Importance of Mission Driven Work

What does it really mean to be a mission driven non-profit?  Certainly it means to embrace a social cause and be essentially purpose driven to address this social cause.  It is important that we are able to integrate the cause into our mission and our values and establish core business practices to we can have an authentic social impact and accomplish our mission. 

As a non-profit, we agree with Steven Van Yoder.  He states that a mission-driven non-profit cannot succeed on the passion of the Board and a few volunteers.  He goes on to say that a mission-driven organization needs the commitment of others to support the economic engine required to accomplish its goals.  He then indicates that the mission must be supported by core values and beliefs.  He also stated that the organization must be absolutely committed to the cause and the work to be done to fulfill the cause. 

At Entrusted Legacy we think that afterschool programs are a vital part of the solution for reinvigorating learning in our K-12 system.  We are committed to supporting the adults who work with youth by providing the training and staff development needed by these youth workers to successfully role model and mentor these youth. 

If you find our mission compelling, we ask you to entrust your legacy with us and help us to make a difference in the lives of youth and youth leaders.  There is an old adage that states, “Many hands make hard work light” and we believe that our mission can be accomplished if we work together.  Please fo to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and invest in the future of our youth.  

Margaret Mead Had It Right!

Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist who was often a speaker in the 1960s and 1970s.  She understood this country and its citizens and what made us great.  She understood that while we prided ourselves on being rugged individualists that we achieved our best results when we worked together.  Much like the rowing team in the Olympics, a team that works together for a common cause in a steady cadence is likely to win the race.  Mead put it this way, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." 

So what does this have to do with Entrusted Legacy?  Everything!  We have access to a professional development system that can train, teach, and support afterschool staff 24/7.  Our goals are huge!  Through this service we will:

• Serve 100 Million Youth and 20 Million Adults by 2023.
• Prepare youth workers to instruct, support, encourage, motivate, and develop youth by being positive role models and mentors.
• Engage everyone in helping us to level the playing field for youth.
• Uncover an individual's talents, skills, passions, and interests; preparing them to make his/her unique contribution to the world.

If we work together, each of us reinforcing the work of the other, we can meet these goals.  Please join us by logging into www.entrustedlegacy.org and investing in our goals and your legacy.  Together we can make this happen!

Building Resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity.  It is what helps us get up and keep going.  It is discovered by being persistent and remembering that you must never give up.  Persistence has also been identified as “stick-to-it-iveness”, “grit”, determination, resolve and tenacity.  No matter what you call it, it is an essential ingredient in building the resilience needed to keep on keeping on, especially when things aren’t going well.  There is an expression, “from adversity, steel” which helps us to realize that adversity is not unusual nor is it a deal breaker.  Adversity is to be expected and the way to overcome it is through persistence.  And when you make it to the other side of the adversity, you will be resilient and that much better prepared to handle the next challenge that comes your way. 

Resilience is also essential if Entrusted Legacy is going to reach its goals.  When we set our goals and declared them to the world we were also inviting the support of all who can hear us whether verbally or through writing.  We asked them and now you to join forces with us to ensure that our mission-driven cause could be accomplished. 

At Entrusted Legacy we made the commitment to ensure that no youth would “fall through the cracks” because he/she did not have a well-trained and positive role model and mentor to help and support them find the road to resiliency through perseverance.

We still need help from everyone to reach our goals.  Please join with us to make a difference in the world.  Go to our website and invest in this cause.  You can find Entrusted Legacy at www.entrustedlegacy.org  We need you.  Entrust your legacy with us.

Recipe for a Productive New Year

Entrusted Legacy is a non-profit committed to making a difference in the lives of youth through the role models and mentors that work closely with them.  Entrusted legacy began in our hearts years ago.  There was a time when we were satisfied to make a difference with the youth that we actually worked with ourselves.  As educators this was between 25 and 35 youth each year, and we were pleased.  And then we “advanced” and we realized as an educator with administrative responsibilities we could reach even more youth—say 700-800 hundred a year, and this thrilled us.  Then, we realized that through the power of the internet it would be possible to harness the commitment of millions to change the lives of one-hundred million youth and the twenty million adults who work with them, and Entrusted Legacy was born. 

