I Want To Start A Movement: Now When? Now

A mission statement is supposed to be about what you do now. When we rewrote ours a few years ago, it opened with “KenCrest supports community development.” The thinking behind our statement was simple, but the execution was much more complicated. We were thinking about the way in which we behave as an organization, and how it can be instrumental in helping communities grow their abilities. We believed that by acting as a role model, we would inspire a change that would help to create a better world and achieve more social justice. During the time we wrote that statement, we were not thinking there would one day (soon) be a pandemic, yet we are living this mission now.

Our behavior as an organization has paved the way to producing assessments to help our clients wear masks; we have created tools that we freely share with other day programs to help evaluate their safety; and we have inspired generosity, the donation of time, funds, and materials to make homemade masks. All of these results are quite impressive.

I am mindful that some of you have already experienced the virus, and many of you have cared for family, friends, and clients who have had the virus. Some of you have experienced tremendous loss. At least one of our coworkers at KenCrest lost multiple immediate family members to coronavirus. Our highest number of cases of the virus were in May and June, and it was a hard time for everyone. Leading health experts have been right every time about spikes in cases, and the predictions say things will get worse.

We are starting to see that cases are on the rise in almost every state. While we know treatments are getting better, I think I would prefer, if at all possible, not to get the virus. I ask you to do what you can to keep our community safe: to draw on your knowledge and your determination to use the three M’s:

· Making your personal bubble, the number of contacts in your life, as small as you can.

· Minimizing your intensity by staying out of crowds, especially indoor gatherings. You know that dinner you are planning for Thanksgiving? Keep it small, only people already in your bubble.

· Mitigating risks by wearing your mask, washing your hands, and keeping six feet away from anyone not in your bubble.

I wish I could tell you when it will be over, and that there are some positive vaccine trials underway. While it won’t be perfect, we’ll do what we can. By the time this is over, I want all of us to be able to say we did all that we could, and for us to be remembered for that kind of contribution to our community.

Here is some inspirational lyrics that are current and timely for you music fans:

How They Remember You by Rascal Flatts

Sprayed my name on a water tower
Carved it in an old cottonwood tree
Signed a bunch of high school yearbooks
So they wouldn’t forget about me

It wasn’t ’til I saw my daddy’s name in stone I knew
It ain’t a question of if they will
It’s how they remember you

Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall?
Hide your love or give it all?
What did you do? What did you do?
Did you make ’em laugh or make ’em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let ’em die?
What did you choose? What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain’t if, it’s how they remember you

When you’re down to your last dollar
Will you give or will you take?
When the stiff wind blows the hardest
Will you bend or will you break? (Will you break?)

You’re gonna leave a legacy, no matter what you do
It ain’t a question of if they will
It’s how they remember you

Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall?
Hide your love or give it all?
What did you do? What did you do?
Did you make ’em laugh or make ’em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let ’em die?
What did you choose? What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain’t if, it’s how they remember you

— — -

Now is our time to do the things that we will want to be remembered for. Let’s make this part of our history one where people will say “they stood, they built bridges, and they gave it.”