May/June 2021 – Debra Hendrickson

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Dreams for Our Future  

One of my favorite quotes is from Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”.

Four years ago I was approached by Michele Van Son Neill to assist her in the creation of her dream…a new spiritual leadership program she called “CRAVE”.  She wanted to have a dialogue about spirituality with a younger generation. This generation of dreamers was eager to learn from us “seasoned leaders” as much as we were willing to discover new ideas from them.

As I began this journey with Michele the unexpected came along. I thought that I had reached that age when my dreams had been fulfilled and I was satisfied with the lessons of life that I had learned. But with my exposure to the CRAVE family, I began to realize that there was so much more to discover about myself and my relationships with others.

Debra with Michele Van Son Neill at Victory Cup

My first “ah-ha” moment came in my early connection with a CRAVE leader. My role was to mentor a young CRAVE leader, meet regularly over coffee, ask questions about her project and listen, offer guidance; introduce her to other leaders who could assist in her journey; be her spiritual counselor; mentor her towards success. Ultimately what happened was that I became the “mentee”. Together we were on a self-discovery path. And it continued with each young CRAVE leader that I was able to mentor as I continued my CRAVE involvement.

Debra with Crave II Leader Chantel Aquart

My second awakening came from my experience with fellow board members. Their life experience was so very different than my own.  We heavily debated the track for moving our young organization forward, each with our views based on these life experiences. But with each challenge to my way of thinking came a new understanding and the promise of future accomplishments of our young non-profit organization.  

Debra with Michele Van Son Neill and Adam Hartnett, Crave I Leader and former Board member

For the past 4 years I have served as founding chair and board member of CRAVE. At our recent CRAVE graduation, as I listened to our graduates share their stories about their transformation by participating in CRAVE I, too, felt that my spiritual growth had exceeded my expectations. Although I may be stepping down from my leadership role with CRAVE, I will be in the background, cheering you on as you fulfill your dreams.

Debra with Shelly Denmark, Director, and Brian Vann, Chair of Board of Directors

Debra Hendrickson, Founding Chair of CRAVE Board of Directors

November 2020 – Adam Hartnett

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Turning “Something More” into Something Real

Two and a half years after graduating from the inaugural Crave class, I am living out the vision that Crave helped me set for myself.  At 27 years old, I joined Crave as a starry-eyed social worker with a dream of a world where everyone had what they needed: enough friends, meaning and money to live a truly happy life. Now, at 30 years old, I can say I’m making that dream into something real.

Along with some incredibly gifted people, we launched Poverty Solutions Group (PSG) this year, 2020. From the outside, it may seem like bad timing. We are facing some great losses and challenges this year: the coronavirus pandemic; the loss of some very great advocates for equality like Freedom Rider and Congressperson John Lewis, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Actor Chadwick Boseman; and the nation-wide grappling with the deep-seated racism that plagues our society. I’ve personally been grappling with some of my own losses, the greatest of these is the death of my sister, Adel, who died of an overdose a year ago at the young age of 31.

This year has been challenging, to say the least. But the way I see it, there has never been a better time to imbibe our community with a new hope. Our work at PSH is to bring people together from all backgrounds to build communities of support with folks in poverty, to learn from their lived experiences, and to work together toward systemic changes for those at the proverbial bottom of the economic ladder. In my small, sure, way I am staring the trauma of this year directly in the face, grieving and crying unashamedly for the losses we are experiencing, and turning our grief into something greater. My colleagues and I are transforming trauma into healing; grief into passion; poverty into wholeness.

Through PSG I now serve as the Regional Coach to Circles Central Florida. Circles is a proven, national model for reducing poverty by building community. I spend my days working with ordinary and dedicated people working together to help individuals and families with low-wealth build trust, set goals and overcome poverty for good. After spending 6 years perfecting the model in Winter Garden, FL, Circles is now working with Family Promise of Greater Orlando and a handful of other community partners to launch Circles Orlando! Our dream is to create Circles Communities across Seminole, Orange and Osceola Counties so everyone in Central Florida has easy access to the magic that is Circles.

If you share my passion to create a Central Florida community that works for everyone, please visit our new PSG website to learn more about how you can donate or get involved in other ways: www.povertysolutionsgroup.org . I’d love to partner with you to end poverty in our community and become an example for the rest of the country of what’s possible when we work together.