Here is the recipe to make this dream a reality:

Ingredients:

·         One vehicle to provide laser focus (the Entrusted Legacy organization and website)

·         Many caring adults who will commit to sponsoring the training of role models and mentors (YOU)

·         A small monthly financial commitment from each of those adults (Price of a single latte)

Directions:

Mix well and share with afterschool professionals to ensure they are well-trained to be the positive role model and mentor they desire to be and youth deserve.

Help us to help youth!  Entrust your legacy with us.  Make a difference in the lives of youth everywhere.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and simply click on the “Donate” button and sign up to support this cause.  Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Investing in the Future

Have you viewed the YouTube Video, Did You Know?  It was updated for 2012 and can be watched at :

  

Did You Know 3.0 (Officially updated for 2012) HD

In this video it asks questions beginning with, “Did you know”.  Here are some of the questions:

• China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the world?
• 25% of India’s brightest and best youth is a number larger than all the youth in the United States?
• ½ of what is learned in college by Freshman will be outdated by the time the young adult is a Junior?
• We are preparing youth for jobs that don’t exist which will solve problems we don’t even know about with technologies that haven’t yet been invented?
• There were 31,000,000,000 searches on Google last year?
• There are 5 times the number of words in English today than there were when Shakespeare was writing?
• In one newspaper issue today the reader gets more information that he/she would have had in a lifetime in the 1800’s?

The video ends with the question—So, what does it all mean?

For us at Entrusted Legacy it means that we need to be sure our youth have the positive role models and mentors they need to be able to develop the grit and resiliency needed to meet these challenges.  Entrusted Legacy has partnered with Consult 4 Kids to provide a comprehensive staff development program tailored for their needs.  Learn more about us by visiting our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and trust your legacy with us. 

Building Capacity

Building capacity is an approach to development that “focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results.”  "BUILDING CAPACITY"  Capacity building is not just about today it is also about the future.  Building capacity empowers people to reach their potential.  Building capacity impacts the lives of individuals, and also impacts families and communities as well.

Each of us has possibilities within us that are not yet recognized.  As we grow and learn we strengthen our capacity to “become”.  To help youth unleash the power within them, it is essential that they have a positive role model and mentor to help guide the way.  A role model is someone to emulate, a person to guide you on your way as you learn how to navigate the world.

 

We know that grit and resiliency are results of having a positive role model and mentor.  At Entrusted Legacy we are championing the people who work with other people’s children in out-of-school time programs.  While everyone can’t be the person who works with youth, everyone can support those who work with youth.  Entrust Your Legacy with us as we support the development of role models and mentors.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and invest today.

Hand Up, Not a Hand Out

There are a number of different “Hand Up Not A Hand Out” programs that you can subscribe to.  The Downtown Sacramento project is focused on reducing panhandling in downtown Sacramento by encouraging compassionate folks to donate to a trusted provider who will support the hungry and the homeless.  The Stand Down Program in San Diego works with homeless veterans which focuses on giving veterans a safe haven until they can reconnect with the world.  The federal Lifeline program is there to help families stay in touch, especially in these challenging economic times.  All of these programs are filling existing needs.  They are intervening in the lives of people who need support and a hand-up.

Entrusted Legacy takes a look at this challenge from a different vantage point:  prevention rather than intervening once something has gone awry.  Entrusted Legacy is interested in proactively supporting the development of role models and mentors so youth can make the connections needed to build resiliency and grit.  The work being done around the importance of non-cognitive skills (Paul Tough—How Children Succeed) confirms our belief that these two essentials supports the full development of young people and that the best place to develop those non-cognitive skills is with a caring role model and mentor.  

Entrusted Legacy has partnered with Consult 4 Kids to provide a comprehensive staff development program tailored for their needs.  Entrust Your Legacy with us.  Invest today in the future of all of our children and youth.  Find out more about Entrusted Legacy on our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org   Help us to support those who work with other people’s children every day be an outstanding role model or mentor.  

Bringing Will to the Table

A recent article was posted that shared a young man’s perspective that formal education had not served him well—in fact he didn’t believe that he had learned anything important at school.  He spoke about the influences outside of the school system and how he had capitalized on opportunities to learn on his own. 

