Our Story:
Kate
Zajac was inspired to start The Little Engine That Could at the age of
23 when her childhood friend's last suicide attempt, of many made during
the course of their ten-year relationship, was unfortunately
successful. Kate's friend spent much of her short life in inpatient
pediatric mental health units. She often found these places lacking in
appropriately stimulating things to pass the time between therapy
sessions. This was particularly irksome to Kate because she had been
hospitalized herself for physical issues due to her Cerebral Palsy in
one of the medical centers in question . Kate knew that the other
pediatric units boasted well-stocked and comfortable playrooms with toys
for play, art, and music therapy.. Kate was often angry when she
thought of her friend dealing with the agonies of severe depression, and
later bipolar disorder, without the oasis of a playroom. When Kate's
friend died Kate vowed that she would create the opportunities for
recreational therapy for hospitalized mentally ill children that her
friend had never had and always yearned for.
For a
variety of personal reasons, chief among them being her own grief over
her friend's untimely passing, the idea was shelved for four years until
Kate came across Clarity Child Guidance Center as a case study in a
book about how to write effective fund raising materials that she was
reading for her job at another non-profit. Intrigued, Kate contacted the
Clarity Child Guidance Center and The Little Engine That Could was
reborn. For a list of donations we have made to Clarity Child Guidance
Center and other hospitals to date please visit the Testimonials page.
For more information about where your
donation goes, (and no it will not get sucked down a black hole), please
read the blog post "Money ,Money, Money....Mon-ey."
Kate has 18 years of experience working for not-for-profits, starting during a 2 year stint as a Washtenaw County United Way poster child from 1992-1994.She has also worked with: Great Commission Air, PAWS
With a Cause, The American Cancer Society, The Association for African
Charities, Plan U.S.A and the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.
Thomas Edison on serving others
The key to becoming successful is to figure out what others need, then fulfilling that need incredibly well.
“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in
terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world
needs, then I proceed to invent.” – Thomas Edison
If you spend some time thinking about all of the innovations that
mankind has seen over its history, almost all of them directly resulted
from someone identifying a need or a strong desire and figuring out a
way to fulfill it. It’s all about serving others.
Thank you Trent Hamm and Thomas Alva Edison! Here's more wisdom about community service from Trent.
Every single time I engage in some form of community service, I feel
extremely happy about what I’ve done. I feel like I’ve caused some sort
of positive change in my community and made someone else’s life better.
The problem is that it’s incredibly easy for me to put aside some of
the things I could do related to community service and instead do other
things. I could head over to the food pantry… or I could make chop all
of the vegetables for a great ratatouille. I could pack up the children
and help remove snow for elderly people… or I could go inside, make
some hot chocolate, and watch The Incredibles with my kids.
Although the “right” choice here is very fulfilling, it’s often hard to do in the face of temptation.
This year, I’m simply striving to make the “right” choice more of a routine.
?
What I’m essentially committing to is about four hours per week – on
average – of such volunteer work, with a couple weeks for travel and the
like.
I’ll be keeping track of this time in a spreadsheet, just so that I
know I’m keeping pace with this goal. If our winter turns snowy, it’s
likely that I’ll get significantly ahead earlier in the year. This does
provide some breathing room for periods in the summer when there are
reduced opportunities and different time constraints.
Why do this? Volunteer work makes a better community, and a better
community makes a better life for those who live in it. It also leaves
me feeling better about myself every time I do it. That’s reason enough for me.
As the founder of a small charity I applaud Trent. If I had just ONE person in the Ann Arbor area make this commitment to me, depending on their skill set, here are some things I would like to see happen: the website and blog would get updated more frequently, we could coordinate one more major fundraiser or I could depend on someone to assemble and deliver all care packages. All of this would help out immeasurably.I may not NEED you for four hours every week, but just knowing you were willing to make a steady commitment would mean a lot.
Words of Wisdom From My Facebook Feed, thanks Molly and Meghan!
blah,
blah, blah... insert some junk about how awesome/sad/crazy 2011 was and
how 2012 is going to be so much better. Who cares! I'm not pinning my
hopes on a regular day because I'll now be writing .../12 instead of
.../11. "You must be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma
Gandhi
This feeling is what I wish for our kids....
I
was born to catch dragons in their dens and pick flowers. To tell tales
and laugh away the morning. To drift and dream like a lazy stream and
walk barefoot across sunshine days. [James Kavanaugh.
