You’re Incredible

On the morning Christmas eve day, I put on a nice shirt and some makeup, asked the kids to excuse me for a little while, then sat in front of my computer for a TV interview accompanied by Benevolent supporter and believer Lisa Bloom (she was in a studio in LA). What happened next was nothing short of incredible.

If you haven’t been following Benevolent from its tiny inception this past year, here’s a recap. Benevolent started as an idea in February of 2011. By December of 2011 we were running a small pilot in the Chicago area. In September, we were ready to branch out and started working with just a few nonprofits in other cities to see if our systems stood up to the test. We were bolstered in that month when I was invited to speak to a gathering of philanthropy leaders at a White House Forum on Philanthropy Innovation. Benevolent began to get attention, and the opportunities started to flow.

In the weeks before that Christmas eve, a few wonderful grants were committed by some excellent foundations to help us expand into three to four new cities in the new year (stay tuned for those announcements next month). So on Christmas eve, the Benevolent office had been closed for the holidays. We had divvied up the responsibilities for responding to questions and managing the site through New Year’s, and then the interview ran on HLN – first live and then in one city after another across the country throughout the day.

Immediately, there was so much traffic on the Benevolent website that our servers had trouble keeping up. Within 33 minutes, 35 contributions came in, completing the funding needed for seven people. We filled all the needs that were posted, and people continued to reach out.

Since the 24^th, almost 200 new people have liked our Facebook page, over 90 signed up for our email mailing list, dozens posted to and liked messages on our Facebook wall and twitter feed, and several more sent us emails of encouragement, offers of help, ideas for expansion and contributions to fuel our work. Here’s one staggering (for us) number: on and after December 24^th, over 8,000 people – new people who had never heard of Benevolent before – visited our site.

What an amazing holiday gift. We’re thrilled to have helped so many people this year, and to have added so many members to the growing Benevolent community all in one day was breathtaking. We’re so pleased you’re all here.

There’s a flip side to this story, though. By the end of Christmas day, over 100 people had reached out directly to Benevolent asking for help. Homeless families, people with medical needs and debts too deep to tackle, seniors living without heat, students unable to continue their studies because of tuition burdens, and more.

So many stories of people sidelined by illness and injury, so many stymied in their efforts to reach sustainability for themselves and their families. They came in all at once and they’re still coming – like a flood, really. Each story tests my social worker mettle - my ability to continue to move forward and help, even when the stories and situations before me are painful and overwhelming.

In the middle of the flood of needs, on Christmas day, I took a breath and took a moment to focus on and read the outpouring from people wanting to help others in their communities, people eagerly awaiting new stories and new needs we’d put up on the site after the holidays, people asking how they could help bring Benevolent into their communities. I realized at that moment that this was it, this was the original idea I had woken with on February 13^th, 2011 – not even two years ago – the certainty that there was a match to be made between those facing one-time challenges with those who want to help.

I believed that if we made it possible for low-income adults to tell their stories of striving and to invite others into their success, then we, their neighbors, would step up to the challenge, eager to know who we’re helping and how we’re helping; that the way we give can transform someone’s life at a critical moment.

I believed in you, and you came through. Thank you for that. Thank you for believing in people who need our help to reach their goals. Thank you for sharing your stories and your personal experiences with us. Thank you for proving in Benevolent s first year that this is a way we want to give and get help, and that the way we give really is transforming.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you. May this year prove to be one in which you get to be the person you want to be. May this be the year we bring light into one another’s lives and hearts.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

  Benevolent

  www.benevolent.net

Paying Forward for Dad this Father's Day

A Father’s Day Card for my Dad

Dad,

I stink at these holidays. I generally fail to send a card, so I wind up calling you on the phone late in the day. I’m a failure at holiday-invoked expressions of feeling. So this year, I’m taking a different tack and amplifying my Father’s Day message out into the public domain. You’ll either love it or be mortified.

Thank you. There is no way to effectively repay or adequately honor all that you’ve done for me over the course of time. From before I was born, you were planning for my security and my future. All my life  you’ve believed in me, supported my dreams, picked me up when I fell, stood up for me, run interference, and never flagged in your ardent belief in me. You haven’t always understood my choices or even the specifics of my career, but you’ve been in my corner, always.

I know I’m not the only one with a dad as great as you, but you’re mine and I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world. You’re the one I argue with most in the world and you’re the one whose opinion I value. We often disagree, coming at things from opposite sides of the equation and opposite sides of the brain. Let’s never stop that.

I know too well that not everyone has the benefit of a dad like you, so this Father’s Day, I’m going to honor you by paying forward the fierce belief you have in your children.  I’m going to help someone else who needs to know that someone’s in her corner and supporting her dreams. 

As a tribute to you, I’m going to contribute to help meet Jean’s need. I feel compelled to help Jean because as a single mom she’s striving to be a nurse, and what’s holding her back is so basic – she needs special contacts to manage her eye condition just so she can see to study. I was a medical mess when I was young – glasses, braces, a back brace for scoliosis – and you shelled out a bunch for all those things and never, never made me feel that  it was difficult or an imposition. Now that I’m a parent and paying for braces and sports and supplies, I see how difficult it really is.

