Finally, a blog post I’ve dreamed of writing:
The board of directors today approved hiring me as deputy director at Muscatine Center for Social Action. For those who don’t know, MCSA is a non-profit organization established in 1991 to serve those in need. In the three months of this past summer, it provided housing to 150 people, including 26 children.
I will begin my new job Monday and will report to Maggie Curry, the executive director. My duties will include fundraising, grant writing and marketing. I also will help oversee finances at MCSA and its shelter program. And this is just a partial list of the duties listed in my new job description.
It is all new to me and there will be much to learn. But I can’t find the words to express how excited I am and gratified to have this opportunity.
The mission of MCSA is “Renewing Hope, Rebuilding Lives.” After struggling for eight months to find a job, those words mean even more than they would have before I was downsized out of my old job at the Muscatine Journal. Because of this, I will work harder than I ever have to pay forward on this opportunity. It comes at a time when I had all but given up hope.
My 46th birthday is in about a week. This is easily the best birthday present I have ever received. It feels as if my life has been given back.
In the days and weeks to come, I will have more to say about all of this. I hope to keep blogging — if only because there are hundreds of stories waiting to be told about the good that happens at MCSA.
For now, I’m just grateful beyond description. It’s as if I’ve come back inside after wandering around lost for eight months in tall weeds — a place I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.
Brome Hill 