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A Message from Dawn

08 Aug

Posted at 18:07h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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As an education major for my undergrad degree, I had to take a music class. Seemed pretty harmless.  I love music. My Spotify playlist right now has all the summer vibes and it’s making me so happy! Little did I know that this specific music professor would require every student to sing on-key in order to get an ‘A’ in the class. Crud, this just got a whole lot harder. It’s likely no surprise to you that I’m a Type A personality—as in, I needed to get all A’s. That was a hyper-vigilant obsession I developed back during my school years that I’ve spent every minute since trying to overcome. I’ve heard the saying “C’s get degrees” plenty of times; after all, what do you call a doctor who got all C’s in school?  Yeah, DOCTOR!  Nonetheless, I was on a mission to learn how to sing on-key. By week 2 of the class, it wasn’t looking good. So, I approached the prof and asked him if he could ‘tutor’ me. He agreed and said that with a bit of his help, I’d be singing on-key by the end of the quarter. From then on, every Tuesday and Thursday after class, I’d...

14 Jun

Posted at 17:56h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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You see it every day. Two kinds of people are roaming our planet. One type flies by the seat of their pants. They wake up and don’t know exactly what the day will bring. They just see who calls or emails or texts to guide their energy. They have no plans. Life happens to them and they seem just fine with that reactive anti-system. Then you have your planners. They are the ones who have checklists. And the first item on the checklist is ‘make a checklist’. Or they happen to complete some task that wasn’t on the checklist, so they hurry up and write it down so they can gleefully tick it off as complete.  They love a good system and will create one, if needed. And while being hardcore on either side of the planning continuum might not be a healthy best practice, the CoFo team definitely lands on the side of planning our work so we can work our plan. That’s exactly how we completed our last strategic plan one year earlier than projected. Literally, we directed our minutes and our money relentlessly toward achieving our goals. So, then we spent three months working with Wendy Puffer and her awesome...

03 May

Posted at 19:10h in A Message from Dawn
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Eighteen years ago, Jessica Simpson was married to Nick Lachey and asked the world, publicly, if she was eating chicken or tuna because the outside of the tuna can said, ‘Chicken of the Sea’.  That’s when someone in my family might say, ‘You’re so pretty” because it’s a good thing she at least had that going for her, if nothing else. I love to look back at what happened in the years where big things took place in my life.  In fact, my go-to wedding and baby shower gift is one copy of Time Magazine’s Annual ‘The Year in Review’ and one copy of People Magazine’s ‘Yearbook’ for the year their special occasion took place.  I typically order these in January and send them to my friends who were so busy planning for their momentous event the prior year that they might have missed some really big news.  It’s always a hit, unexpected in January long after their occasion took place, and a definite keeper for the time capsule. The year 2005 also brought the premiere of How I Met Your Mother, the oh-so-in-love Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch declaring his undying love of Katie Holmes (Spoiler Alert: ...

13 Oct

Posted at 15:11h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin spice granola, pumpkin spice cheesecake, pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin spice pancakes, etc. Tis the season, right? It’s officially fall and we love the taste of fall! The other thing I absolutely love about this time of year is the chill in the air. Even though you see your breath in the morning and wonder why you wore that turtleneck by 3:00 each afternoon, it’s simply beautiful in Indiana right now. And, while I haven’t experienced it yet this year—emphasis on yet—I really do get so excited about finding a random $10 bucks in a coat pocket from last year. Why does is seem like a year-old $20 bill found in the jeans I haven’t worn since last winter feels more valuable than a normal $20? Technically, I could buy a pumpkin spice latte at Starbys with a new $20 in my purse but buying one with an old $20 found in a pocket just feels more special--Like that specific $20 was verified on Twitter or something! Do you all know about verifications on Twitter and other social media platforms? A blue checkmark is used to verify high profile users as authentic. So, when you see a blue checkmark next...

14 Sep

Posted at 13:25h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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Our oldest son, Griffin, was studious from the womb. I recall him installing his own small software game from my lap at age 3. He has just always had a mind like that. The love of learning is just in his DNA. So, it was a huge hit to his ego when he got his first Report Card ‘B’ when he was in 3rd grade. Luckily, he recovered from that blip in the radar and ended his public school career as Valedictorian of his high school. It was a truly proud mom moment. But this story isn’t about Griffin, it’s about my friend Dave Huffman. I knew Dave since 6th grade. We spent several years of school together, and when I say together I mean we were in all the same classes. I worked hard for my grades, but Dave was naturally smart.  It just came easy to him. In fact, his mom was also a Valedictorian of our high school, so he came from good stock. Dave and I often talked about the last week of our high school careers when the Valedictorian spot was in a two-way tie. It was a dead heat between Dave and one of the twins...

