Once again, our great partners have stepped up to share their "peace/piece" with us!
Our MARC Program manager, Wendy Sedlacek connected us with Dave Cook, her former colleague from Pinellas County Schools. Turns out, Dave was a gem of a find; a cracker jack professional who put together this video for us in record time. Wendy pitched in as producer adding the slides and visuals. Together, they were able to create this great little video describing Peace4Tarpon.
That's not the easiest task by any means. We are an emerging model as are the rest of the communities in the Peace4Communites movement - which as of now include Peace4Gainesville (Fl.) Peace4 The Big Bend (also Fl.) and Peaace4Crawford (County Pa.) with others showing interest in following this path. Each has their unique origin story and flavor and are forging their own paths toward becoming Trauma-Informed Communities.
Sometimes I am so immersed in this work it's difficult for me to see the proverbial forest for the trees, so hearing Judy, Melissa and Kris share their thoughts in the video about who and what we are and how we are making a difference was wonderful.
Now that the MARC grant is winding down it was all the more inspiring to receive this nice little "gift" especially during the holiday season - traditionally the time of year when there is much focus on giving and receiving.
Prior to MARC, we were unfunded and relied wholly on the generosity of spirit of those in our small community. They gave and we received over $1.5 million in pro-Bono and in-kind donations during our first 5 years.
For our 6th and 7th years, MARC gave us a huge boost with another generous outpouring of funds for our use. We were able to do things we had in our plans and on our wish list, but would have taken much longer without the Health Federation of Philadelphia, The California Endowment, and RWJF taking what I can only call a leap of faith to include Tarpon Springs as one of the 14 MARC communities.
So coming full circle back to the video, I am inspired by the kindness and thoughtfulness which made it possible. I have a marvelous sense of hope and possibility that Peace4Tarpon can and will continue to evolve and thrive and build even more resilience as we enter into 2018 and beyond!
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