help provide that?  I don't want to get ahead of ourselves...but it is an exciting time.

     Thank you for your generosity, your support and your encouragement.  I am deeply grateful for your partnership.

     Thank you, Arlys, for taking some time off so I could play with our numbers...please come back soon!