INTRO  0:04  
This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's Online University.

Michelle Sparling  0:19  
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our Think A Thon. This is the second in a series of four for the year. We're excited to talk about "How to Find Funds". And this is really an open forum and a conversation, talking through a variety of different topics that are of interest to all of us - knowing that we don't all have the right answer. We may have lots of great answers. But it's really the collective wisdom of everyone brainstorming around specific situations, topics of interest, where we can all learn from one another. So today's about "How to Find Funds". I don't know if anyone has a particular story to kick off or a situation that you'd like to share about funds? It looks like Rosa does.

Rosa McAllister  1:07  
Sure. So I'm - I'm going to expand -thanks, Michelle, for getting started. And I'm going to expand it a little bit, and not just talk about funds. But frankly, that's where it usually starts. So I was thinking back on a number of different situations with folks that I've been involved with. And part of this Think A Thon idea was that, it's kind of like what we do in house, like just a brainstorming. Like, "Can somebody help me think this through?" And we thought we would just do it, kind of, out loud, and live, and recorded, for other people to jump in. But anyway, so one situation, one of many situations that I thought of was, of someone who's turned into a very good friend of mine. All of you know her. Her name is Jen (sp?cyber.) And she lives now in New York, and she's going to be moving back to Pennsylvania soon,`by the way. She used to live in Pennsylvania in the Hazleton area. And her and her family, her parents, moved up to the New York area. 

Rosa McAllister  1:58  
It's just such an incredible story. Wonderful story. I'm not going to go into all the details, but they're going to be moving back to the Pennsylvania area sometime soon, I believe. But I got involved with Jen when she was 28 - 29, something like that. And she's older than that now.  As I am older than I used to be too.  I'm not sure how many years ago but I'm guessing probably it's close to, it might be getting close to 20 years ago, now that I'm thinking about it. When I first met Jen, I met her through a mutual good friend Mary (sp?lampposts.) And Jen was, kind of, coming out, as they say - her darkness of her shell of what people believed she was. And I'm not going to go into that whole story, because that's a whole other session. But we were doing Person Centered Planning with Jen, helping her to dream. And it was a very elongated, prolonged process, because we needed to do it very slowly. 

Rosa McAllister  2:48  
So we would meet in their kitchen for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, like once a month. And we did this frankly, for a couple of years, helping Jen, kind of, think through things. And there were immediate things to work through and all of that. But I remember at one point asking Jen, like kind of, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "What do you - what's your dream? What do you really want to do?" And we, kind of, had worked our way up to this. Because initially, there was just so much immediate stuff to be taken care of - really, really immediate stuff. So when we asked Jen, that, she started coming out with this idea that, she herself had, what was considered classic autism, for whatever that is. And she told us that she wanted to help other people with autism. And I know - I'm pretty good, pretty open about stuff when you know, people have told me all kinds of wild, amazing, wonderful things. And I'm usually not the one to do the, "Oh, we can't do that." But I remember when Jen did that, she said that, I remember thinking to myself, like, I was thinking traditional. She wants to work in a group home. She wants to work in supported employment; to help people with aut -  she wants to - and I'm thinking to myself, "How in the world that's going to happen?" How are we going to fund this? "How are we going to make this happen?" etc. 

Rosa McAllister  3:57  
And somehow or other, we switched gears and started thinking of other things that maybe were already existing in our connections or our universe, that wouldn't necessarily cost any money. Because we started getting stumped on - 'cause Jen also wanted to move out on her own. She wanted - she was living with her folks. She wanted a number of different things. And these were big ticket items and so far from what the present day situation was. So we started brainstorming other possible things to do. And one of the things was, that we started thinking about was, I was - Mike and I were actually, Mike and I were both teaching at Lehigh University, kind of, this course together - a special ed course. And we thought," I wonder if Jen wants to come into the class and talk to the students?" And that one thing that cost her parents, I guess gas money, to drive over to Lehigh from where they live in Hazleton, set the ball in motion. And I must say, it wasn't wholly successful. There was, it was not, it was a very momentous evening class. I'll say that. We all learned a lot. It did not go quite as carefree, easily as we thought. But that one step, brought the whole thing forward. And we all, all of those close to Jen - there was a number of us. We all started thinking of things that she could do, that wouldn't cost anything, virtually, just having to do with our connections. 

