Introduction
It took a very young man named James in a fourth-grade class to ignite the passion I have for helping children. And, that passion has never wavered. More than 25 years later I'm still an educator and I'm still helping children.
When I worked as a Senior Administrator for the Department of Education in Lincoln Nebraska I realized that my staff did not understand the importance of their jobs as related to children in classrooms. I saw that as a huge problem. So, I spent some time helping them understand just how important they were. As part of my strategy I added a tag line to my email, “Never Forget.....We Work For Children.” And, I purposefully verbalized the statement multiple times daily.
Eventually my staff started buying in. The programmers started considering classroom teachers when designing their website apps. The evaluators started considering how processes would actually play out at the district and school levels. It was an amazing transformation! And they wanted to let me know in a big way just how much they bought in!
While I was away at meetings and visiting some of our districts for a few days they did something amazing. When I accepted the position I had the walls in the front of my office replaced with glass because I believe in transparency. I wanted them to see me hard at work and I wanted them to feel comfortable walking in anytime to talk to me. Well, when I returned to the office there was a painting on the bottom third of the glass. There were children from a myriad of ethnicities and cultures all holding hands and smiling with the phrase, “Never Forget....We Work For Children!!!” written under them. I almost cried right there!!
That year my 27 person staff who serviced 253 school districts across two time zones in the state was able to collaborate to cancel external contracts and complete the work internally; saving more than $850,000 of our $6,000,000 budget! We saved more than 10% of our “children’s” money working together and keeping them in mind!!!
As my relationship with God has grown I better understand and fully embrace without question, the purpose HE has placed on my life.
God built me to help children and their families! As an educator of more than 25 years I’ve come to realize that the help I can provide to children is greatly impeded if I do not also help and gain the trust of their families.
Families need to know that you are genuine, and that takes time and effort. It takes consistency and transparency. And I’m here for every bit of it!!! That is why I started, “We Work For Children (WWFC).
WWFC is positioned to address the needs of children and families in a myriad of ways! We are building a one stop shop for children and their families! Our programs, training sessions, webinars, and print materials will not be limited to sports, finances, or education.......etc. We are building this organization to meet every need we can think of! That will take time, so we will start out slow but strong! That is why I have taken an entire year to select our Board of Directors.
Our Board of Directors is comprised of individuals from all walks of life. These individuals have illustrated, through their work with children, their dedication and willingness to pull up their sleeves and in the words of my husband “Put in Work”! They don’t just talk about it they ARE about it.
The launch of WWFC represents me walking in my purpose! Welcome to the journey!
