Read all about it:
- JASAN Member beats COVID-19
- From retiree to entrepreneur - Ooh La La
- Delivering JA in the pandemic
- Acts of Kindness
|
|
HOW ARE YOU DOING? That’s all we wanted to know as committee members reached out to all of our members last month. We understand that while staying at home and maintaining social distance is important, it can also be isolating. We tried to contact all of you by phone although we had to leave messages for some, and we have a few out-of-date phone numbers. We enjoyed the opportunity to catch up while we let you know that we are thinking about you. I felt uplifted by the members that I spoke with and I hope that you felt the same. The pandemic is touching us all and impacting our lives, some in a very personal way. In this climate of bad news, we were grateful to hear Jim Matthews’ personal experience with Covid19 and his recovery. You can read his story later in the newsletter.
I continue to be inspired by how JA USA is finding creative ways to fulfill the mission in an environment of school closures and cancelled events. In this newsletter we will focus on the new and innovative ways they are delivering programs and materials. In a later edition we will fill you in on how they are supporting field staff.
In our last newsletter we let you know that the JA Staff Alumni annual meeting usually held in conjunction with the JA National Leadership Conference has been cancelled. We are developing a plan to bring items of business to you for your proxy votes so we can complete our work in July virtually. Stay tuned.
Do you wonder how a career teaching young people about entrepreneurship affects a person? Well, in some cases it makes you want to be an entrepreneur yourself. When you read about Jack Brancewicz’s encore career, you too will say Ooh La La. We would love to hear about the ways your JA experience is influencing your career today.
Please stay safe and healthy.
Jean
Chair, JA Staff Alumni Network
|
|
JA Staff Alumni Network Members Reach Out
by Phone and Mail
|
|
Through the excellent work of Linda Schoelkopf and the Engagement Committee, the decision was made to reach out to ALL our JASAN members to see how everyone is doing during this pandemic. Members of the Engagement, Executive and Membership committees made phone calls or sent notes to all members. Members were happy to share how they are doing. There are many stories to be told and shared in future newsletters. This one, from Jim Mathews, was particularly relevant.
|
|
From Jack Brancewicz, retired JA President, Greater New Orleans, Inc.
The year or two prior to our retiring, Laura and I thought long and hard about what we might “do” after we moved to our home in Tennessee. Since New Orleans is known for its awesome food, our thoughts leaned that way. Laura’s thoughts would always come back to New Orleans “snoballs” or shaved ice. She knew the product and I knew the market and how to market, so we bought our first shaved ice trailer in July of 2017. The trailer had a name, La La’s Shaved Ice, but La La was also what our grandchildren call Laura, so naturally the business name became La La Laura, LLC and the trailer was branded as Ooh La La New Orleans Style Shaved Ice. Our first season was short, just September-November but we learned a lot!
When spring of 2018 came we were ready with what would make Ooh La La Shaved Ice unique in any market. We now used twice filtered (Tennessee) spring water from our property for the ice, PH balanced at the source to slightly alkaline (better for you) and with no chlorine or fluoride the taste is unsurpassed. We also make our own simple syrup using 100% cane sugar, never corn syrup! Even our flavor concentrates are sourced directly from New Orleans.
In 2019 we added two Ooh La La Licensees, one in Jackson, Tennessee and another in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and revenue doubled over 2018,
but more importantly we found our purpose
. We would match and donate all of our tips to youth based organizations. Working for Junior Achievement you learn that “No Money, No Mission” is fact! By the end of 2019 we donated nearly $10,000 to primarily youth based organizations and that’s with selling $2, $3 and $4 shaved ice!
In 2020 we added our second mobile vending unit (trailer) with Ooh La La Too which was to have its maiden outing on Saturday, March 28, 2020 at the Inaugural Ooh La La Palooza aka The Big Thank You. We were prepared to try to establish a classification standard for Guinness World Records by shaving 1,000 pounds of ice for free as a way of thanking all of our patrons and Facebook friends and followers. However due to Covid-19 and the need to follow social distancing guidelines we were forced to cancel the event.