Save The Date!
March 6th , 2012!
5-8 P.M.
Big Boy Restaurant
497 N. Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor MI
10% of your bill is donated to The Little Engine That Could, no voucher necessary!+ raffle tickets for $1.00 each! Prizes include:
King Kandy Basket from Morgan & York Fine Foods.
O.P.I. Nail Polish Gift Sets.
Big Boy Cream pies.
Chocolates from Great Lakes Chocolate and Coffee.
Champagne Flutes and Sparkling Juice Gift Set.
and the surprise grand prizes...... valued at over $50.00 each.
Articles of Interest:
With many insurance companies only paying for 55% of psychiatric care, be sure these mistakes don't add to your medical bills.Thanks to Amanda Buchanen of The Motley Fool.
1 Double Billing
This is most likely an innocent mistake, hospitals are big entities and it's not uncommon for two departments to bill for the same thing inadvertently. Just because these mistakes are innocent DON'T make them less costly for you, so double check your bill.
2 Bills for services you never used or received.
Once again this is usually just a faux pas and relatively minor, such as being charged for a dose of medication the patient never actually got. If you can, designate a responsible adult to make sure you are only billed for services rendered. This is easier to do for short term or outpatient medical experiences than longer inpatient ones, but even one error prevented could save you serious money.
3 Up coding and up selling.
You're diagnosed and treated with the flu, yet billed for bronchitis. Google search the codes on your bill to be sure they're correct.
4 Excessive fees.
OK, you're not a medical professional, but the hospital seems to be grossly overcharging you. Ask them why, and come armed with statistics from the physician fee schedule search tool from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services website to compare the average cost of similar procedures nationwide. Remember, the worst possible consequence that comes from challenging your bill is that you're still responsible for the current charges. If your arguments are denied you're at least no worse off than you were when you received the bill.
5 Out of network doctors
Yes, your hospital may be in your insurance network, but doctors are often independent contractors, not employees of said hospital. So it's very possible you could be treated by a physician outside of your insurance network, and unless you ask specifically you may not know until you get your bill. Once again designate a responsible adult to ask these questions,preferably in advance of your or your child's hospital experience.
I found the article directly below while surfing the web. It was so beautiful that I HAD to re-post it. We need to remember the power of tears, and teach our kids,(or maybe just let them STAY connected with it), about it as they grow older and more self conscious. I used to be able to cry freely, and it would make me feel better. Now I can't cry like that. While I certainly understand that the people involved in teaching me how not to cry hard with fluids running out of orifices in public, both directly and simply by negative reinforcement, were trying to make me more socially acceptable, it resulted in a loss.
I can still cry sometimes, but it's much more restrained, and I usually feel guilty after doing it. I wish I could cry like I used to be able to when I was younger, at least in the privacy of my room. I think it would help me. I wonder how many people of all ages have ended up hospitalized on psychiatric units just because they learned how not to cry too well. Without further ado I present Mark Robbins's article The Power of Tears.
Kate
Mark Robbins:
Something extraordinary happened at Candlestick Park in San Francisco
two Saturdays ago, Jan. 14. Sure, it was an amazing ending to an NFL
playoff game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints
(which the Niners won in dramatic fashion, making all of us fans here in
the Bay Area very happy); but the monumental win wasn't what made it so
remarkable to me.
As Vernon Davis, the tight end for the Niners who caught the
game-winning touchdown, came running off the field, tears were streaming
down his face. He came to the sidelines and was embraced by his head
coach, Jim Harbaugh, in a huge bear hug. Coach Harbaugh hugged him for
quite a while and spoke into his ear in what I can only imagine was an
expression of authentic appreciation and celebration. It was a
beautiful and moving moment that transcended football and even sports --
it was about courageous triumph, raw human emotion and vulnerable self
expression.Of course, I loved it -- not just because I'm a huge sports fan and
like to see my hometown teams win (especially after many years of not
winning, in the Niners' case), but because it highlighted something very
important... the power of tears!
I also loved it because you don't
usually see a big, strong football player like Vernon Davis break down
and cry in the arms of his coach in front of 70,000 fans in the stadium
and millions of people watching on TV. But he did, and it was a
powerful scene and an important reminder of what it means to be human.
