Good bye to my amigos at NeighborWorks

HERE'S WHAT I SHARED WITH MY PEERS AT NEIGHBORWORKS WHEN THEY WERE GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO DO A GATHERING FOR ME

I don’t want to bore you with a tear-jerking good bye, but I will.

I promise it’d be brief… But remember that I am the guy who’s been known to have facilitated two three hour conference calls back to back.

You know, if I try to thank everyone that has taught what it means to be ‘neighborworks’, we’d be here a long time… So, I’ll just try to share some of the collective wisdom I’ve gained through the years by sharing with you one very simple technique I use to connect to the people we serve.

Almost everyday, but certainly when I travel – and God knows we do that enough – I try to ‘get in the mood’ of our work by imagining that the people I share whatever space I am in are the people we serve… Here’s what I mean:

The folks in the train; the entertainers at Metro station; our homeless friends on G Street; the cab-driver; the guy that checks our baggage at the airport; the lady that checks our i.d.; the young person that works at the fast food joint; the dude that cleans the airplane; and, most personally connected to me: the housekeeping crews at the hotels we stay and the crews that clean our tables and serve our meals… When I see these folks, I visualize them as homeowners, renters, and neighborhood residents of the communities we serve… I always make it a point to share with them a sincere ‘thanks’ – or just as often, ‘gracias’… It is these amigos that are struggling to make ends meet, to get that downpayment together… Indeed, I all too well remember that when my brother bought his first home in 1982 he was short for his downpayment by about $350. Geraldina (my wife) lent him the money she had saved up to buy her college books for the upcoming semester… [Come to think of it, I am not sure he ever paid her back… But that is another story.]

I say that I particularly relate to the housekeeping and banquet folks because many of my aunts and uncles did this work as they became established; and my own father was a janitor for years… As he got old, I’d go help him in the wee hours so he wouldn’t have to work so hard… And, I myself did my fare share of flipping Krystal hamburgers and even did a short stint as a day laborer…

So, I can never ever forget where I come from… Because it is my aunts, uncles, cousins and amigos – and countless others like them - that we now serve… And, it is simply a joy – indeed, sometimes I wonder “I got paid for this”? – it is a joy to be part of the NeighborWorks familia… I pray – yes I do that – that this institution will forever remain committed to having a staff team that ‘gets it’… A staff team that looks – and most important, feels – like the communities we serve…

May our stories continue, and see you in Silver Spring,

Gracias, enJoy & God Bless.