Thankfully serving shaved ice or a New Orleans “snowball” out of a trailer window is permissible in Tennessee as a “grab and go” food or beverage provider and we continue to operate our regular locations in Middle Tennessee. Our customers both new and old are glad to see us out and about and they readily follow our required social distancing guidelines!
So Laura’s fun, little idea is growing into something bigger and better that neither of us could ever have imagined, and we are helping some very well deserving non-profits at the same time. We are happy! Ooh La La!
|
|
This is a tough time for us all, but that hasn’t stopped people from reaching out to lend a helping hand. We are asking JASAN members to let us know how they are doing during this pandemic, big or small, we want to know about your Acts of Kindness or if you have been the recipient of any. You can email your stories to
jastaffalumninetwork@gmail.com
or
karnes2@cox.net
. You can also make comments on our JA Staff Alumni Network, a Pioneer Legacy Facebook page.
Some that we’ve heard from members:
|
Jack Brancewicz
A quick trip to Big Lots on Easter Monday turned interesting. On the floor near the sold out toilet paper was a wad of cash all balled up. I picked it up, 2 $20’s, a $5 and 3 $1’s. I went up to everyone one in the store...” did you drop some cash on the floor...? No one claimed it was theirs. I went up to the cashier and asked if they would ask the same question on the intercom. They did and still no takers. So the next person to checkout had $20 applied to their bill, as did the second. Finally with just $8 left, the third person, an elderly women, had just three Easter clearance items in her cart and I heard her say they were gifts for her grandchildren. The total of her purchases was $7.99...her bill was covered with one cent left over! It was a feel good kind of day!
|
Linda Levi Schoelkopf
I have three friends who have been busily sewing masks for local hospitals, neighbors and friends...While there was a short lull in need...once the recommendation for everyone to wear masks was in place, need is even more.
Susie Piatt
I was at Lowe’s and a woman saw me not wearing a mask. She asked me why and I told her there weren’t any to buy. She reached in her purse and gave me a homemade mask. I was so touched that she gave this to me. Some people really do care about others.
|
Lucy Barranco O'Donnell
I have 3! 1. Two friends bringing unexpected gifts to me (one sneakily!) - flowers and pound cake - which truly lifted my spirits! 2. A church friend cooking pounds of pasta in her own kitchen so that the Emmanuel Dining room could still feed the poor. 3. My daughter and grandchildren delivering Meals on Wheels despite warnings to distance which morphed into another volunteer following their example because the seniors and disabled still needed to eat.
|
JA USA HELPS THE FIELD OFFICES
WITH PROGRAM EFFORTS:
|
With schools closing, Junior Achievement is providing free online resources to teachers and parents. They are doing this so that kids can spend more time planning for and dreaming about tomorrow, and less time worrying about today. JA is committed to doing this until all can be certain again.
They have also created pdf content of K-5 programs to share with schools, teachers and parents that can be used along with the curriculum online teaching and at home with parents helping their children. Additionally, JA has provided a Career Speaker video series for the offices to share with schools, teachers and parents in their area.
In addition to the new virtual learning programs, JA is holding weekly staff webinars to roll out new material, share best practices, and get input into what additional resources are needed.
“There may be an opportunity to make the best of staying at home. Essential skills, and even certifications, can be earned online for a limited cost in the areas of coding, analytics, programming, project management, marketing, web development, and others. Just because we are staying home doesn’t mean we need to stand still. Ultimately our lives will get back to normal, but it will take some time. In the interim, this could be a unique opportunity to learn” (JAUSA, 2010). And just as JA has adapted to new circumstances and new ways of providing education, it will adapt to the changes that this experience brings with it.
JA USA has also implemented new procedures in the areas of HR, Development, Financial and Communications. We will cover some of these in future issues of the newsletter, however, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of the JASAN Executive Committee Members.
|
|
|
JA Staff Alumni Network
| [
Website
]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