Rosa McAllister  5:25  
Somebody, Pat Fernandez, who used to work with us at Networks, was a friend of Jess, Jen's and worked with us as well, helping her out. And she offered to take Jen to go check out Penn State Hazleton's campus, just to check it out. And they went there just hanging out together. That started a whole other ball rolling; cost nothing. And then there was so many different things. Eventually, there were things that started to take place that were gonna cost money. But by then, we had talked about what Jen was doing with enough other people and broadening the circle, so that other people were excited that funding was not as much of an issue. I wouldn't say that it was easy. But people knew of Jen and knew of what was going on. And Jen was kind of like a magnet of attracting people in. 

Rosa McAllister  6:15  
So I'm gonna stop there. The story could go on and on and on. But oftentimes, in my experience, at least, we start talking about things and we like, "But where are we going to get the money?" You know, whether it's like, "I want to take a vacation." "I need new teeth." You know, whatever. We start immediately going to funding, funding, funding. "Where am I going to get the money?" And sometimes it's not money. Sometimes it's a larger conversation about resources. Of what we already have, or connections that we have and things that we can use otherwise.  I don't know if anybody wants to add to that or question about that, or another tale, or what have you.

Tracy Lapreziosa  6:47  
(?Why) had a story that, you know, is kind of similar. And just that, you know, someone, again, who had an injury occur and needed transportation, needed an adaptive van. And as anyone knows, having adaptive transportation is very, very expensive. And insurance doesn't cover it. And how do you get from point A to point B? How can you make that happen? So again, through the way that she made connections with the people along her rehab process, and her family made connections along the rehab process, people began to reach out to the family. And they ended up you know, having a beef and beer, a huge beef and beer, maybe a series of them. And they raised enough money to do the adaptations to a van. The family was able to buy the van, and by trading in a vehicle. But then they were able to get the adaptations done through the funding that came through a fundraiser for her. And, you know, initially when something happens, you, it's hard to just say, "Oh, I, you know, I'm going to have a fundraiser for myself to get something." But usually you have to make those connections. Like you said, Rosa, you have these connections that people begin to see the potential and see the need. And then they reach out and try to help by doing, providing opportunities or providing fundraising events to help with that type of thing. It's like who you know, and who you can reach out to. Like, the human connection, I think is the most important part in moving forward with anything. 

Michelle Sparling  8:17  
Thanks, Tracy.

Michelle Sparling  8:19  
It looks like we have someone who's joined us. Anna, welcome to our little group here. We already started our conversation. Can you unmute yourself, and if you're comfortable, you can share your video.

Rosa McAllister  8:31  
Or not. Whoops, scared her away.

Michelle Sparling  8:35  
Scared her away. No Problem.

Michelle Sparling  8:37  
But Tracy, what you, what you're saying, you know, I've thought this frequently about fundraisers.  And why not?  For the right circumstance, for the right need that really makes sense to do something. Why not? And everyone benefits to because, especially if it's a beef and beer or what have you, whatever it might be, everybody gets to be part of that and feel good about it. And you know, why not? It's a quick way, too, right? In one night you might be able to raise enough funds that helps to support to get something instead of waiting and waiting for different types of funding to come through.

Rosa McAllister  9:12  
I agree. I was actually thinking - Tracy you made me think of - I'm not going to go into the whole story. But I just, I remember another situation I was involved in, where we didn't do a beef and beer, but they did a series of carwashes. Which I thought, when they threw out that idea, I thought like "A carwash ?"  Like, "How much money are you going to make at the carwash?" And they did it. They were so successful one day, they did it over several weekends. And they had other people come out to help them donate their time so that they could do more cars and all that. And they made, I wouldn't say it was a substantial amount. But it was enough of an amount that it then was, what was called Seed Money. S-e-e-d money, seed money or start money. They were, had enough money that they could put a down payment or a deposit on something that they were looking into. And I remember the, the mother of the person that I was involved with that, you know, we were trying to help. I remember her saying, I can't believe that I was so stuck in systems thinking, I thought the only way to get the money was to get it through the waiver, or the "this", or the "that" - the case manager, the support coordinator, I thought that was the only way to do it. I didn't, I never even thought about, "Of course, we need to dig into our own pockets. And we need to do this too." "And ask our friends and others to help us in the local community."

Michelle Sparling  10:28  
I have a good friend, his name's Paul. I've mentioned him to people in the past. And he's in an interesting, kind of, a unique situation regarding funding - he doesn't have any. But he's been figuring out, just through our church community, how to connect to people. And because he's such a likable guy, everyone loves 'em. He's always volunteering and helping other people. So people want to help him back, you know. So I helped him write a book, and it's not finished. We don't know how it'll get published. It's still; it needs some love. But you know, we've been writing it. You know, we'll figure out what that next stage is. I'm not worried about that. And he's not either. But you know, during this pandemic, he's been by himself a lot. And he's been reaching out to people. They're, they're dropping things off to him. He's making things for others. He's been doing some crafting. So I've been kind of connecting with him about, "Well, what are things that people really would like to get?" Like, "What kind of things could you literally sell that like, people would really want to buy?" So we've been having these conversations, and his brother helps him order some supplies on Amazon. And it's not a big deal. You know? So it's just guiding him in that direction of, "Well, how about key chains?" Like, "If you look at, you know, here's some ideas of things that people would buy." you know. So that's been kind of fun to do with him. And it's not costing much money. It's costing a little, but then he's selling it. So he's, it's a little entrepreneurial venture he has going on. But it doesn't have to be so complicated, you know. We just have to think it through.

Jessica Stover  12:02  
I mean, and I can add to that, not complicating it. So we have a co-worker at Networks, Nancy. And she's told the story before and she's not here today. So she's okayed me sharing this. So most of her life, she's used a communication device. And she's been working with us now, I think it's been almost 10 years - which I cannot believe it's been that long. I'm like, "You're kidding me, right?" But when she, when she came on to  Networks, she used something called a Chat PC. So it's a skoosh bigger than like our iPhones and all of that; or cell phones today. But it was really thick. It was really like kind of bulky box. And she had it on a strap. So she'd like, carry it around with her. And came time that she just didn't really care for it anymore. Like the new iPhones were coming out. Like was when iPhones were just like the thing. And they were just coming out and she's seeing everyone get an iPhone. She's like, "Well, I kind of want an iPhone, but I also need a new communication device." And I remember, she and I sat down and we were talking about this. I said well, "Nanc, you know you, you've had your Chat PC for, you know, more than five years." "It's durable medical equipment." "You can go back to your insurance company, and you can go through the process of getting the formal evaluation through a speech language pathologist." etc, etc, etc. "And then it's the waiting game of, for it to be approved and then getting it." And like, "this could take a chunk of time." And she's like, "I don't want to wait." 

Jessica Stover  13:24  
And you know, we talk. And it's like,  "I'm making money now. I have a job." "I'm gonna go buy an iPhone." So she, I want to say it was like literally that next week, she goes down to Best Buy, buys the iPhone, has it. So she has a new, new cell phone, which she needed anyway. And she, "Okay, so now I'm going to use this to communicate. I know I can do this, right?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, so let's figure out some apps." That same day, she downloaded an app for 99 cents, and she was off to the races. You know, so she's self funded. You know, she didn't want to wait. She knew what she wanted. She knew what she needed. That was a really beautiful thing that she self directed. Which, what and how she did it, which was really cool. The other thing that I just remembered, this is kind of like funding, but it's not. There was someone I knew in the next town over. They lived in a high rise, and I knew the person that ran this high rise. And we called and said, "Hey, so Mary uses a wheelchair. And she, you know lifted - trying to get around in her apartment a little bit more, but she's having a hard time getting into the bathroom. And I went over like, "Do you know of any construction companies that can fix this? And how are we going to get this paid for?" Thinking, "oh my gosh." Like this is going to be like literally the structure of the high rise. Like how are we going to do this? And so there was this marble threshold that went from the hallway into the bathroom. So there was like, it was like, not quite an inch tall. But it was enough and it wasn't really beveled very well. 