So, this Father’s Day, your parenting extends beyond me, through me, and on to Jean. She can use some of your brand of belief and support right now, and we’ll help her together.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo, daughter of howard kashner

To pay it forward in honor of your Dad this Father's Day:

1) Contribute to any need on the Benevolent.net site 

2) Send us a quick email to dad@benevolent.net and let us know:

  - your dad's name, 

  - his email address (or snail mail address if you'd rather we send a card), and 

  - a note you'd like us to include to your Dad with the note he receives from us letting him know you've made a gift in his name. 

The Power of Women

Does this sound like your life or the life of a woman you know?

“I have to get my kids to school at different times. On Wednesdays my daughter does basketball in a whole other building, and my son does Boy Scouts way up North.”

This was shared by Jenny whose need is posted to the Benevolent site. In honor of Women’s History Month, this post is dedicated to the power of women to support, persevere, and thrive.

Jenny, her sister and her mother are forces to be reckoned with. They take care of one another, take each other in when necessary, and catch each other when they fall. All the while, keeping everyone around them focused on accomplishing goals and pursuing education.

All this sounds like a rosy picture. Until, that is, we hear the back-story. Jenny survived and stood up against abuse, ran from her abuser, was fired from a job one month before her due date, and found security and help from her sister when she needed it most.

Just facing the realities of everyday life and parenting is a Herculean task. When you add domestic violence and gender discrimination to the mix, it’s a challenge worthy of a superhero. This challenge, of course, is what millions of women around the world face every day. Jenny is one and in my mind’s eye, she is, indeed, a superhero -- deflecting danger and zooming around any obstacle that clutters her path.

These dangers – domestic violence, assault, discrimination, and more – still so seemingly commonplace in our country-- are at the core of this story. Jenny is so much like so many other women – women who survive and persevere, women who take care of everyone around them, rising up from whatever knocks them down. At a time when a woman’s position in politics and public discourse is at a low point, we cannot avoid this all-too-apparent truth – that women’s circumstances continue to be marked by gender-related challenges and obstacles.

As Jenny’s story continues to unfold, we find that it is now Jenny’s sister who needs help. Jenny’s sister has cancer and is on dialysis; Jenny provides transportation to her chemo appointments, dialysis, and work. On top of all that, Jenny is single-handedly raising her kids and preparing to go back to school. I find myself becoming exhausted simply by reading about Jenny’s life and challenges.

”I bring the kids to school, I go to work, I take my sister to work and to her doctor’s appointments and her dialysis appointments, and I will be starting school…”

Jenny is asking for help getting her car repaired so she can continue to drive, get everyone where they need to go and keep them all on track.

I’ve got two kids and they’re active and involved, like Jenny’s. It’s hard for me to fathom how I would ever accomplish what Jenny does each day were I not able to use my car. Helping this superhero woman, who has overcome so much, get her car fixed will mean the difference between whether she and her loved ones can continue to pursue their life goals, or whether they will face an impasse.

There are so many Jennys out there – running from dawn until late into the night, keeping themselves and their family members on track, repelling abuse and assault when it pops into their lives. During this year’s Women’s History Month, I’ll be paying homage to them, feeling grateful for the progress we’ve made for women in this country and around the world, and daunted by what we have yet to achieve.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

The Seasonal University

Lauren’s glasses were stolen three years ago and she’s gone without ever since. Lauren had multi-vision lenses - like I just got - and I can tell you, I don’t know how she’s functioning without them. She tells us she can’t drive or read to her kids without glasses and asks for our help in replacing them.

What strikes me about Lauren’s story, in addition to her important need, is a small statement in her narrative. She tells us “I work at a university in food service. It’s seasonal work, but consistent. I am laid off now for the holidays but will start working again when the next term starts.”

Read that again – Lauren tells us that her work in food service for a university is “seasonal” and that she’s “laid off” for the holidays.

I’ve got friends who work for universities - some as professors, some in facilities management, and others in administration. None of them would consider their work to be “seasonal” and none of them is ever laid off over the holidays or summer break. It’s not the way a university would retain its faculty, staff, and maintenance professionals.

Yet the university for which Lauren works – or the food service contractor they employ - treats her as disposable, laying her off when they don’t need her and rehiring her on their terms. Lauren tells us that the work is “consistent,” which I can only take to mean that she knows her job will be there when the winter or summer break is over. This means that her employer knows she’ll be there, even though they’ve done nothing to earn her loyalty.

There are many who would look at Lauren’s case and wonder why she hasn’t got health insurance or hasn’t saved up for the glasses she needs. Some might think she’s not a good financial planner in managing her resources. I would say that the university and its food service contractor are doing a poor job in managing their resources. If they deal with employees as disposable units, providing neither job security, benefits, nor health insurance, then they’re creating many of the problems we see across the social sector.

Let me be clear, I realize that there are, indeed, fields in which contract labor and seasonal employment make a world of sense. I can find no explanation for why food service workers, whose labor is needed whenever school is in session, should be treated as contract workers and actually laid off over winter break. It’s not as if the university or food service company are unsure whether or not there will be a need for food service come January. The students are coming back and they’ll need to eat – every January, every year.

Our city’s subsidized housing resources, social service resources, and now private donor dollars will go to help Lauren – and I hope they, and we, will help her. But why is the help necessary? Because Lauren is being treated as a food service device rather than as a member of the community of workers, teachers, and administration that makes her university hum.

It’s easy to fault low-income adults for decisions we perceive they may have made. In Lauren’s case, the fault for her inability to access the health resources she needs for her vision care lies not with her, but with the system that employs her as disposable and keeps her in limbo between employed and not.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo