There’s something in the air.  It’s electric and I want to bottle it.  I want to learn how to reproduce it and share it with everyone.  People are pouring into our offices with countless presents for our annual gift drive in hand, and they are overjoyed to do it.  Our conference room is filling up…quickly.

We figured out a way to connect our need with the community in a way that inspires people.  We connected.  But how?  I think it’s about how we tell our story.  Everyone loves a good story, but as we all know, there are good storytellers and not so go storytellers.  I was thinking about this last night when reading a book to Isaac before bed.  I was reading “The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot,” and I was bringing my A game.  I was transitioning through a number of different alien voices, and my sound effects for the robot were believable.  I was really into it, and it was clear that Isaac was eager to get to the next page to hear more.  But he’s heard this story before.  He knew what was on the next page and he’s rarely been this excited about this particular book.

It’s evident that every one of the 22 employees and 63 volunteers of Riverview Center believe in our mission wholeheartedly.  We believe that we are going to realize our vision of a community free of violence.  We are aware of how bold that statement is, but we stand by it with confidence.  Everyone connected to Riverview Center is telling a story that they truly believe in.  You can hear it in their voices and you can see it in their eyes.  Those strongly held beliefs are now being shared with our community, resulting in amazing things.

And so we tell our story.