Jessica Stover  14:50  
It was a beautiful piece of marble. It was gorgeous. But she could not get the wheelchair over it. And I don't know really, anyone really could. Particularly with a tight turn, you couldn't get enough speed to make, make the leap over this right? And they're like,"This is gonna cost like ridiculous amounts of money. What can we do?" And I'm thinking, what do I have in my car?" "Well, what do I have in my trunk?"  And it just happened to be recycling day. And I ran down to my trunk and I had a bunch of cardboard boxes, and I had a roll of duct tape. So the moral of this story is, it doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to work. And I had a box cutter because when I was going to take the boxes, recycling, I was going to cut them down. So I had my box cutter, I had my cardboard corrugated box, I had my duct tape. Back up there, we cut a bunch of cardboard down, and we just like, you know, build it up. So it was like, a little bit more of like, a ramp out of cardboard?  And that quick, she was able to get in and out of her bathroom, on her own. Easy breezy. For cardboard, it wasn't pretty. But it worked. And it was free. You know. So there's been all sorts of things like that, too, when we're like thinking about funding. Sometimes that funding doesn't have to be - it can be $0. Or just what's out there and available, which is a really awesome thing to see. 

Rosa McAllister  16:01  
Absolutely. 

Michelle Sparling  16:01  
Your story is reminding me of another story. That's an old one. But this is a really good one. And it's funny. So when I was a job coach back in the day, I remember I was working with someone who was working in a restaurant. And we needed to create a template, if you will, for her to put chicken on trays. And there needed to be a certain amount of chicken on each tray. It was - yeah. Rosa's like laughing here. Because she probably remember seeing a couple different of these devices.

Rosa McAllister  16:31  
I remember the tray in the Hall Closet. 

Rosa McAllister  16:34  
In the closet. There were a couple. One was a board; it was basically thin Plexiglas with photos of chicken on it. That if you would look at it, you would think, "what on earth is this?" But that was one of the earlier models. The final model was actually - if you can picture the old fashioned ice cube trays, the metal trays - they're rectangular with the slots that you would kind of jiggle out. If you can picture that concept, but that you would lay it on a tray table and, and you would put a piece of chicken in each of the holes. Okay? Kind of a rough thinking through of what that would be. Well, we ended up, instead of paying, you know, a company that would probably charge a fortune to create something like this, right? And, you know, looking for experts in the field that would be able to create this, this accommodation. We thought it through. We wrote it up; what the dimensions needed to be. And we paid a guy - in, and was working in the workshop - with a case of beer, to make this accommodation. And he would have done it without the beer. But the beer's part of the fun part, you know of this story. And he did it after work, you know. He just said, "Sure I'll make this." And it lasted for a really long time. It was put together with brass screws, so we wouldn't rust. The restaurant fully approved it. And the person only needed it for a couple of months, while she got acclimated, really to the pace of her work. And she memorized, over time, how many pieces had to be laid out in the sequence. And she got so fast at it that she could practically throw the chicken into this accommodation and get the chicken onto the the trays and in the fryer. She would actually run out of chicken because she was so fast. And it was an - I don't remember what we paid for the plastic - but we bought direct from the manufacturer. We didn't have to go to OVR or use waiver dollars to pay for it. We just figured it out. And it was inexpensive. You know, a case of beer and some plastic.

