A Letter from our founder on our 5th birthday
Many of you know, but others may not, that I am a social worker who previously worked with kids in foster care right here in the communities we serve (you can read more about how we got started here). In 2015, I found myself in a position that I never imagined, nor planned for. With over 10 years experience working in a system I was super passionate about, I begrudgingly made the decision to change my title from social worker to ‘stay at home mom’. Although I am now so grateful that this happened, stay at home mom was not a title I necessarily wanted and it was in large part because of how passionate I was about the work that I did.
When I started this little nonprofit, it really was just to meet a simple need of making sure kids in foster care were celebrated on their birthdays. In those early days, I truly questioned if other people would really jump on board to help. So many days as a social worker in the trenches, I would be resentful that the average person ‘didn’t get it’. They didn’t see, or feel, the heartbreaking reality kids literally right next door were facing. No one was running in to help or support and it was incredibly frustrating and disheartening. And yet that has been the biggest joy as this little nonprofit has evolved and taken on a life of its own over the past 5 years. If you are a follower of our social media pages, you know that as soon as we post a need it is immediately met and even then people are still asking ‘how else can we help?’. I simply can not tell you how absolutely incredible it has been to have both friends and strangers as part of this village that show up to help any time there is a need without hesitation or question.
2020 has been a year for the history books for just about everyone on our planet. In more ways than one, Worthdays has had pretty significant “bumps in the road” in 2020. At one particularly difficult bump early in 2020, I emailed our attorney (who needs a whole shout out of his own because he has been with us from the very beginning and still helps so much to this day!) and said ‘this makes me feel so incredibly defeated and sad’. And mid-year, we were approached about a merger with a multi-million dollar non-profit that eventually failed after investing lots of time and emotional energy (trust that it is a blessing that we decided to halt the process - we hold ourselves to a very high ethical standard. We will be better for it in the end but it was hard in the moment).
And yet, just like the messages we try and send to the kids we serve to never give up, this year has ended on high notes we could have never imagined given the bumps in the road earlier this year. Because if we’re being honest, it’s never been our intention to be a huge, bustling nonprofit filled with people dressed to the nines talking to big time donors at fancy dinners. The business side, the expectations of everything you’re supposed to be and do as a nonprofit leader and the behind the scenes work seem daunting to us at times. The social worker in me is always more likely to throw on some jeans and ‘do the work’ than focus on a marketing strategy, a strategic business plan or our branding.
For Giving Tuesday 2020, I would be lying if I said we spent months on fundraising strategies with an identified fundraising goal for the day (much to the dismay of my husband who happens to be a fundraiser for his day job!). Fundraising seems daunting to me because I often feel like I already ask and ask and ask, not to mention Giving Tuesday falls just after our village has already given so much for the holidays. And yet you guys dreamed big and kept giving and giving and giving. You all gave so much that when a goal of $10,000 seemed possible, we stated that goal and ended up exceeding it. We ended the night raising over $12,000; a feat we never would have thought possible. For some large nonprofits, this is minuscule, yet for us it is monumental! We feel most blessed that over 150 people believe and trust in our mission enough to give on one day out of the year! Plus, we did it without any development staff, no social media experts or sponsored (paid for) ads. And to round the year off, we received our single largest donation from an individual donor in our 5 year history! There were no gigantic checks or fanfare, instead an incredibly generous community member who believes in what we do, wants to make a difference and quietly handed over a $10,000 check in the parking lot of an auto body shop (in case you haven’t figured it out yet, we enjoy being unconventional!).
When I reflect on the fact that 5 years ago I was worried if others would really believe in the cause and yet today we have created an unconventional village of strangers who believe fiercely in meeting the needs of kids in care, I am truly amazed. The high notes just the end of this year alone have brought have been amazing. Someone recently sent our information to world renowned author, Elin Hildebrand, who asked for nonprofits doing good work that she could donate to. Not only did she make a donation to our organization but it led to a conversation with her that struck me. She used the word ‘extraordinary’ as we chatted about some of the needs we have met recently or may have in the future. And it hit me that what we have created over the last five years IS extraordinary. And it’s not extraordinary because I believed it to be, because if I’m being honest I’ve doubted at times if Worthdays could really be on the same level as other nonprofits, it’s extraordinary because of every single person that collectively makes Worthdays what we truly are today. And when she used that word, it made me realize that I, too, need to start believing in extraordinary things for this little organization. I’ve always fiercely believed in the kids we serve and have been so laser focused on them that sometimes have lost sight of what we are truly capable of as an organization.
5 years ago, this little idea to help meet an unmet need in our community while I was a ‘stay at home mom’ is now so much more. As I’ve said, it was never my intention nor did I dream we would be what we are today and here we are in the middle of a global pandemic celebrating our 5th birthday having accomplished so much. So many of you have made this your passion, too, and I can not be more grateful. Together, as a village, we have quietly sown so many seeds of reminders of worth in the form of birthdays being celebrated, needs being met, kids being remembered on holidays, awareness being created and even waiting kids being placed for adoption in the home of people who simply started by creating a birthday box.
I am planning for and believing extraordinary things for the next 5 years. Extraordinary may come in the form of being able to say yes more often when agencies across our state (and even beyond) reach out to inquire about whether we can help serve their kids. Or maybe extraordinary will allow implementation of additional, and much needed programs, for kids in our community who are yearning for a person (it’s not about the actual place) to call home. Extraordinary could be creating a grander network of support allowing needs of kids in care to be met. And so different than when we started 5 years ago, I now know, without a doubt, that whatever extraordinary will mean for us, there is a whole village behind us.
With immense gratitude,
Caroline Neal
Founder + Executive Director