This article brings two things to my mind.  One is a question for the young man and the second a question for the system.  For the young man I would ask, “What about the system kept you from bringing the “will to learn” to the table when it is clear that you weren’t “anti-learning” as you engaged in learning in out-of-school spaces?  An easy response is that the classes didn’t seem relevant (although he did attend school for quite a while), but I also wonder about the connections he did or did not make with the adults at the school.  We know how important relationships with a positive role model and mentor are for youth.  What relationships were in place during his school experience?  Finally, were the classes more than irrelevant?  Were they also lacking rigor or so challenging that this young man could not feel successful?  More questions than answers, but I am curious.  Certainly bringing “will” to the table is essential, but when that “will” is spent in other learning activities, the question becomes, why not here at school?

For the school system I would ask what efforts were made to build the non-cognitive skills (those that we know are predictors of success beyond academic achievement)?  Is there anything being done to consider all aspects of a young person—social, emotional, physical, as well as cognitive?  Did anyone get to know this young man and his hopes and dreams?  Did the 3 R’s—relationships, relevance, and rigor come into play?

Out-of-school time can offer the 3 R’s through staff that are positive role models for mentors and youth.  This is an essential ingredient to success.  To ensure that out-of-school time staff members are prepared for this essential role, Entrusted Legacy has partnered with Consult 4 Kids to provide a comprehensive staff development program tailored for their needs.  Join with us as we work to share this system with all out-of-school time providers.  Entrust your Legacy with us.  Make an investment in the future by going to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and clicking on the “donate” tab.

Changing the Learning Experience for Youth

What sort of experience do we want youth to have in our afterschool and other out-or-school time programs?  The Learning in Afterschool and Summer Principles capture this clearly—learning that is active, collaborative, meaningful, develops skills and broadens horizons.  Experiences for youth that embody these principles are key to closing the opportunity gap and creating citizens of the world.

The challenge is this—to be able to ensure that those experiences are provided, out-of-school time staff must be well prepared to be positive role models and mentors and understand the dynamics of working with youth.  Staff must be professional, focused on safety, understand how to manage the many different environments of out-of-school time while supporting positive behavior choices and implementing a fair and consistent discipline system.  These leaders must also understand holistic instruction how to manage transitions and debriefing the learning, and internalize the difference between direct and tell and questioning to connection. 

Entrusted Legacy is partnering with Consult 4 Kids to provide access to web-based training that is written, audio, video, and complete with a tracking system.  Help us to reach all of the out-of-school time professionals by investing in the future.  Go to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and join with others to make a difference and leave a legacy.

Leaving a Legacy—Why Is That Important?

When you are young one of the last things you are thinking about is leaving a legacy.  Your focus is on the here and now—the living you are trying to make and the lifestyle you are eager to create.  What if there was a way to also create a legacy that you probably wouldn’t even notice?  There is!  Did you know that if you began investing a dollar a day when you are 21, you will have every opportunity to give over $20,000 to support a cause and something you believe in during your lifetime?  And when your investment combines with the investments of others, the power of working together makes a difference.

Entrusted Legacy gives you a way to make a difference in the lives of youth by seeing to it that the adults who work with them are well prepared to be a positive role model and mentor.  Every investment of $60 has the potential of reaching over 300 youth, and that is a conservative estimate of the ripples that are set in motion.  Begin building your legacy today.  Invest on our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org 

Win an iPad by Getting Involved with ETL's Winter Raffle

Each day, millions of children attend after-school programs. These are places that they can attend for help with homework, engage in enrichment activities, connect with friends and have a safe place to be until their parents get off of work.  After-school programs become a home away from home for many young people and their families. 

After-school programs are funded by state and federal programs, and there is only so much money to go around.  Entrusted Legacy, along with Consult4Kids, has made it our goal to ensure that the adults that so generously give their time work and volunteer in after-school have the training, materials and support necessary to be the best educators and role models they can be. 