One of the many things tears can do is remind us of our humanness,
our vulnerability, our connection to one another and to things much
bigger than the specific circumstances we are facing. We cry for
different reasons and based on different emotions. Sometimes we shed
tears of pain, sorrow, loss, sadness, anger, frustration or grief.
Other times, tears show up because of love, joy, inspiration, hope or
kindness. Regardless of the underlying emotions and even when the
reason for our tears is painful, crying often makes us feel better and
is one of the most authentic expressions of emotion we experience as
human beings.
Current
research shows that 88.8 percent of people feel better after crying, with only 8.4 percent feeling worse.
However, many of us have a great deal of fear, resistance and
judgment about tears -- both ours and those of other people. While this
tends to vary based on our age, culture, gender and the environment in
which we find ourselves, I'm amazed at how often crying is seen in such a
negative way in our culture, even today.
I'm someone who loves to cry myself, although as a man I was trained
early in my life, like most of the men I know, that "boys don't cry."
Based on this and a variety of other factors, I sometimes find it
challenging to access and express my own tears. Although when they do
show up and I let them flow, they often flow passionately. (I scared the
guy sitting next to me on an airplane a few months ago when I was
sobbing intensely while watching the wonderful movie The Help.)
As I look back at some of the most important, pivotal and
transformational moments of my life, both ones I considered to be "good"
and ones I considered to be "bad" at the time, tears were a part of
just about all of those experiences. How do you feel about shedding tears yourself? Is it easy for you to
cry? Is it hard? Are you comfortable crying in front of others? Do
you judge yourself or others for doing so? I think it's interesting and
important for us to ask ourselves these questions and notice our
relationship to tears.
While I'm not advocating that we go around crying all the time just
for the sake of it. Excessive crying can sometimes point to a more
serious underlying emotional issue and/or can be done as a way to
manipulate others. I'm not talking about that either. I'm talking
about our ability to express our emotions in a real and vulnerable way,
some of the time resulting in the shedding of our tears. What if we
embraced crying a bit more and let go of our negative connotations about
doing so? As Charles Dickens beautifully said, "We need never be
ashamed of our tears."
Even though we may resist, fear, and avoid crying -- at work, with
friends or family, with members of the opposite sex, with our children
or with anyone else, we worry it wouldn't be "appropriate" to cry in
front of, there are some real positive benefits to shedding tears. Such
as:
1) Crying is good for our physical and emotional health -- Medical research now
suggests
that tears could actually be a way of flushing negative chemicals out
of the body and doing us a world of good physically. In addition to
removing toxic substances from our body, crying can also have the
psychological benefit of lifting our mood and helping us to deal with
painful situations.
2) Shedding tears reduces stress -- Crying is thought to
help reduce
stress, which can have a damaging effect on our health and has been
linked to a number of health problems including heart disease, high
blood pressure, Type-2 diabetes and obesity. According to a
study
by Dr. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the St Paul-Ramsey Medical
Center in Minnesota, crying can help to wash chemicals linked to stress
out of our body, one of the reasons we feel much better after a good
cry.
3) When we cry we open up, let down our guard, and connect with others in a more real and vulnerable way
-- Many times in my own personal life and with many of the clients I've
worked with over the years (both individuals and groups), I've seen
tears dramatically shift a person's perspective, change the dynamic of
an argument and bring people together in a genuine way. Tears have a way
of breaking down emotional walls and mental barriers we put up within
ourselves and towards others. Crying tends to be some kind of human
equalizer, because no matter the circumstance, situation, or stress we
may face, our tears have a way of shifting and altering things in a
beautiful, vulnerable and humbling way.
There's nothing wrong with our tears, even if we get a little
embarrassed, uncomfortable or even pained when they show up. As we allow
them to flow through us, we not only release toxins from our body,
stress from our system, and thoughts from our mind -- we tap into one of
the most basic and unifying experiences of being human. Crying is
powerful and important -- let's have the courage to do it with pride and
support each other in the healthy expression of our tears.
Thanks for visiting!
We hope you can find everything you need. The Little Engine That Could will do everything we can to meet your expectations as a potential member of our organization, be that as a donor, volunteer or potential client.Look around our website and if you have any comments, questions, or other feedback please feel free to contact us at this number:
734-355-7249
or this emal
katezajac@thelittleenginethatcould.org
We hope to see you again! Check back later for new updates to our website. There's much more to come!
