project680.org

We appreciate The Grapevine Independent for running a memo in their “Upcoming” section on the front page of this week’s paper. Welcome to any Grapevine readers who found their way to this site. 

When reading through this website or any literature from Project 680, you may encounter the word “simple” quite a bit. This is no accident. This word is used frequently because it is in the core of our philosophy.

We believe that making a difference is about being available to the community in “simple” ways. You don’t need gray hair, experience, education, surplus time, or a certain income level. It’s all about responding to a local problem in ways that make sense for our busy lives and the needs of local students. It’s just a matter of saying, “I’m willing to be a part of the solution”. It’s about teaming up with other residents to get VERY practical about about assisting struggling students.

Mother Theresa has a very poignant quote that serves to fuel some of my philosophy in life. She said, “we can do no great things, only small things with great love.” The point is that more than the grandiose accomplishments we can have in life, the greatest thing we can do is love.

As discussion unfolds in just three days at the Project 680 Community Forum, my hope is that we will truly find “simple” responses to student homelessness and that we will love greatly in 2009.

If anyone would like to help out with the Project 680 Community Forum next Wednesday, let us know. There are some simple logistics to take care of such as purchasing snacks before the meeting (and getting reimbursed), setting up chairs, and other minor details. Let us know if you’re interested. See the following link for event details: Project 680 Community Forum

The Community Forum will take place on Wednesday, March 11th at 6:30pm at 10600 Coloma Road in Rancho Cordova (thank you to Cordova Neighborhood Church for giving us free meeting space).

The Project 680 Blog now has a mobile phone view enabled. No matter what gadget you have, wether an iPhone, Google Phone, or something else, you should be able to view blog posts quite easily while out and about. Test it out and let us know if it is working properly.

If you are on Facebook, we want to invite you to join the Project 680 Facebook Group. This group is available for anyone, but we particularly invite local residents to participate. The benefit of the Facebook Group is that it is one more way to stay informed, connect, and network together for the sake of local students who are deemed homeless.

See you on Facebook.

This is a test post, but while I’m at it I might as well tell everyone about the Project 680 Community Forum on March 11th at 6:30pm. We will meet at 10600 Coloma Road in Rancho Cordova to hear from the District Liaison for Homeless Services, have a Q&A, and discussion as a community about what it can look like to support local students in simple ways.

Our goal is to discover simple ways to respond to a huge problem in our community – student homelessness. We are blown away that there were 680 documented cases of homeless students within Rancho Cordova & Folsom last year. Can you believe that? 680!!!! So let’s do something together at the grassroots level and find solutions together. This isn’t about creating big programs and time-consuming projects either, but rather about creativity and finding ways to all pitch in.