22 Aug

Posted at 19:10h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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I’ve never really loved celebrating my birthday. I don’t know why. It’s not about getting older at all. And it’s not about the presents. While I appreciate them, every day is gift and a chance to do something big. It might be a little bit about the cake. There are so many birthdays in my family around my birthday that I’m so tired of cake by the time my special day arrives, and much to the dismay of almost everyone I know, I’m not a big ice cream fan at all…ever. And don’t even get me started on surprises. I’m too much of a planner to appreciate surprises. But that’s when it’s my birthday. I love celebrating other people’s birthdays.  And this month, we’re celebrating a special one—the Community Foundation’s 38th.  Now if this was an anniversary, the modern gift would be tourmaline. What the heck is tourmaline you might ask? Well, that’s what I asked since I’d never heard of it in all my life! Apparently, tourmaline is a stone that is supposed to foster compassion and is said to radiate the energy that attracts money, healing, and friendship. As unappealing as the word tourmaline is, the meaning of the stone...

07 Jul

Posted at 18:30h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story, Grantmaking Impact
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This story’s been told before. As they say, it’s an oldie but a goodie—and it’s true. When I was 14 I was in high school and still sharing a room with my little sister. Sharing a room also meant sharing a closet, which my sister believed also meant sharing clothes. This did not go over well with me; however, my mother had a different opinion. So, share I did, unwillingly, yet obediently…until one fateful day. I happened to be at the mall—we had one back then. And I ran into one of my sister’s friends…wearing my favorite sweater! Holy cow, I was mad. It was the kind of emotion you get at a relative-you’re-forced-to-share-a room-and-clothes-with mad. So, I found a loophole. While my mom required me to share with my sister, she did not require me to share with the world. That’s when Wardrobe Wearabouts (pun intended, of course) was born. Wardrobe Wearabouts was an organizational system that I created to track the location of my clothes at all times. It was the 80’s version of Find My Phone, only tech-free, for my best pair of jeans—probably Jordache. While I can’t recall how long it took me, I crafted this Dewey...

23 May

Posted at 19:46h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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I sent this text to my friend Jennifer earlier this week that said, “Two words: High Drate.”  Ok, I was being a bit dramatic. But in my defense, we had just watched the penultimate episode of This is Us. And after a 6-season emotional roller coaster ride, saying our final farewells to the Pearson family (a family that somehow feels like our own family) has not been easy on our hearts, our hydration, or our mascara. Now, don’t worry, no spoilers here. But if you watch and need someone to talk it out with, let’s go to lunch! However, there is one common thread that has been sewn into the show’s tapestry since season one and that one is all about lemonade. Lemonade, that cool refreshing drink. Dr. K delivered the Pearson triplets on the show and he was credited with a quote that he passed on to the Pearson family that always resonated with me, but especially this week. It goes like this:  “Sometimes you have to take the sourest lemon life has to offer and turn it into something resembling lemonade.” That really hit home this week as a huge group of amazing, dedicated, passionate, and capable community leaders attended an...

05 Jan

Posted at 14:28h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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“Some people swear there’s no beauty left in the world, no magic. Then, how do you explain the entire world coming together on one night to celebrate the hope of a new year?”, so says Hillary Swank as Claire Morgan in the movie New Year’s Eve. I’m a sucker for a rom-com, but an ensemble rom-com like this one, wherein the characters intertwine in each other’s lives, weaving a tapestry by the end of the movie that makes you feel like you’re wearing your most comfortable weekend sweats. All the plots, literally, twist! Ahhh, it just makes you feel so good. And, if you’re anything like me, you’ve needed to call in the reserves lately for all things that bring tidings of comfort and joy. Thus, why I just adored everything that Betty White, the classic girl next door, ever did. She was like a hug wrapped in laughter—an amazing combo, don’t you think? And also why it was so heartbreaking to hear that Betty died on New Year’s Eve—can we just call this National Betty White Day from now on? She would have celebrated her 100th birthday on January 17, 2022. As these two plots twisted in my mind, I...

08 Dec

Posted at 16:24h in A Message from Dawn, Featured Story
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Those of you who have followed my blog for years know the up-and-down roller coaster I’ve been on by having a son in the Army.  It seemed crazy to be sending our 17-year-old off to fight for his country right out of high school.  It felt surreal when a short two years later we were mailing Christmas presents to Afghanistan.  But this year is different! Last month, Dalton got his honorable discharge from the Army and is now back home. PTL!  So, I get to enjoy a Christmas with all three Brown men this year. To say that I’m overjoyed would be an understatement. What’s above Cloud 9?  Is it Cloud 10?  Because that’s where I am! But one detriment to having Dalton home is that now he and my husband can make fun of my Christmas obsession with Hallmark movies.  They are relentless in their teasing.  Questions like, ‘So, is the lead character’s name Nick, Chris, or Holly in this one?” or “Have they had the misunderstanding yet?”  Ok, ok, I know that Hallmark has approximately 16 actors, five settings, and one plotline—but I don’t care!  These happily-ever-after, predictable, feel-good movies make me happy! In fact, I recently found a...