Shauna Roman  18:36  
Yeah, it's funny. These stories are - this is Shauna. These stories are making me think about, so, these low cost or no cost options or ideas or solutions. But what does it cost us? It's like, it costs us our thought, our consideration, our sensitivity of, our knowledge of who people are, our creativity. It's huge. So I'm kind of curious. I don't know if you guys don't mind sharing the other part of your stories. How did you, like Michelle, how did you come up with that template for the chicken? Just curious. So how, you know - Jess or Rosa or any, Tracy - how do you guys get to that point where you're figuring out those low cost or no cost options?

Michelle Sparling  19:21  
I can jump in with the chicken boards. So it was trial and error because first it was literally a chicken board. And we took pictures of chicken and we, we knew because the employer said, "We want there to be this amount of chicken on each tray and there needs to be this many wings, legs and thighs and breasts." So there was literally a specific amount because that's how much would go into the fryer to be efficiently cooking the chicken, you know. So we just went with what they asked for and we made sure that it met their requirement; that it worked for the person. And then when we realized the big flat board - well, here's something funny. Chicken is made in different sizes, right? So one leg and one breast or thigh isn't necessarily the same size as every other piece. So some of the chicken pieces were larger, and they would cover the next piece. So she wasn't 100% correct on the amount of chicken each time. It got her to, maybe 80%. They wanted 100% on each piece; on each tray. So by doing this old fashioned ice cube tray idea, fill in the slots. If every slot is filled, you've got 100% accuracy on your chicken, unless there's not enough chicken. So once in a while that happened.  They ran out of chicken, you know? So it was just being creative. And I always love a challenge like that. Like, "What could we make, you know?" And what could somebody else use too. That it just doesn't have to be for the person that I'm working with. But could other new employer, employees use this same template to help them to get moving and to work efficiently and quickly when they first start a job. So it's fun, it's a fun challenge.

Tracy Lapreziosa  21:02  
I always like the challenge to, of trying to come up with something. And one thing that I've done over the years, is when I'm working with someone who has a problem with, oh, a life skill or a job task, is like, just really sitting down with them and looking at the problem with them and asking them questions, to kind of help them think it through themselves. So that when the final idea is formulated, it's not my idea, it's their idea. And whenever you invest the person in coming up with their own idea, they're a lot more likely to follow through with it, and take ownership of it, and then maybe make some changes or come up with some ideas for, for moving it forward. And that's always been something that I've done that's just kind of helped with the process of getting it to be used efficiently. And, you know, having - and then hoping that they learned some skills along the way. So that when the next problem comes up, they start to think it through on their own and come up with some ideas for adapting on their own. 

Jessica Stover  22:07  
Yeah, and I would, I would add to that, you know, the other piece too, is you know, being a creative person - everyone's creative. It's just, you know, shifting our mindset to think outside the box of it. But you know, being able to look at something. So I'm, I have a - this is a crochet hook, you know? But thinking about, so yeah, it's a crochet hook. I use it, yeah use it to crochet something, with yarn or some cotton material or what have you, to make a scarf or a blanket or whatever. But what other things can you like, you could I use this crochet hook for, you know? And start thinking wildly and deeply and madly about, all the other things that could be done with this. You could use it if you have your hair up in a bun.  You know, to hold the bun there and place. It could be, you know, to hold your plant upright, if it's starting to wobble a little bit. It's this and this and this and this and there's no wrong answers. And different activities like that to do, you know, you can do that, anyone can do that any time, you know. You're, on your commute or when you're, you know, in your office or you're waiting for your next meeting. You know, just kind of play a game with yourself. What are all the things I can do with this? How else could I use it? 