We need your help!  Every year we hold the Competent Adults, Capable Kids Fundraiser!  This annual fundraiser is a win-win for everyone involved - A chance to win fabulous prizes and a help a worthy cause.  All raffle proceeds directly fund training and support for California after-school programs.  This year we are holding a fundraising event to accompany the raffle! Visit us on December 14 for food, fun and fundraising.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Purchase raffle tickets!  Enter for your chance to win prizes like… a trip to Cancun or a gift pack of signed children’s books, and more!
• Sell raffle tickets!  The top seller wins an iPad!
• Volunteer at the event!
• Share the Competent Adults, Capable Kids Fundraiser with your friends, family and co-workers!  For every person you refer to sell raffle tickets, you will receive $5 worth of tickets FREE!
• Invite your social media followers to Like and Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

 If you’d like even more information, please call us at 661.374.0717! 

Ticket Sales will begin on November 1st, 2013.

Sign Up Now:

The Importance of “A Little From A Lot”

There is an old adage that states, “Many hands make hard work light.”  This thought is absolutely correct.  It is very difficult to do things alone, to ensure that change occurs, to make sure that every t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted.  But when we work together, the load is easier to carry and the impact we make together is stronger and more intentional than when we work alone.

Entrusted Legacy combines your investments with the gifts of others to make a strategic difference in the lives of role models and mentors for youth.  When each person does just a little -- the cost of one cup of coffee each month, collecting change in a cup, or agreeing to an investment of one dollar a day, the results are exponential!  The best part about these small investments is that it doesn’t alter your lifestyle while it is building your legacy.

One of the beneficiaries of Entrusted Legacy support says, “The training I received was invaluable and I am often reminded of how lucky I was to have been able to be a part of it. I will continue to apply the valuable teachings to every aspect of my life."

Join with us to make a difference.  Trust your legacy with us.  Go to the Entrusted Legacy website at www.entrustedlegacy.org today and invest in the future!

Being a Role Model for a Group of Youth

A positive role model is someone who others look up to and admire.  A role model is someone that others want to emulate.  Simply through “being”, a role model is inspirational and motivational.  Others can see the possibilities of themselves in the role model.  A role model demonstrates self-confidence but is not overbearing and arrogant.  A role model is humble and grateful for the opportunities he/she has had. 

It is challenging enough to be a positive role model one on one, but for afterschool professionals, being a role model to a group of young people—maybe 15-20 of them, is not unheard of.  So what are some things that a positive role model can consider when working with a group of youth? 

Remember that there are always eyes and ears paying attention.  How you respond to youth when they are the least deserving will speak volumes to those who are watching.

Learn to take a few minutes each day to connect personally with each youth.  Whether this is during check in when you are initially greeting students for the day or as you make your rounds during homework, look each youth in the eye and ask a question that is relevant to that youth. 

Celebrate the successes of your youth.  Chart your praises so you can be sure to include everyone during the course of several weeks.

Walk your talk.  Nothing is as important that what you do rings true and authentic to the words you say.  Young people do research to see if adults say what they mean and mean what they say.  As a positive role model, you need to “pass this test”.  If you make a mistake, own it and apologize-- youth understand that no one is perfect!

Finally, share with youth the thinking you do when making decisions.  This will help them to understand that good choices aren’t necessarily easy for anyone plus they will begin to understand how to think critically.

Entrusted Legacy’s work is to provide the staff development that role models who work with groups of youth need to be successful.  Help us to help those who are changing the future.  Invest now!  Check out our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and contribute to our work.

Who Has Influenced You?

There is an exercise that helps you focus on yourself and who in your life has influenced you.  In this exercise you begin with a piece of paper folded into quadrants.  In the center of the quadrants you make a circle. 

1

Why Is Delayed Gratification Such An Important Trait?

We live in an instant world.  When you are talking with someone and a question is raised, before you know it they’ve whipped out a smart phone and are looking for the answer.  We have instant mashed potatoes, instant pudding, instant messaging, and instant credit.  A lot of work has been done around the importance of delayed gratification.  Below is an article that you might find interesting.

"The Power of Delaying Gratification"

“In 1970 psychologist Walter Mischel famously placed a cookie in front of a group of children and gave them a choice: they could eat the cookie immediately, or they could wait until he returned from a brief errand and then be rewarded with a second. If they didn’t wait, however, they’d be allowed to eat only the first one. Not surprisingly, once he left the room, many children ate the cookie almost immediately. A few, though, resisted eating the first cookie long enough to receive the second. Mischel termed these children high-delay children.

