Several weeks ago our Community Development Director returned from a conference in New Orleans and was so excited. During her trip she learned of exciting new tools available to help share the Civitan story with all of you and even had the theme picked out for this newsletter. It seems that one of the things discussed in great detail at this conference was “going green” in the field of public relations. Everywhere you go these days you hear people using the phrase “going green.” Which makes me ask the question, what do you think of when you hear someone say “green”? For me, two things pop into my head. Allow me to share.
When I hear the word green, my immediate thought is actually a memory of a cute little rhyme my son and I used to recite in the car when he was just a little tyke and we would approach a traffic light… “…green below means go, Go, GO!”. I used this little rhyme to teach not just the colors red, green and yellow, but also to help him understand the concepts of stop and wait. Green was naturally his favorite because it meant, of course, go or proceed or his favorite, don’t stop.
As I think of how this applies to Civitan Services, I realize that everyone here is operating under a green light. In the past couple of months we have made a few changes. Some minor renovations have taken place and we have added new staff in order to continue meeting the needs of our consumers. Mariessa Bearden, formerly the Adult Services Director has been promoted to Associate Director. We have hired a new Adult Services Director, Mr. Jarriel Moore and are looking forward to him joining our team in the next few days. We have also added a new Personal Care Instructor in the Adult Department, Ms. Sarah Yates. In the Preschool, Ms. Jaylynn Chitwood is joining us for the summer and we have also added a new certified teacher, Ms. Brittany Calaway. So, as you can see, Civitan Services is definitely moving forward in our commitment to provide quality services for people with developmental disabilities.
My next thought usually revolves around what in the world it means to “go green” in the first place. If you look around you will no doubt notice lots of bumper stickers and posters encouraging everyone to save the planet or protect the environment in one way or another. At Civitan, we also believe that we have been called to use our resources wisely.
The operating practices of The Civitan Shoppe in Bryant provide many examples of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” process. We are able to reduce the amount of garbage going to landfills in several ways. For starters, we have bins set up in two different locations where metal items that can’t be sold at the Shoppe are placed. Everything from major appliances that no longer work to metal clothes hangers goes in these bins. A recycling company comes by to weigh and empty the containers and then they send us a check. We also partner with Charity Shoes and Clothing, a company out of Dallas, to take clothing and shoes that are not appropriate for resale. They take what is usable and send it to third world countries. Items that are too torn or stained for that project are forwarded to a textile recycling company and once again, we receive a check. Other items are sometimes pulled to fill a need here at the center, especially things like arts and crafts supplies that can be used in our classrooms. Finally, we also send items that do not fit our market to other community organizations that can benefit from them. For example, our Shoppe doesn’t sell much in the way of building supplies, but Habitat for Humanity does. So, not long ago we took several antique screen doors to them rather than taking them to the dump.
As you can see, at Civitan Services, being good stewards of our resources is not a trend, but a tradition. We want to invite you to help us improve our efforts in this area. While we try our best to make sure that people do not get duplicate mailings, sometimes we miss a few. Our current system will not check for duplicate addresses, only duplicate names. Therefore, we aren’t always able to catch it when more than one person from a household is on our mailing list or if someone is listed in multiple ways, such as “Mr. and Mrs. John Doe” and “John and Mary Doe.” If you are receiving more than one newsletter at your home, we would greatly appreciate you calling to let us know. The main number at the center is 501-776-0691.
Another way you can help is by sending us your e-mail address. In the next few months we hope to have everything set up to be able to e-mail our newsletters and informational brochures. If you would send an e-mail to Leigha@civitanservices.com with the word “address” in the subject line we will make the changes necessary to ensure you receive as much information as possible via e-mail. This will not only save a few trees, but also help us reduce printing and postage costs.
Thanks to all of you who support Civitan Services and our mission of helping people with developmental disabilities in Saline County. I hope that you are blessed by knowing that as you support Civitan you are also supporting your local community and even others around the globe who are in need.
Leah Henderson, Executive Director
