Be the Positive Change!
Lessons in Loss, Love and Resilience
It was only days after Alaina’s murder when I was on a national news interview with my brother Adam and my sister-in-law Tamera when I said to the interviewer…Mark my words Alaina’s Voice will be heard.
Donations began pouring in through gofundme and we knew it made sense to start Alaina’s Voice Foundation. We raised money, and as we were forming, Hannah, Alex and I sat down to discuss the vision and mission of the Alaina’s Voice Foundation (AVF).
If any of you reading have been involved with creating a vision and/or mission statement, it is usually a process. Brainstorming, word-smithing, discussions, dreams and many other things that come out. I’ve been a part many times for many organizations, yet this time it was different. It was as if Alaina helped guide us.
So we sat at the kitchen table and I said, “okay, so here is what we are trying to complete, a vision statement, like 30-thousand foot view in less than 7 words, then a mission of why we are doing the work.” Hannah started with, “I have always liked the quote from Ghandi, which is something like, be the change in the world you want to see. I don’t know it exactly, but that is the idea.” Alex confirmed positivity should be included. One of us blurted out, what about “Be the Positive Change!” We all looked at each other and nodded, it is simple and a broad vision that allows flexibility.
Now it was time for the mission. We all agreed the primary things that mean something to us and that did to Alaina (besides dark chocolate). Music, Mental Health and Education. So after 15 minutes of back and forth on wording and in what order we came up with: Our mission is to inspire hope and kindness through music, education and mental health initiatvies.
This has led us down something we are proud of, we have wonderful group of people on our board that help in many different capacities. While our music/concert/events have been difficult, the amount of mental health services we are producing has been very positive.
It happened one day when I saw a “suicidal appearing” message on Facebook and I reached out to one of our board members, John, who is a therapist. He said he could see this person. Fast forward 20 therapy sessions the client is doing well, he is a PTSD veteran. This started our role in what we call “bridge therapy”. We look to bridge the gap of people and getting mental health support. Over time this began to give support to victims of violence primarily yet still many different members of our community that could not get mental health services.
Alaina’s Voice Foundation only has the expense of the therapists, no rent for space, no director, no staff and that is not a shot at other non-profits, it’s just what we choose. 100% of the money raised goes back to our community.
Recently we have started a pilot program called Alaina’s Bridge to offer support services for violent offenders. Success rates of Anger Management in group therapy are miniscule, so we said, what if we take someone and get them one-to-one sessions. If we can change one offender to see a different path, we change the trajectory of them, as well as their family members. Tomorrow’s offenders are today’s offended.
That is Alaina’s Voice Foundation trying our best to Be the Positive Change!