Interestingly, the children who were best able to delay gratification subsequently did better in school and had fewer behavioral problems than the children who could only resist eating the cookie for a few minutes—and, further, ended up on average with SAT scores that were 210 points higher. As adults, the high-delay children completed college at higher rates than the other children and then went on to earn higher incomes. In contrast, the children who had the most trouble delaying gratification had higher rates of incarceration as adults and were more likely to struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Which all suggests that the ability to delay gratification—that is, impulse control—may be one of the most important skills to learn to have a satisfying and successful life. The question is, how do we learn it?

The answer may lie in the strategies Mischel's high-delay children used. Rather than resist the urge to eat the cookie, these children distracted themselves from the urge itself. They played with toys in the room, sang songs to themselves, and looked everywhere but at the cookie. In short, they did everything they could to put the cookie out of their minds.

Taking his cue from these high-delay children, in a second study, Mischel placed two marshmallows side by side in front of a different group of children to whom he explained, as in the previous study, that eating the first before he returned to the room would mean they couldn’t eat the second. He then instructed one group of them to imagine when he stepped out of the room how much marshmallows are like clouds: round, white, and puffy. (He instructed a control group, in contrast, to imagine how sweet and chewy and soft they were.) A third group he instructed to visualize the crunchiness and saltiness of pretzels. Perhaps not surprisingly, the children who visualized the qualities of the marshmallows that were unrelated to eating them (that is, the way in which they were similar to clouds) waited almost three times longer than children who were instructed to visualize how delicious the marshmallows would taste. Most intriguing, however, was that picturing the pleasure of eating pretzels produced the longest delay in gratification of all. Apparently, imagining the pleasure they’d feel from indulging in an unavailable temptation distracted the children even more than cognitively restructuring the way they thought about the temptation before them.

In other words, one of the most effective ways to distract ourselves from a tempting pleasure we don't want to indulge is by focusing on another pleasure. So the next time you find yourself confronted with a temptation—whether a piece of cake, a drink of alcohol, or a psychoactive drug—don't employ willpower to resist it. Send your attention somewhere else by imagining a different pleasure not immediately available to you. For if you can successfully turn your attention elsewhere until the temptation is removed from your environment or you remove yourself from its environment, the odds that you'll give in to your impulse will decrease more than with almost any other intervention you can try.”

If you’d like to learn more about this topic, check out Dr. Alex Lickerman's book, The Undefeated Mind, which is available at Amazon.com.  You might be an interesting read.

Let us know what you think by contacting us at support@entrustedlegacy.org

Make A Difference

In the United States there is long history of philanthropy and giving.  There are so many ways that each of us can make a difference.  Whether we give of our talents, our time, our money, or our connections, we have the opportunity to change the world.  If you go back into the 1800s you can find the founding of the United Way.  In began in 1887 when a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers and a rabbi recognized the need for cooperative action to address their city’s welfare problems.  More than 125 years later, United Way is still focused on mobilizing the caring power of communities and making a difference in people’s lives.

This need to make a difference in the world has been captured often throughout our history and has inspired generations of America to be part of the solution.  In 1961 young people flocked to the Peace Corps and in 1990 Teach for America launched. In 2007 George Bush’s reference to Points of Light resulted in a non-profit foundation and in 2010, Entrusted Legacy was born.  What all these non-profits have in common is that they provide a platform for people to give back.

Learn about our story and the work that we do.  Please join with Entrusted Legacy and support our efforts to train and develop strong role models and mentors for the more than people who work with youth in afterschool and summer programs.  Check out our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org or by contacting us at support@entrustelegacy.org

Making A Difference

The story I am going to share with you is a true story, although I will not name the heroine of this story.  This is a story of the difference that can be made in the life of a person when a mentor and positive role model enters the picture.  The success in this story began about twelve years ago, but before I get to that part, I think you need a little context.  A beautiful young teenager was unhappy at home.  She discovered an “older” boyfriend who could take her away from the less than supportive environment.  Soon she was pregnant with her first child.  She kept going to high school but soon got pregnant for a second time.  By the age of 16 she had two children and by 17 she had added a third.  Through this all she stuck to her guns and was able to get a high school diploma.  This accomplishment speaks to her tenacity and will. 

