Elkhart County Works Together is celebrating this week of wonderful weather by launching an ambitious campaign aimed at generating 1000 hours of paying work for people in the ECWT Skills Bank!
Click to continue reading “A Week of Wonderful Weather and Work (4W Campaign)”
The 4W campaign is designed to generate 1000 hours of paid work for unemployed people in Elkhart County in one week, from November 11 to November 18. We challenged residents of Elkhart County who have work to do around the outside of their houses and yards to find people in the ECWT Skills Bank and pay them to work.
Click to continue reading “Sorry, we can’t tell you exactly how it’s working”
We sometimes explain ECWT using the metaphor of “stone soup,” based on the story from antiquity about the stranger who came into a starving town and used his “magic stone” to make stone soup, supplemented, of course, by the vegetables the villagers brought out of hiding in their cellars to “give more flavor” to the stone soup. The lesson was about sharing: if we all share what we have, we can make it through anything.
If you have five (5) minutes to spend, you can find out how this story is working today in Elkhart County!
Hi, friends:
I’m on my way home, sitting in the AMTRAK cafe car, rolling through the mountains of Western Pennsylvania. My thoughts are turning to you all, as they have many times these last few days.
I am grateful to all of you for the gift you gave me of keeping the ship of state afloat while I was gone. I could rest easy in PA, knowing that things were proceeding apace.
Not that I want to scare anybody – there’s no profanity here. However, I’ve been struck by some of the extremes of language I’ve heard used by unemployed people in the last few weeks.
ECWT is built on a foundation of affirmation, and claiming self-worth. Our tag line uses strong language to make a bold claim: We are strong. We are creative. We are an asset to our community.
Thanks to all who helped make our first ever salsa contest a great success! There were many of you: sponsors/donors, individuals who made purchases, those who made donations, and those who volunteered time. The local community certainly came together for this event. All of us helped in raising almost $800 and all within a context in which we came together despite being at different points on the political, religious, socioeconomic, cultural, or educational spectrums.
Goshen-area residents can taste homemade salsa and cast ballots for their favorite recipe during a contest set Oct. 2 at Goshen’s First Fridays.
Garden Salsa Contest Flier
The event that will be on Washington Street in downtown Goshen, will offer $1 bags of chips for salsa testing, and then participants can place a donation in a designated bucket for the salsa they think is best.
We’re looking for volunteer help for the next 3 weeks. That’s right – a very short term project with no expectations for help beyond October 2. I’m confident that after reading this blog many of you will be excited about this short-term, high-impact event.
So, what can you do to help bring this event to fruition? First contact myself at 238-5514 or darinks@intersights.net
Each Thursday morning Elkhart County residents that are currently unemployed are invited to find support and share common interests at Networking Together.
Click to continue reading “Networking Together: weekly support for unemployed residents”
No one person can speak for the thousands of unemployed and under-employed* workers in Elkhart County this Labor Day. My personal experience of being under-employed, and of leading Elkhart County Works Together for the last half year, leads me to offer a few personal reflections this Labor Day, and to be so bold as to use the pronoun “we” to reflect that experience.
A good place to start is by quoting Amy Hapner, featured on the front page of the Elkhart Truth this morning, who tells those who are currently employed, “Be very, very thankful you have a job.” Being without a job for a prolonged period makes us more aware than ever of the blessings and benefits of working.
Click to continue reading ““Not so well, thanks, how about you?””