Jessica Stover  23:09  
So, you know, in the instance of that cardboard and all of that, it was leading up to that, "Aha" of cardboard. We ran through the, "Okay, do we have a hammer and chisel?" "Can we like chisel this block of marble out?"  Well, they thought, like it was actually, wasn't just an overlay, it was like this big hunk of marble. And like, "If we do that, we're gonna have these chips and fragments. "We're gonna have to grind down. " "That's going to be more labor. That's gonna be more man hours."  "It's gonna be a little dangerous. We're gonna have marble flying all over the place." "We're gonna need goggles. We're gonna need this."  And we went through like, "Could we make the door wider?" Could we do - all sorts of different things? "Can we raise, literally raise the entire floor of the entire apartment?" Now, that was ridiculous. Because why would you even want to do that? It was, it was just kind of throwing ideas around and see what stuck? Oh, maybe half hour - 45 minutes until it's like, "What do I have on my car?" "Oh, that's right, it's recycling day." "Maybe cardboard would work?" And great, it's not, it wasn't a long term fix, and they knew that.  I said, "You know, you're gonna have to probably replace the cardboard, particularly if it's in a bathroom." But you know, there's sheets or rubber that you can get. You know, if you go to your autoparts store, there make these rubber mats that you can put in your toolboxes or whatever, or that you lay on when you're changing the oil in your car. But just that, just because one thing is intended for something, doesn't mean it can't be used for something else. And I think, you know, they may have - I'm trying to remember like, what they ended up switching to. But I went back and visited Mary a couple different times, over the course of six months, and that cord board was holding up pretty darn well. It was free and it was ugly. And it worked.

Shauna Roman  24:43  
Great. That's funny. I love that story. I'm also thinking, you guys - you just been sharing your examples - make me think about, sometimes that open into question, that I've been, you know, a part of or perhaps I've reminded groups of. And that is something like, so if money wasn't a factor, what do we need? Or what do you want? Or what's the goal? So sometimes it can be really freeing to take the dollars and cents off the table. At least initially, or at some point in the process,` just to eliminate that as a barrier or a mental barrier from figuring out what can be. 

Jessica Stover  25:19  
Yeah. It's cool. Not to be devil's advocate, though, I've been in situations where someone has presented that question. And I know I've had that presented to me, and I freeze. Cuz I'm like, "Wait, you're giving me permission to dream? Sky's the limit?' I'm like,(Gasp)! And I can't, like "What?"  I can't, I don't know. I don't know. And it takes a little like, pushing sometimes. Or, kind of like, eeking that out then. Of okay, maybe that's a little too big and too scary. "What if you had $1,000, instead of all the money in the world to do what you wanted to do?" I don't know. But I see, I can remember that happened to me once. I'm just like, "I have no clue." "Money is no object? I have no idea what to do."

Michelle Sparling  26:03  
And I think too, it's realizing that you might come up with an idea that you don't know what to do with. But if you just ask other people, and bring them into the circle and into the fold, they may have ideas that you've never thought of. And just having this conversation has made me think about a person that we worked with through Networks. His name is Jim, and he works for the Flyers Skates Zone. And he uses a lot of technology to live life. And to do work at the Flyers Skate Zone, we had to really think through what could he use? What, what did he need to effectively do his job? And he's someone who uses a communication device and a head stick. And was using his, using the Skate Zone own computers and was entering scores from hockey games into their database. And things as simple as the score sheets. And how could he, on his own, without asking for constant help, access to score sheets, do his work and and enter the information online. And we were looking online, we were going through the Job Accommodations Network. We were looking for a number of different options. And we just happened to work with someone through OVR, that this was his thing. He was their assistive technology guru, and he loved a challenge. And he said, "You know what? I know someone, in Florida, who's retired and a retired AT guy."  "I think he might have something." And he basically sent, up to the Philadelphia Office of OVR, a device for us to use, to try to practice to see if it would work with Jim. And it did for a while. It was a power - I don't even know what to call it-  a power paper scrolling device. Where Jim would press his head stick on a controller, and all of the score sheets were in this box. And the box was on a roller and it would roll the papers through and cycle them through. So someone just needed to, at the beginning of his work day, load the score sheets in the machine. And then he would just take off and do his job. And we would've never come up with that on our own. But just by the, you know, it's a collective intelligence and ideas and brainstorming, with someone else, we were able to figure that out. A lot of fun figuring that one out, you know,