She applied for an opportunity to participate in AmeriCorps, an organized program that allows people to give back to the community.  For this young woman it also gave her a breather, provided her with a small monthly stipend, medical insurance for herself and child care for her children.  She elected to serve for two years.  During that time she connected to a role model and mentor who believed in her.  And slowly over that two years, she began to believe in herself.  After she completed her years of service she was hired to work in an afterschool program and she realized that she could be a mentor for middle school girls in a way that others could not.  She worked with the girls, shared with them the challenges of being a teenage parent, and as she helped them believe that each of them could succeed, she began to believe it for herself as well.  All the time, her mentor stood by her and encouraged her. 

She used her AmeriCorps Education Award to get a college education.  She has successfully changed not only her own life but the life of her four children (she had one more after AmeriCorps), and she has reached hundreds of people with her story and by becoming a role model and mentor to others.

It is not difficult to imagine how this competent and compassionate young woman could have ended up a negative statistic had she not found a person who was willing to invest in her, to spend time with her, to support her, and to believe in her.  You have the opportunity to contribute and help Entrusted Legacy create more stories with this happy ending.  People who work with youth need to be trained and mentored so they too can pay it forward.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or check out our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org. 

“Do As I Say”?

Thanks to an article posted by Elyse Bruce on April 12, 2010 we have a history of the phrase,

“Do as I say, not as Ido.”  

  Here’s what she shares: 

“This is an admonitory phrase that has been used by parents the world over for generations and yet, very few people seem to know its origins.  In the Spectator on June 24, 1911, this advice was published:  “It has always been considered allowable to say to children, ‘Do as I say, rather than as I do.’”

This phrase, however, harkens back to several generations before 1911.  In John Selden’s book Table Talk which was published posthumously in 1689 (and written in 1654 just prior to his death), he wrote:  ”Preachers say, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’  And while the advice is sound, he was not the first author to offer it.  In 1546, John Heywood’s “A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue“ the following can be found:  “It is as folke dooe, and not as folke say.”

However, the Anglo-Saxons in the 12th Century were known to say:  “Ac theah ic wyrs do thonne ic the lære ne do thu na swa swa ic do, ac do swa ic the lære gyf ic the wel lære” which translates into:   “Although I do worse than I teach you, do not do as I do, but do as I teach you if I teach you well.”

However, when all is said and done, this saying can be traced all the way back to the Bible in the Book of St. Matthew (verses 1-3) where the King James Version states: “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples saying  “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

As a reflective person I have to ask myself, “Do I walk my talk?”  Of course the answer is “Not always”, but when it comes to being a positive role model and mentor for youth, I believe that I do this in my direct interactions with youth but also by helping to prepare role models and mentors for their work with youth.  Please join be by investing in the mission of Entrusted Legacy.  You can find out about our work at www.entrustedlegacy.org

Stewardship

An “attitude of gratitude”, while a mindset, has been turned into books, movements and projects.  You can Google them easily.  The notion behind an attitude of gratitude is one of stewardship.  It focuses on the importance of being grateful for what you have and using your gifts and talents wisely to make a difference.  In the New Testament we see this notion played on in the Parable of the Talents.  In the parable talents refers to money but the point of the parable can be translated to include ones gifts and abilities as well.  Here is the parable from the New International Version of the Bible. 

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.  To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.  Then he went on his journey.  The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.  So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.  But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received the five talents brought the other five.  “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents.  See, I have gained five more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!”

The man with the two talents also came.  “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Then the man who had received the one talent came.  “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.  See, here is what belongs to you.”

His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant!  So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.  For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

- Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)

How will you use your talents?  Please join us at Entrusted Legacy and help us make a difference.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org 

The Little Red Hen

There is a children’s story entitled The Little Red Hen.  In this story, a folk tale of probable Russian origin,  the Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat and asks all of the farmyard animals to help her plant the grain, and none of them are willing to do that.  After the wheat has grown it is time to harvest the grain, and again the Little Red Hen asks for volunteers to help her with this task, and again there is no willingness to help.  After the harvest the grain must be threshed to separate the chaff from the wheat and then of course the process of milling the wheat into flour.  An again at each phase no volunteers are forthcoming.  Finally the Red Hen is ready to bake the bread and one last time she invites the other farmyard animals to help and once again they say ‘No”. 

