YAWNS

Written by: Kate Snyder, Development and Donor Communications Coordinator

I just added a new acronym to my lexicon. YAWN -- standing for "young and wealthy but normal" and being applied to a subset of rising young millionaires who are choosing not to wallow in their wealth but are instead living normal, frugal, and charitably-minded lives.

There was a great article on the YAWNs in Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine recently. You can check it out here. It's inspiring to hear stories of young people choosing to save the world with their zillions rather than see how many expensive cars they can stack up in their mansions.

My favorite thing was a quote at the end by Knight Kiplinger: "Your own financial security depends far more than you may think on the financial, physical and spiritual health of others in your community, our nation, our world. When you share your good fortune by donating your money, time and talent to charity, you help create a stronger economy and a healthier, safer world."

Amen.

Shampoo for Everyone!

Written by: Kate Snyder, Development and Donor Communications Coordinator and Katrina Brown, Awesome EECM Supporter

Here's another story about a great friend of EECM who came up with a fabulous and creative donation. Hats off to Katrina Brown, a savvy shopper who decided to really put all those pharmacy rebates to work.

She says: "I use a web site called hotcouponworld.com where the members of the site work together to come up with the best deals each week at various stores. On the Rite Aid forum, the members find the best ways to combine sales, coupons, and rebates to get items for free or very cheap. I have not paid for anything so far."

"My friends, neighbors, and co-workers give me the coupon inserts from their Sunday papers and I file all of the inserts by date. Then, when the deals are identified on the Rite Aid forum, I find the inserts I need and clip the coupons. I take my coupons and my list to my Rite Aid, where the staff is very helpful in doing in my deals. They know me by sight and greet me as the "coupon queen" when I come in the door. This week the cashier made sure I had all of the new coupon books they had gotten so that I wouldn't miss out on anything."

"I go to the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Shadyside. I tried making my donations in the EECM food pantry donation box there, but on the day that I got 10 bottles of Pert Shampoo for free I realized that my donations were not going to fit into the box any more!"

Armed with her rebates and coupons, Katrina has rounded up more than $900 worth of toiletries to donate to our programs. That's a lot of shampoo! And razors. And toothbrushes and paste. And deodorant. And baby wipes. And glucose monitors. A veritable cornucopia of personal hygiene and health products appeared at our office thanks to Katrina's efforts.

We can (and will!) put these donations to use in any number of our programs. Toothbrushes to the Men's Shelter. Razors to the Orr Center. Glucose monitors to Meals on Wheels clients. Acne treatment creams to Children & Youth. Shampoo to Safe Haven. Baby Wipes to the Food Pantry. And on it goes. In one fell swoop, Katrina managed to donate some important necessities to more than half a dozen of our programs.

Kudos to you, Katrina!

Talking Through the Tuff Stuff

Written by: Kate Snyder, Development and Donor Communications Coordinator

On one of my trips over to Summer Day Camp this year, I popped my head into the Art Room as the seven and eight year olds were busily creating masterpieces. They had just finished up decorating t-shirts for an upcoming field trip (great idea, no? A fun art project with the practical application of helping staff members keep track of a horde of kids) and were coloring posters.

If you're exceptionally good at reading upside down, you'll notice that the poster our young artist is working on says Talking Through the Tuff Stuff. All the kids in the room were coloring that same poster. Why, you might ask? Is it a new movie? A book? An edgy new song?

Actually, Talking Through the Tuff Stuff was the theme of the 2008 Summer Day Camp. Every year, Camp has a theme with ethical and moral implications. Last year it was God is Good. All of the Camp activities then center around this theme, with the culmination being the End of Camp Production with music, dance, and drama presentations on the theme.

As we try to do in all our CY programs, our staff drew this year's theme from the reality of our kids' lives. It's been a tough few months, even by the standards of our community. There has been an upsurge in community violence, including several shootings that have directly impacted many of the kids in our programs.

And even without community tragedies, these kids face a lot of tough stuff. Dysfunctional families. Wide-spread abuse of drugs and alcohol. Pressure to join gangs. Poverty. The goal of Camp this year was to help the kids of all ages cope with the tough things in their lives.

It's a heavy topic, but as always, our staff managed to present it to our kids with grace, humor, and fun. Just look at those smiles.

15 Years with Blanchard

Every summer, young folks come to EECM in droves. Our proverbial cup runneth over with eager young volunteers that show up with their youth groups for service projects lasting from a few hours to more than a week. Many of these groups have been coming for several years, but there is one that stands above the rest. This summer marks the 15th year that Blanchard Church of Christ has brought their youth to Pittsburgh and East End Cooperative Ministry (they also partner with several other local organizations).

"The Blanchard Group" is an institution here, renowned for their hard work, enthusiasm, and great organizational skills. They show up, unpack, and get down to business. Are we short a driver for Meals on Wheels? No problem. Does one of our clients have some yard work that needs doing? They're on it. Could the dormitory at the Men's Shelter benefit from a good scrubbing? (Yes). Just point them in the right direction and stand back. An army of scrub brushes will leap into action.

This year, there are nearly 60 participants in the service project. Their leader is J.T. He's young, but don't let that fool you for a minute -- he's an old hand at this routine. He's been coming on the trip for more than a decade.

All of the kids are proud of their years of service. I stopped by the Food Pantry to take a few pictures and they eagerly shared their numbers. One was in his sixth year. Another had been coming for four. Only a few seemed to be new-comers.

The Blanchard Group will be here through Friday and then head home. We look forward to seeing them again next year!