Dove, Inc.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everywhere you look people are draped in Pink to show their support of this worthy cause. ISU and Illini volleyball teams are going to “paint the gym pink”.   Virtually every player on my beloved Chicago Bears is wearing pink shoes, sweat bands, mouthpieces or towels. An animal shelter in Decatur is wearing pink t-shirts all month long. A percentage of my purchase of yogurt, bottled water, and bread is going toward breast cancer research. And don’t even get me started about the pink flamingos. I LOVE PINK FLAMINGOS! The staff at Dove 100% supports the efforts to raise awareness and money toward finding a cure for Breast Cancer. There is another very important awareness campaign in October – National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Our color is purple. The color purple represents the bruises left on the skin of adult and child victims of domestic violence. We don’t have electronic billboards or a “Real Men” wear purple adver...

Today I’d like to share a fun way to get involved with your neighbors and community this Halloween.   The Community Services Program here at Dove encourages getting out in your neighborhoods and improving the communities in which we live.   You’ve been BOO-ed gives is something that gives you the opportunity to get out in your neighborhood AND have fun at the same time! Here’s the gist of it and what the poster says: The phantom ghost has come to town To leave some goodies…I see you’ve found. If you wish to make this a happier fall… Continue this greeting, this phantom call. First, post this Phantom where it can be seen, And leave it there until Halloween. This will scare other Phantoms who may visit. Be sure to participate, you don’t want to miss it! Second, make two treats and two copies from www.beenbooed.com Deliver them to two neighbors, try to stay calm. Don’t let them see you, be sneaky, no doubt… And make sure they put their Phantom...

The 21st Annual Coats for Kids! will begin next Wednesday the 17th and will run through November 30.  It's simple folks, donate a coat you don't want or need anymore.  The cleaners will make them clean.  Then we'll take them to a clothing room so someone who needs a nice, warm winter coat can take it home with them! When this drive started 21 years ago, one of the problems facing area clothing rooms was the lack of children's coats, never enough to cover the need.  Well, the coat drive has helped a great deal over the years.  But there are still cold kids who need a coat and so we keep hosting the program. WAND has been the cosponsor of the drive each and every year.  Each year, one of the meteorologist  lends their time and talent to the drive. RSVP Volunteers keep the coats moving.  RSVP volunteers are amazing and this is just one of many, many projects they make happen each year. 61,252 coats have been cleaned and distributed to c...

How many times have you picked up our local newspaper, or turned on your TV to listen to the local news, only to read or hear about yet another domestic violence incident that has occurred in our community? What were your thoughts when you heard about the situation? Did you know either of the parties? Were there children involved? Did you perhaps witness the incident taking place? What was your response? All of these questions come into play more and more often in the community in which we live. Did you know that within our state’s attorney’s office, one third of all criminal cases are domestic violence related. Have you noticed the increase in the number of pregnant women who are victims of domestic violence? Pregnant women are 60 percent more likely to suffer from domestic violence than women who are not pregnant. Too often domestic violence is just ignored. Sadly, many people still believe it is a private matter and therefore they should not get involved. Domestic violence kno...

We’ve definitely been keeping extra busy here in the administrative office.   Dove is currently undergoing the annual Audit.   Dove’s fiscal year runs from July through June and so every year beginning in September we undergo an audit which takes several weeks to complete.   The auditing firm looks at everything (and I mean everything ) that Dove is doing.   From receipts for toilet paper to large grant income and expenses to payroll to client files.   They make sure we’re doing exactly what we should be with grants and generous community donations. Sometimes it’s easy to forget everything that must happen behind the scenes in order for Dove to provide services.   Our department and the staff members within the programs work all year long to assure everything runs smoothly come audit time.   To say going through the audit is fun and exciting would be stretching the truth.   That being said, when it’s all over we are all proud to have accompli...

If you have ever wanted to know what service to our community looks like, you wouldn't  have had to look any further than yesterday's Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Annual Recognition Banquet.  Congrats to the R.O.S.E. - Recognition of Service Excellence Awards Recipients. Their individual stories of volunteering and making a difference in our community was each amazing. As remarkable as their stories were, knowing many of the volunteers in the room, each could have shared about a lifetime of service and a lifetime of giving. Thanks to each member of the RSVP program! A few statistics: 2011-2012 RSVP of Macon & DeWitt Counties 621 RSVP Volunteers • 429 women & 192 men, average age • 75 Community Service Hours • 120,846 Community Agencies Served • 87  

Today as I write to you I am reflecting on a recent study I completed called A Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life @ created by Dr. Robert D. Lupton. This author has invested more than 34 years in inner-city Atlanta serving financially at risk families in their daily struggles. Dr. Lupton shares stories of how things worked well for him and when they went wrong. In the stories of what went wrong he speaks of the corrections which were necessary to bring health to those programs. I love it when someone will share what didn = t work and how they corrected their efforts. As I progressed through this study I began recognizing many methods we currently use in our own community towards helping our neighbors in need. I also began recognizing many bi-products our efforts are creating. Isn = t it remarkable how reading about these things as someone else discovers them is easier for us to understand than seeing it right under our own nose?   Let me share some quotes from this s...