Category: Balanced Living

April 20, 2012

Power Packs Project - the New Summer Program by Sheryl Eberly

In celebration of North Group’s 15th Anniversary we’re supporting Power Packs Project. This community organization provides food-insecure families with weekend food and education on how to cook low-cost healthy meals. Each Thursday, Lancaster County kids take home from school a simple recipe and the ingredients to make it. Power Packs’ goal is to assure that they return to school on Mondays, well-fed and ready to learn. Read more about Power Packs here.

Here’s what we’re doing:

Helping Power Packs fund a Summer Program. Approximately 100 families will be served by this as Power Packs partners with local community groups that connect with kids in the summer.

• The Summer Program has a budget of $6000 and Rotary of Lancaster kicked off the program with a gift of $2000. North Group is contributing $1500 toward reaching the goal.  That leaves $2500 that is still needed.
• We're raising awareness of Power Packs and encouraging others to contribute to the $2500 still needed to close the gap for the Summer Program.

To give a financial gift, go here and download a form to include with your contribution. Please put your name on it and send it directly to Power Packs Project. (Because Power Packs provides food, we aren’t seeking food donations.)

Last week our firm took a tour of the food warehouse and then went to a school to see food being distributed. Join us here for a video tour. We’re more convinced than ever about the value of Power Packs’ mission.

Think there’s no hunger in our community?  In 2004, Power Packs Project’s founder learned that 97% of children at Carter and MacRae Elementary School were eligible for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program and that many students regularly line up outside, regardless of weather, for breakfast before school. For some, this was their first meal since lunch the day before.

What do these kids do on weekends? Some go hungry and parents of others face the difficult decision to feed their children or pay rent. School nurses have reported that Mondays are the busiest in their offices, with children presenting secondary signs of hunger.

There is a real need here, and Power Packs Project provides a way to meet it. We welcome you to join us in providing kids help.

July 20, 2011

The Weight of the Job by Roger North

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a golfer now. Yeah, she’s a Stanford professor and a best selling author in waiting. But I am most interested in her conversion to golf. She has a history as an achiever, including as an accomplished pianist and tennis player, so naturally she is turning to the hardest sport of all.

A recent issue of Golf Digest featured an interview with the former Secretary. One of her many thoughtful responses really grabbed my attention. She was asked if she would ever tee it up with President Obama, himself an avid golfer. Her response? “Oh sure, absolutely. I know what it’s like for him. People have absolutely no idea how pressurized those jobs are. You never, ever feel any release from it. You get up in the morning feeling the weight of the job, and you go to bed at night feeling the weight of the job.”

Wow! What a terrific description of what it feels like to be a leader. I identified with Secretary Rice’s comment about the pressure of being a leader. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve never held the future of the free world in my hands. But I function most of the time as a leader.  I’ve felt the weight of those responsibilities as I’ve gone to bed at night and as I’ve awakened in the morning. You’re familiar with that feeling, aren’t you?

Secretary Rice goes on to say: “I remember so well, a few days after I’d left government, waking up and thinking, what’s that? Oh, it’s the absence of pressure! So, anything President Obama can do, whether it is shooting hoops or going out and hitting golf balls, I hope he does it.” 

What about you? How do you take care of yourself? How do you relieve the pressures of leadership? I would go as far as to say that you owe it to those you lead to find ways to get away from the pressures of leadership. Why? Because leaders need to lead from a place of wholeness. A place where they can consistently place the interests of their organizations, employees and clients ahead of their own. It takes a whole person to do that consistently well. To take care of others, you must take care of yourself.

Me? I’m trying to get Secretary Rice on the phone to see if she can make a 1:00 tee time on Friday.

We welcome your comments at blog@northgroupconsultants.com.