Adam Hartnett
Crave I Leader

 

July 2020 – Brian Vann

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Endings and Beginnings

With the third year of Crave coming to an end, we celebrate the two Crave Leader graduating cohorts—one from Orlando and one from Sanford. The Crave program runs from August to June so this year’s classes completed the Crave curriculum during a most unprecedented time in our country’s history. As all non-profits do, these leaders had to overcome the challenges COVID-19 employed. They did so with integrity, character, perseverance, and determination. As they grew, so did all the individuals who make up the Crave Universe. With the third year in the books, we are excited to begin year four!  

Crave Orlando graduates (l-r) Michele Van Son Neill, Crave Founder; Marquis McKenzie; Shequila Roberts; Blu Bailey; Shelly Denmark, Crave Director; Olivia Blase; and Jarvis Wheeler.

The fourth year brings excitement, but also sadness. The third year marked the end of the tenure for some of our board members. We are saddened to see these friends and colleagues roll off the board. Even though they are no longer on the board, their legacy will be felt for a long time to come. Some of these individuals helped start Crave while others shaped it into what Crave is today. We pray for their present and continued support while staying within the Crave Universe.   

Thank you to outgoing Orlando council members Tom Harris, Adam Hartnett, Jon Tschanz, Rick Jones, Kelsey Kerce, Sarah Skidmore, Tonya Tolson, and Karen Weatherford. Thank you to outgoing Sanford council members Pasha Baker, Nancy Groves, Jolene Lovemore, Erin O’Donnell, and Tom Royal.

Shelly Denmark, Crave Director, and outgoing Advisory Council member and mentor Tom Harris.

The fourth year marks a critical time in the growth of the Crave organization. The organization is no longer a start-up as it begins its growth stage. The growth we are experiencing afforded us the opportunity to expand our leadership. We now operate with an Advisory Council of Orlando and a Board of Directors. We are thankful to welcome many new members of both the Advisory Council and the Board of Directors. These individuals are some of the most influential in our community. We are working on some amazing projects such as creating a certificate program for the Crave curriculum. We are blessed to welcome a new group of social change makers to our fourth year Crave Leader cohort. These individuals are dynamic, intelligence, and inspirational. 

Welcome new board members Faith Buhler, Gina Dole, Woody Rodriguez, and Jarvis Wheeler; and council members Chantel Aquart, Blu Bailey, Katie Brown, Terri Hartman, Stephanie Preston-Hughes, and Katrina Jackson,

I am excited to kickoff a new Crave year!

Brian Vann, Chair of the Crave Board of Directors

November 2017 – Adam Hartnett

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Crave is an adventure for the spiritually curious, and in November we explored the ways that each of us hasn’t quite fit into the spiritual boxes that exist in our world. It started as we were reflecting on the people, communities and moments that have shaped who we are. For me, I’ve been through quite a few communities of faith in my life. I grew up in a Catholic family, going to Catholic school and attending Mass faithfully every Sunday. Then in middle school I went to a Southern Baptist youth group and attended Sunday school and Sunday service religiously. As I attempted to mold myself into these spiritual boxes, a feeling of discontent persisted. I never really fit. I had a lot of questions; I was quite a bit more femme than the average boy; and the rules and rituals never quite made sense to me.

I have always felt a profound connection with the divine, even through my experiences of not quite fitting into religions. The consistent connection is, after all, what continues to motivate me in the work I get to do in the community. The divine connection has just changed over time, but I hadn’t realized any of this until I was asked to explore my spirituality in Crave. Through this self-discovery, I realized that it isn’t so much the idea of a God that I am discontent with. But, rather, I find great apprehension where philosophy and theology limit my ability to embrace myself or connect fully with folx from diverse backgrounds, that is the point where the religion boxes we have received become irrelevant to me.

It turns out that quite a few of us who are in Crave have come to a similar conclusion. We’ve had many, varied experiences with religion and none of those seemed to be quite relevant. So, we have begun this Crave journey; we are attempting to create this microcosm of a community where all our passions, motivations, beliefs and dreams can converge, however different they are, without one value or belief discounting another. This is the kind of community in which I have learn, I am able to thrive. Each of us come from different backgrounds, but we share a common desire to bring about good in our community. I think we each recognize that while we may have different beliefs, we can agree that to make a real, lasting, positive change in the world we must work together. Isn’t that cool? I think so.