Today we travel back to Arkansas, where last year we learned about Lucie’s Place. I reconnected with Executive Director Penelope Poppers in the last few weeks, who was in the midst of opening the organization’s second space. Congratulations to Penelope and the entire team and thanks for taking a few minutes to catch us up! Please read on below and join me in making a donation today.
What was your organization’s biggest win(s) in 2017?
Opening our second home! We purchased the home last week and should have it open by mid January! Between now and then, we’ll be hiring RAs and filling the home with appliances, furniture and love! We also hired our second staff position! Zach is the Program Director and is responsible for the day to day programming that we offer members, residents, etc.
What has been your organization’s biggest challenge(s) in 2017?
Capacity. We always need more staff and time in the day. Even with our second staff person, we both still find ourselves pressed to find more time in the day.
Please share a story about one individual in Arkansas who has truly made an impact this year who you’d like the rest of the world to know about.
We can’t share any personal information about members, so I won’t use one of them (though they are all making huge impacts in our community!). This isn’t a person, but I would say the Arkansas Times has made such a huge impact for us. Other media outlets either don’t share our info, or change things of our story in odd ways. Arkansas Times is ALWAYS excited to talk about us, not only in the paper, but also on their blog. They regularly mention us on huge days of giving (Arkansas Gives, Giving Tuesday, etc.), even though Arkansas has hundreds (thousands?) of non-profits.
Advent Activism 