3 Reasons why we love United Way

Recently, I faced the largest single grant application in my tenure at Salvation Army (all 6 months of it). Not in size, no, but in grant request amount. 

I tackled the mountain of (metaphorical) paperwork (it's an electronic application) that is the annual Tulsa Area United Way (TAUW) Request for Funding. The application for 2014 funding was a beast- it included financial information, detailed information about our Advisory Board, as well as reporting on all 6 of our United Way funded projects, IN ADDITION TO the actual agency request for funding. 

Due to some scheduling issues, I ended up only having about a week to work on the application/report, whereas most other agencies have been crafting their application since mid-Decemeber.We were a little busy around here.  :)

You may be wondering, why is the United Way application such a big deal? and why its well worth the effort? Well, three main reasons:

Key support for programs:
The United Way is a key component of the financial stability of our major programs; annually, between 13 and 15% of the overall agency budget comes from United Way funding. The 6 major programs that TAUW funding supports are:

1. Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Tulsa- neighborhood clubs offering academic, sport and social programming for lower income youth, ages 5-18.
• North Mabee
• Mabee Red Shield
• Sand Springs
• Sapulpa
• Broken Arrow
2. Community Centers- adult health and educational programming offered at each area Boys and Girls Club.
3. Emergency Shelter- Northeast Oklahoma's largest overnight shelter with a capacity of 350, serving 3 meals a day for guests and a public dinner meal nightly
4.  Emergency Financial Assistance- a homeless prevention and financial aid program for utilities, medical and other essential service
5. Supportive Housing Program- a transitional housing program for homeless families
6. Project Able- a permanent housing program for recovering substance addicts.

Community support
In addition, being part of the United Way is important to The Salvation Army because of the connections that it brings to other agencies- to avoid duplication of services as well as to form partnerships and make referrals in the event that our programs are not a good fit for clients seeking assistance- and connections that the public can have with us as a result.

One of our favorite events during the year is the annual Day of Caring. Day of Caring, to me, is mind-blowing for it's coordination and for the sheer number of people, from different companies across Green Country.

From TAUW Fast Facts:

The Tulsa Area United Way Day of Caring is one of the largest such events in the nation, with 4,125 volunteers completing more than 33,000 hours of work at area parks, schools and non-profit organizations.

2012's Day of Caring was a great experience: we had over 300 volunteers working for The Salvation Army. And those volunteers undertook more than 30 different projects at our various locations and volunteered for a total of 1,280 hours!

Volunteers lay flooring for a storage building at the BA Boys and Girls Club.

As volunteer coordinator Jenny McElyea said in her Day of Caring blog post,

"The great thing about Day of Caring is that it’s a perfect testament to what people can do when they work together!  This year projects ranged from a cook-out for the guests at the Center of Hope courtesy of Mazzio's to the cleaning of the fence line at the Sapulpa Boys and Girls club, courtesy of the Williams Companies."

Volunteers from ONEOK paint a new picnic table they bought for the North Mabee club.

We are looking forward to attending the "Live United" Awards Banquet next week, where top companies and organizations will be recognized for their volunteer and monetary contributions to this year's campaign (the largest in TAUW history!). We love being a part of the success of the annual United Way campaign, not just as recipients of funds, but as donors ourselves.

Donor Confidence
Lastly, we really value being a United Way member agency because of the confidence that it gives our donors. As a United Way agency, we are held to some pretty rigorous financial standards and must submit our financials every year upon application for funds. Of the hundreds of non-profit organizations in the Tulsa area, only 60 are Tulsa Area United Way member organizations.

After we, the agencies, submit our applications in January, review panels are assembled and conduct assessments.  

"The Panels conduct in-depth assessments of each agency according to the following criteria: community need, program effectiveness, fiscal and administrative strength and additional resources leveraged by the agency. The panels hold several meetings during the spring to study agency applications for funding. In addition, a separate, independent Audit Committee pours over each agency's financial statements.

After reviewing the applications, panel members participate in site visits of each agency, followed by conferences with agency staff. Finally, the panels recommend funding for each agency, including their rationale, and funding priorities within and between agencies."

Not only do United Way donors benefit from this process, in knowing that each agency is closely assessed, but so do our Salvation Army donors.  Our accounting processes are efficient and our overall budget benefit from the stability of a regular deposits from the TAUW.


You can find out more about the TAUW's fiscal responsibility here.

Hope you've learned something new about the United Way and feel proud to be part of community that so enthusiastically supports non-profit work!

 -Vicki

p.s. Check out the 2012 campaign video, it's great!

The Salvation Army Fights Against Human Trafficking

I recently watched the much acclaimed "Half the Sky" documentary and was particularly moved by the Somaly Mam segment, wherein a former sex worker, Somaly Mam, now has a internationally known program that rescues underage sex workers from horrible, abusive situations in her native Cambodia, and across Southeast Asia. 

Many of her girls (literally, girls from ages 3 and up) have been tricked into sex work by the promise of a job in the big city or were straight-up sold into prostitution by their desperate, impoverished families.

Being sold or tricked into unpaid, unwanted sex work is called sex trafficking and it is a serious problem, not just in developing countries like Cambodia and Thailand, but also, here in the United States. 

What I didn't know, and was really excited to find out, was that trafficking was already on the radar of the Salvation Army. As we seek to 'Do the Most Good" fighting trafficking is a clear calling for us as an organization. We routinely feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless and minister to widows and orphans, but what about "freeing the captives"? Human trafficking has been called "modern slavery"; and the numbers support it. An estimated 2 million women and children are sold into sexual slavery around the world, every year. And even in the US, it is estimated that 14,000 to 17,000 victims are trafficked annually.

Salvation Army & Cox, a Great Team

If you watch cable TV you have likely seen this commercial already. Captain Patrick Gesner appears in a 30 second public service announcement (PSA) thanking Cox Communications for helping the Tulsa community through The Salvation Army. Cox employees rang bells during the holidays for a week last year, and they help The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club year round. 

-Sallie

Red Kettle History

 It is really starting to feel like Christmas around the office this week! I thought I would take a few minutes to post about the history of the famous Salvation Army Red Kettle. I am so proud to be a part of the rich traditions of The Salvation Army and I can't wait to hear the bells ringing this year-that's how I know it's really Christmastime!

~Lindsay

In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome -- funding the project.

Where would the money come from, he wondered. He lay awake nights, worrying, thinking, praying about how he could find the funds to fulfill his commitment of feeding 1,000 of the city's poorest individuals on Christmas Day. As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large, iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.

The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling." He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas.

Six years later, the kettle idea spread from the west coast to the Boston area. That year, the combined effort nationwide resulted in 150,000 Christmas dinners for the needy. In 1901, kettle contributions in New York City provided funds for the first mammoth sit-down dinner in Madison Square Garden, a custom that continued for many years. Today in the U.S., The Salvation Army assists more than four-and-a-half million people during the Thanksgiving and Christmas time periods.

Captain McFee's kettle idea launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but all across the world. Kettles are now used in such distant lands as Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries. Everywhere, public contributions to Salvation Army kettles enable the organization to continue its year-round efforts at helping those who would otherwise be forgotten.

Courtesy of TSA - DFW Metroplex

North Mabee Boys & Girls Club Story Goes National

Wednesday was a big day for the Tulsa Command and the Salvation Army North Mabee Boys & Girls Club. Since May, we’ve all been anticipating how the story of the North Mabee club will be communicated to the rest of the country in the Salvation Army 2010 Online National Annual Report.  The story of the North Mabee club was selected from all the programs in the Southern Territory to be featured in the national annual report. Wednesday, the annual report went live and was e-mailed to every TSA officer in the U.S., every advisory board member and many TSA employees.

The four minute, 40 second North Mabee story was the longest segment of the annual report, and the only one about a Boys & Girls Club.  To me, the video captures the spirit of North Mabee; the challenges the kids experience and the opportunities the adults have created for them. The North Mabee club is not a just a place that shelters children from a tough neighborhood. It’s a place where people of integrity consider the present and future of each child and create programs to match the child’s needs. From club director Jo Bright to the coaches, the video also shows the deep love and compassion the adults have for  the children. I found it very touching. Let us know what you think!




-Sallie

Mummies and Music and Memories, Oh My!

The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs’ Rock Philbrook Day last Thursday was a success! The museum was overrun with 150 kids, Summer Day Camp counselors, and museum docents. “The kids loved it. My son is still talking about,” said Jerome Smith, director of the Mabee Red Shield Boys & Girls Club. The docents seemed to enjoy guiding the kids through the “Egyptian Treasures: To Live Forever” exhibit and the children loved seeing the mummies. 

“It was just great to have the kids here using almost every facet of the Museum as a platform of engagement and learning,” Randall Suffolk, director of Philbrook said. 

The kids attended a concert by Steinway pianist Dr. Phillip Powell, the Barthelmes Conservatory Tulsa Young Chamber Musicians and watched a video of the “A Pocket Full of Hope” performers. Lunch on Philbrook’s front lawn included a performance by an African drum group and several kids were given a chance to perform with them. For another ‘hands-on’ activity, the children created their own miniature mummies with paper and markers. They were given their mummies to take home, as well as many memories of their exciting day at Philbrook.

-Sallie

FOX 23 Feature on the Homeless: Can Anyone Find Sabrina?

Did you see Mia Fleming’s feature story on homelessness on Fox 23 Thursday night? It was a moving, in-depth piece which Mia filmed mostly with a mini camcorder. Much of it was shot at our Center of Hope, where Mia spent hours interviewing guests and hanging out in the lobby. Mia has received calls from people who want to help two of the homeless people in the piece, Sabrina and here= son Skylar. We appreciate the callers’ generosity, but please remember there are hundreds of people like Sabrina and Skylar that we help every day at our Center of Hope. Please watch the video and e-mail us if you know where Sabrina and Skylar can be found. And remember, you can help hundreds of homeless people in Tulsa by donating to The Salvation Army. Just mail a check to The Salvation Army, PO Box 397, Tulsa, OK 74101 and note “Center of Hope.”

-Sallie

“Sally” Hits the Road

“How Sally Changed My Life,” a short documentary film created by three men living at the Center of Hope, has become a sought-after program for faith organizations and students.

The filmmakers, John Ross, Jerry Coleman and Scott Green are in the Project Able transitional living program at The Salvation Army’s homeless shelter on 102 N. Denver.   The 17-minute film premiered at the Circle Cinema Oct. 25 to a standing-room-only crowd. Since then it has been shown at faith communities including All Souls Unitarian Church and Boston Avenue Methodist Church.

 After the film is shown, the men hold a Q&A session which has become very popular. At a presentation at Holland Hall, students grouped around the men for 40 minutes, asking about how the men became homeless and about their dreams for the future. The men also recently presented the film to 300 nursing students at OU Tulsa. “How Sally Changed My Life” features interviews with seven people staying at the Center of Hope. For more information,  contact Sallie Godwin at 587-7801. Photograph: from left are John Ross, director/editor; John Oak, (in the film); Sallie Godwin, Salvation Army PR Director; Jennifer Cupit,(in the film); and Jerry Coleman, videographer. Film will be posted on Youtube soon, stay tuned!

-Sallie

National Annual Report

Check out this video from National Headquarters!