Rosa McAllister  28:26  
And that's - a lot of these are so much fun, when you think about it.  And I think all of our brains are like, "Oh, that reminds me of..." And you know, the, the other thing that I would say, you know, it's fun for all of us. We get invigorated and engages other people to also get involved, as we've talked about. The other thing, that I don't think we mentioned, and sorry, I had to flip off for a minute there. I was listening in. But I don't think he mentioned this yet. But the other thing that I've noticed is, when we are more creative and figure out more ways and get more people involved and use these resources that are all around us - natural resources, natural supports, whatever you want to call it - connections - it helps the systems, funding systems people to be more likely to help out too because we're not asking for everything. We're not expecting. We're not seeing it as, you know, our rights and "we need this" or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But we're, we're part of the partnership of playing the game to make stuff happen. And so, I've seen this countless times, where there's more access to more traditional funding to help out, just because we've already taken some of the burden off. We've figured out some of the stuff and we might just be asking for just this part of the dream or just this part of the quest or just this part of whatever, that the person is looking for. They're more apt,  we're more apt to get it.  It's not to say that it's 100% guaranteed, but we're more apt to get it that way. And it gets people within the system wanting to get involved too.

Rosa McAllister  29:56  
 And I'm - the other thing that I would say is, I know some you know this. We've, we've done this in a couple of different ways; supporting people. And it's not just people with disabilities and people within our system, it's other people that we know. Where we've sometimes, I would say, hoodwinked a little bit to get people involved or to get people to support. So I won't name any names at all. I'll protect the innocent and guilty. But many, many years ago with one of the folks who was first involved with us as Person Centered Planning in Philadelphia, in all honesty, the organization that was supporting him, I mean, all the people that we first got started with, were in pretty dire situations. And this one person in particular, the organization, the human service agency that was supporting him or her, was not necessarily supporting or supportive. And that's why this person was suggested to work with us. And we took some kind of a sneaky thing, to be perfectly honest. We found out, as we were trying to get the agency to work along and to hear this person - see this person differently and get engaged in helping their dream come true, just to simple stuff - they were not participating readily, willingly. 

Rosa McAllister  31:06  
So, we kind of found out that there was going to be an award ceremony at the state level. And we recommended the executive director of this agency to receive the award. Even though we knew that he really wasn't 100% behind the person, and really wasn't doing 100% innovative stuff. But we kind of hoodwinked, connived it a little bit and recommended him knowing that it would feed his ego, to be perfectly honest, to get this award. And it worked like a charm. It was unbelievable, how all of a sudden, he flipped from - the next thing, you know, he's standing in front of many people, at this award ceremony, talking about, side by side with this person - talking about how, you know, "We've been proud to support his dreams" And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, then he kind of had to make good on some of that too, because it was public knowledge. And more people wanted to find out more of what he was doing. And there were articles written and were presentations - that and all of a sudden, he's been spotlighted - and the organization's being spotlighted. So they kind of had to shift gears and start funding things that previously they were not willing to fund. So there's that kind of fun, too, that we sometimes can have as a group to kind of be a little sneaky, and not in a bad way, but in a good way to try to make something happen. And to try to, you know, like we started - we talked a lot about in the early days of, you know,- hitting people where they needed to be hit to understand. Some of us, it's our hearts, and some of us, it's our brains, and some of its or our wallet, or our ego. And whatever it takes, it's not bad or good or just is.

Michelle Sparling  32:43  
And I think too, you know, it's okay to go to your typical sources, you know. But it's great to start grassroots first, and then expand out because there are lots and lots of resources out there today. There are organizations who provide funding, you know, all over the world. There are grants that you can apply for. You only need to do a Google search, and you can find things.  I think it's best not to start there, right? Start grassroots. Start around a person in a situation, and then expand out beyond that and figure out you know, what's going to work? I've heard of simple things like, somebody needs a new microwave and they're living on their own. Well, who has a microwave? Do you have one? Do you have it? You know it? So many people have things in their garages and basements and they'd be very happy to share, if they knew someone was in need. Just take a look at, you know, what do you have? What's available? Any other thoughts? I think we've had an interesting conversation today.

