Citizens Concerned for the Homeless (CCH) welcomes Mike Kilbourne as Keys to Hope director. After a three month search, CCH is proud to announce the appointment of Mike Kilbourne as Director of the Keys to Hope Community Resource Center.
In January 2016, Mike began coordinating the Street Outreach Program for Keys to Hope, working alongside Ed Seal of the Swanson Center, engaging social service agencies, businesses, pastors, community leaders and those in poverty. Mike believes that partnerships are the best way to help the marginalized of any community.
Mike grew up homeless, with parents who suffered from addiction and mental illness. There were times when Mike’s parents could not even afford shoes for him.
“I remember the pain of poverty like only yesterday and to be truthful, I never expected to have the wonderful life and community I have today. My experience gave me a drive and passion to serve others. Keys to Hope has some fantastic community partnerships we work with under a model we refer to as Coordinated Access. This community is extremely generous and I am very blessed to be a part of the team!”
The first time Noel Jackson jumped out of a plane, it had nothing to do with raising money for polio eradication.
The Michigan dentist had received a gift certificate from members of his staff to go skydiving because they knew he was into adventure.
“It is definitely a defining moment,” says Jackson, a member of the Rotary Club of Trenton, Mich., of that first jump at 14,000 feet, done in tandem strapped to a professional skydiver. “The rush of the free fall is beyond anything I have ever experienced before. Just the speed and acceleration is unbelievable. You don’t even have time to figure out if you are enjoying it or not; it’s just a sensation that happens.”
Jackson did enjoy the sensation, so much so that he agreed to do another jump, with Shiva Koushik, a Rotarian friend in nearby Windsor, Ont.
The two men were waiting for this second jump when their wives came up with the idea of enlisting other jumpers and raising pledges for polio eradication.In August 2014, a jump in the skies of northeastern Michigan raised $15,000 for Rotary’s polio eradication campaign. Matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the effort contributed $45,000 to the cause.
Since 1985, when Rotary committed to polio eradication, the organization has contributed more than $1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize children against the disease. In that time, the number of polio cases has dropped 99.9 percent, and only three countries remain where the virus has never been stopped: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. While World Polio Day, 24 October, serves as an important opportunity to remind the world of the need to finish the job, raising money and awareness is a year-round effort for many.
Rotary members, volunteers, and donors are usually excited to talk about successful projects. Marilyn Fitzgerald, a member of the Rotary Club of Traverse City, Michigan, USA, draws inspiration from a far less popular topic: failure.
A clinical psychologist and author, Fitzgerald has spent years studying economic development projects in poor countries, where well-intentioned efforts to improve lives sometimes backfire. Now she travels the world to consult on projects and speak to Rotary clubs about sustainability and lessons from her fieldwork. We caught up with her at One Rotary Center, where she had addressed Rotary staff.
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Michael Kilbourne
Rotary members, volunteers, and donors are usually excited to talk about successful projects. Marilyn Fitzgerald, a member of the Rotary Club of Traverse City, Michigan, USA, draws inspiration from a far less popular topic: failure.