Finally, the Little Red Hen has finished baking the bread and asks, “Who will help me eat the bread?”  Unlike all of the other times, the farmyard animals are all willing to be eager volunteers.  But this time she declines the help and says that since they were not willing to help on the front end they wouldn’t be able to benefit in the end.  So she and her chicks ate all of the bread, leaving nothing for anyone else. 

As is mentioned in the wiki about this story, “the moral of this story is that those who show no willingness to contribute to a product do not deserve to enjoy the product.”  You have an opportunity to get in on the front end of the process of helping youth leaders to develop the skills they need to be a positive and effective role model and mentor for youth.  Join us at Entrusted Legacy by logging onto our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org and making an investment in the future.  

Youth As Assets—A Fundamental Point of View

How do you see the young people that you know?  Do you think of them as possibilities or pains?  Maybe if you’re honest, you think of them as both.  Young people, in our opinion, can certainly be both.  Certainly they are the possibility of the person they will become and the contribution they will make to the world.  They are also the possibility of the contribution they can make in the present.  And of course, they can be a colossal pain as they challenge everything we do. 

Let’s first think about young people in a “future” state.  As they develop the skills they need to navigate the world successfully, those possibilities become closer to reality.  In the future we would like to see youth transform into young adults who realize Maslow’s Hierarchy and are safe economically, emotionally, and physically, build strong relationships with friends, family and colleagues, and accept the responsibility for giving back to the community in which they live.  If they achieve this they will be self-actualized.  Each young person has gifts and talents to be developed, and unleashing that potential is part of the work we do each day with youth.

They also have the possibility of accomplishing a great deal in the here and now.  I recently saw an interview with a young man who responded to an inventor’s challenge and designed and developed a device that would keep parents from leaving a small child or infant in the car.  During the interview the boy commented, “If I can save just one life then it will be worth it!”  This young man is not the only youth who has made a difference during youth.  Our programs can work on developing and honing skills by actually having youth utilize those skills in service and community projects.

Then of course we can’t avoid considering that youth can certainly be a pain.  One of the ways that they are best suited to demonstrate this attribute is through challenging the status quo and the “why” behind what we are doing and want them to do.  I am reminded of the story of the Christmas ham.  The girl wants to know “why” her mother cuts off the end of the ham before baking.  The mother responds that this is how her mother (the girl’s grandmother) always fixed the ham.  When the grandmother arrives for dinner she says that the girl will need to ask her great-grandmother who will arrive soon because she simply continued the procedure her mother (the great-grandmother) had used.  When the great-grandmother arrives and is asked the question about the ham she responds, “I don’t know why your mother and grandmother cut the end of the ham off, but I did it because my pan was too little.”  This story is a classic example of both the status quo (something we do simply because it is the way we’ve always done things) and the challenging that youth do which requires us to look at our own habits and procedures with a more critical eye. 

As a positive role model and mentor for youth we have the opportunity to support the view that youth are assets to be given an opportunity to shine.  Help Entrusted legacy support the training and development of youth leaders so they are well prepared to guide youth.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or by logging on to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org

Impact

Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who was often a featured writer and speaker in the 1960s and 1970s.  She worked to explain the human condition and why people do what they do.  One of her most famous quotes, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has” actually was cited at the end of the 2006 music video by Nickelback, entitled “If Everyone Cared”.  If you haven’t seen the video, I strongly recommend that you join the over 15,000,000 who have seen it by clicking on

"Nickelback - If Everyone Cared" 

In this video, Nickelback highlights the work of people who have made a difference, not because they belonged to a large organization, but because they wanted to do what was right.  The music video highlights Nelson Mandela who dreamed of equality in South Africa, Betty Williams who sought peace in Ireland, Peter Benenson who was outraged by two students being incarcerated for 7 years because they toasted freedom through a letter launched Amnesty International, and Bob Geldof who took on world hunger through Live Aid.  The chorus of the song:

If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we’d see the day, when nobody dies.

is a reminder to us all that caring is what really makes the difference.

Please join with Entrusted Legacy in making a difference in the lives of youth by supporting the development and growth of a positive role model and mentor.  You can be part of that small group of committed citizens.  Contact us a support@entrustedlegacy.org