Welcome to our humiliation!

I have to confess that I have been a member of Total Solutions since last year.

I like them.
I like their facility.
I like being thinner.

But apparently not enough to stick with it. So when I ran into Adah Ellerbrock from Total Solutions right after Christmas ( I was digging through the half-price candy cart at Meijer) I tried to be invisible (hard when you're the size of a Buick) and only half-listened as she explained the Big Giver Challenge.

"That sounds great," I stammered, keeping one eye on a slightly dented tin of butter cookies. "I'll see if I can find some people and call you." I kinda knew it was doomed cause as I smiled and slurked away.

So when Adah tried to run me down with her minivan on Tuesday in the Speedway parking lot, I knew I'd been had. "YOU NEED TO DO THIS! IT WILL BE FUN!" Fun? NOW she had my attention because usually I'm pretty stoic and a little levity might be just the thing I need to come out of my shell. And then it clicked - we could do this for the Allen Co. Family and Children First Council!

Hmmm....

And so I kicked it in. Dozens of HIGH PRIORITY emails flew from my Outlook, their red exclamation points pulsing with possibility in the recipients' mailboxes. I immediately enlisted my teammates: Berlin Carroll from the Allen Co. Juvenile Detention Center, Danny Holbrook from Lima City Schools, and my personal hero - my brother Andrew who is a pastor in Monticell0 - just outside Spencerville. To their credit - they didn't hesitate.

And we're in it TO WIN IT.

You may ask why would we be willing to humiliate ourselves, drawing attention to guts that we work hard to suck in and belt sizes that even we gasp about in private. The answer is simple really - this work is way more important than our tender feelings. The Family and Children First Council and the membership do amazing things for kids every single day. People outside of the social services or education systems have no idea how hard people work to make sure that children and families have what they need to thrive. And of course, for Mary.

Mary Early is the unsung heroine of children in our community. As the Family and Children First Coordinator, she comes to work every day with the idea that kids and families are our most precious resource. Where others give lip service to "family values", Mary IS family values. She has the kind of presence that softens a room, making people want to work together and do the right thing.

This blog is our connection with you - the people we need to support us. We'll do the heavy lifting (I call it "getting out of the recliner") and you do the easy part: support the council with a few bucks. We'll keep you posted about how we're doing, gently remind you to be generous, and (hopefully) there will less of us at the end of March!