Jessica Stover  33:40  
This was really great. Reminiscing at the same time -

Shauna Roman  33:45  
And we make it sound so easy.

Michelle Sparling  33:48  
Yeah, it's when you're in this situation, that it doesn't feel so easy. But I think it's - for each of us that are in the circumstances - to really don't, don't panic. You know, don't let the energy of a group that maybe as frantic and worried, get you upset and involved in that vortex. But be that person to say, "Okay, let's take a step back." "Let's take a look at what the need is." "What can we do? Let's, Let's think this through together and be creative." And, you know, don't always go to, "Oh, we need a funder first", you know?

Tracy Lapreziosa  34:21  
I like the idea of starting out at the little circ-, the center of the circle, and just expanding out as you need to. And sometimes you don't need to get out here. You find the answer right in the center of the circle. But each person in the circle knows somebody else and knows somebody else. And next thing you know, if you need to expand out and you'll get there.

Michelle Sparling  34:39  
And know that there are people out there who, you know, are paid to do this kind of thing to help - when you really reached that level that, you know what, we just we're not quite sure. But maybe even those people know people who know people, where you don't have to spend 1000's of dollars on something or walk down a path that could take eight months to get something or even longer. It seems like in today's world, trying to get things through typical funding sources, just takes so much red tape that, if you can go through alternative ways first, it's going to work out, all around in the long run for the better. Any other thoughts on this? I think we've, we've had a great conversation. We've talked about lots of different things. We've shared lots of really interesting stories.

Shauna Roman  35:26  
I would agree. I think this has been a really great conversation and some really positive reminders of things that I haven't thought about in a while. So thanks to each of you. 

Michelle Sparling  35:35  
Yeah, I think we could probably keep thinking of stories, right? 

Rosa McAllister  35:40  
For sure.  

Michelle Sparling  35:40  
There's plenty good stuff.

Rosa McAllister  35:40  
Absolutely. And I'm not - and not to do "and one more thing" that I'm famous for, but to do "and one more thing" - I don't think we've mentioned either like crowdsourcing.

Michelle Sparling  35:50  
Oh, no. No, we haven't. 

Rosa McAllister  35:52  
So (yeah,) crowdsourcing is another - I mean, how many different projects - how many different things do you know of through GoFundMe? I mean, just how many in the last couple of months, have you seen about GoFundMe? About helping to support somebody's medical costs, or food or, I mean, all kinds of different things. A trip, you know, all kinds of things - from things that are absolute needs to wants and dreams. There's all kinds of stuff.  It's really, really easy to do. I've helped a number of people in a number of groups, do crowdsourcing, as it's generally known; kind of of online funding, where you just put it out to people. There's also some - I know my daughter-in-law, my son and daughter-in-law are both teachers. And my daughter in law has access, I can't think of it right now, but if anyone wants to contact us, and I'll find it out. There's some big company, which I can't think of right now, and they specifically fund teachers for a project. And she's gotten money, like a lot of money, for like, you know, to bring more books into the classroom. Or to get a variety of different things, specific things, for her students, that, what the company matches the money that other people donate to. So it's  - and she's gotten things like, she's had a couple of projects that she's gotten funded in, oh, I think less than a day. It's amazing. The possibility of using social media and all that stuff. All possible. People want to help. That's the other thing, is people want to get involved and people want to help. 

Michelle Sparling  37:23  
Yeah, absolutely. They just need to know where to get involved. And thank you everyone, for joining this conversation. I think this was great. And we'll have another conversation on March 12th, on Privacy and Privacy Issues. So we look forward to that next conversation and to brainstorm and share stories again.

Michelle Sparling  37:45  
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai