The Miami Herald recommends

OUR OPINION: THIS GROUP BINDS OUR COMMUNITY TO A COMMON PURPOSE
Posted on Sun, Jul. 27, 2008


Six years ago, voters in Miami-Dade County approved the creation of The Children's Trust by an emphatic margin of nearly 2 to 1. This was a clear signal that our community wanted to invest in children and make their lives better. In the ensuing period, the Trust has built a remarkable record: It delivers what was promised; it has created a transparent, accountable, trustworthy organization that binds our community to a common purpose. The name says it all: The Children's Trust. Voters have every reason to continue supporting this winning project.

You will have the opportunity to make the Trust a permanent part of our community when the issue comes up for renewal on the Aug. 26 ballot. Voters should be just as emphatic as they were the first time in saying Yes.

In a way, voters took a chance in 2002. They were willing to set aside public money to provide a funding base for children in desperate need, but it was impossible to say specifically -- without the required needs assessment -- what programs and services the Trust could offer. Today, they know. As President and CEO Modesto E. Abety has said, the Trust has transformed the way services are delivered to children and families in Miami-Dade County. It invests $100 million or more a year by funding nearly 300 programs and agencies designed to help the target community.

By delivering the funding to established organizations rather than operating programs itself, the Trust ensures that 92 cents out of every dollar goes for services rather than administration. This fulfills a pledge made at the beginning that the money provided by taxpayers would be well spent.

The needs are so great, and the range of programs so broad, that it is impossible to list anything but a fraction of them in this space. They include everything from delivery of healthcare to fostering early learning to violence-abatement to promoting job and artistic skills in young people.

The 211 Helpline operates a 24-hour switchboard that connects parents and youths with programs and services that offer help. A $1 million grant to the county funded 68 community arts programs that involved more than 142,000 children in 2007. Nearly $50 million will be invested this year in summer and after-school programs.

Another $27 million will be used as part of a health initiative administered in collaboration with the school district and other community health providers. Among other things, this program helps to put nurses and health practitioners in schools. The needs are even greater today than they were six years ago as public schools cut back in practically every area of funding as a result of a reduced budget that, in turn, reflects the economic downturn.

Taking care of children doesn't come cheap, but here, too, the Trust offers a good return. It costs the median-assessed-value homeowner $61 a year -- 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value -- to fund the project. This is slightly more than $1 per week, less than what many of us pay for a bottle of water. The ballot will ask whether the Trust, the independent special district for children's services, should be renewed.

The vote should be YES.

Old news - but still news

I have no excuse for not posting lately. Well, I do, kind of. As you know I was in Dallas, and when I arrived home on Monday night I started getting a cold that hit me Tuesday. I was laid out on Tuesday b/c my flight got in after midnight, I had a cold and I was nauseous. So I guess I did have an excuse after all. I think I could have handled two out of the three of those, but not all three. I got to work late and left early.

But Dallas was great. I had such a nice time w/ Lourdes, Jamie and Sienna. Dallas is an awesome city! It is very multicultural and has lots of cool stuff to do. They live in a really cool part of town. There are TONS of fresh and organic markets everywhere. We ate a lot - they took me to have: Indian buffet (one of my faves), Tex-Mex, TX BBQ at a place with amazing southern-style rolls, Italian, super-fresh salad (after I demanded healthy food!)...what else oh yeah, I made Baked Ziti one night...yeah, lots of food.

Here are a couple of pictures that I stole from Sienna's blog on my trip:

Hello from Dallas

So I haven't posted in a while because I've been in Dallas visiting Lourdes, her husband Jaime and their 11-week old baby, Sienna.

Dallas is HOT - it is way hotter than Miami. We've had an exciting time so far - we've had a lot of fun in between numerous diaper changes and feedings. So far we've gone to the Dallas museum of art, we've gotten pedicures, we've eaten LOTS of good food - Indian, tex-mex, bbq. Oh man, I've been full almost the entire time I've been here.

Spending time watching Lourdes be a mommy has been so amazing. It's so cool to watch her with Sienna. It really is a new chapter in life - she's the same person but a Mommy - it's so cool. Watching her soothe, feed, cuddle and kiss Sienna is so sweet - but just as sweet is watching Lourdes get so upset when Sienna is crying and can't be comforted. She's such a mommy. We've been trying to get Sienna to take breastmilk in a bottle and it hasn't been going well and Sienna gets really upset. Poor Lourdes at those times.

Pictures will come later.

Time for Some Campaignin'

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best post EVER

That's right. WE'RE PREGNANT! Praise God!

Please excuse the fact that I'm all puffy-faced - it was early in the morning and we had both been crying. We took the home test on July 4 and had it confirmed on Monday by our fertility doctor who did my blood work every 48 hours last week. My numbers look really really good, more than doubling every time. The nurse said they look perfect for a natural conception (which this was).

I know that it is really early to be telling people. But we have every bit of faith that God has brought us through the hardest time already just getting here. This is our faith-baby! Also, we told a few people at church and then it got out pretty fast, so today at church we told pretty much everyone else.

The baby will be due between March 14 and 17. The OB we saw says the 17th and the midwife that we interviewed says March 14. Whatever, babies are hardly ever born on their actual due date.

We are SO excited!

Vote YES on August 26!!!

Here is some information about my company, The Children's Trust. It is 5 minutes long but totally worth it. If you live in Miami - this is an agency that was approved by voters in 2002 and we are up for reauthorization. We are funded through property taxes - but the median homeowner contributes just $61 dollars annually.

Just look at what we are able to accomplish!



It is vitally important that if you live in Miami that you VOTE YES on August 26. This is not a big-turnout election - this is the only important decision on the ballot (sorry to all the judges on the ballot). Our fate will be decided by less than 150,000 voters! (in a county of almost 2.5 million people!)

Learning from the Master

On the 4th of July, we went boating w/ my parents and my brother Aaron and his wife Shanda were in town. We had a great day, but while putting the boat in the water, Alex dropped his phone and it fell in a puddle. As he points out - his phone the ONLY puddle of water outside of the ocean. Lucky us.

Anyway, on saturday, Shanda called Sprint to "see what they could do for us". A replacement phone would cost $300 and we didn't have insurance. She explained that we can't purchase a new phone, we have been Sprint customers for over 4 years, and we pay our bill on time each month on auto payment. They representative added insurance to the phone, then told us to go to a corporate repair center and if they couldn't fix it that they would give us a new phone.

That was a bunch of baloney. We went to the store and the manager said that the rep was off her rocker - that everyone knows that a water damaged phone has to be dealt with only through the insurance - and he has no ability to give replacement phones. He says to make a claim to our newly acquired insurance policy.

We do that and the rep there notices right away that we purchased insurance on the phone the same day as the claim. We have to fill out an affadavit and fax it to them. We do. They call Alex and say that they have access to all of our Sprint records and they see that the insurance was bought after we damaged the phone and that Sprint essentially just instructed us to break the law.

So. Just now, I called Sprint. I am SO proud of myself. I thought long and hard about how Shanda acted on the phone. She didn't get angry, but she did state firmly when she was treated poorly. She rewarded help whenever it was given. she was polite. So I called. I explained to the rep the above situation. She said that water damage had to be handled through insurance. I said, "Yes, I recognize that, however at issue now is that a Sprint representative has made a series of major errors. I need to know how Sprint is going to compensate me for that." She put me on hold - her supervisor's offer: 100 bonus minutes. I say - "You aren't offering me anything, I currently use 300 minutes less per month than I purchase - You've offered me nothing of value. I want a replacement phone at the price that you are currently offering on your website of $29.99 for new customers. Or I will cancel my contract right now, and you'll just have to send my fee for breaking contract to collections."

She sends me Account Services - where they send the desperate-almost-ready-to-cancel customers. The new lady says, How can I keep your business, I understand you have a problem with a phone." I say, "No actually, I have a problem with sprint customer service over a phone". I explain the whole situation.....she is overnight expressing us a FREE replacement phone!

I can't believe it. I am NOTORIOUS for losing my cool, my temper, and all sense of self-respect in situations like this. But watching Shanda taught me SO much about how to handle those situations! Amazing.

This blog is dedicated to my sister-in-law Shanda.

Senior Douchebag

Just listen - this is awesome. This guy is a "real catch" Listen to the whole thing, it's 4.5 minutes long but it's totally worth it, gets better and better through the message.


http://view.break.com/527579 - Watch more free videos

updates

Hey people -

So here are a couple of quick updates -

First, please pray for Alex's niece Isabella. She's been in Miami Children's Hospital since Sunday morning. She has a kidney infection, she's been running fevers off and on since Sunday yesterday it went up to 103.5 and today while I was there it spiked out of nowhere to 104.1! Poor thing. She's 7 years old.

Second, the vacuum tips have been good. This is what I've heard: several people really like the Rainbows - but I learned that it is also a steam cleaner and I don't know if I want that. Two people I know who have Dyson's LOVE them. One woman at work said her daughter has one and that it (quote) will probably be the last vacuum she'll ever buy and that if she has to replace her electrolux at anytime she will definitely buy a Dyson now that she's used it. Dang, expensive vacuum cleaner. I just don't know if I can swing that price tag. My search will continue.