The Giving People Hope Podcast

Today on the hope pod, we're visiting with Robin Raney with Goodwill Industries of Northwest Texas, Elizabeth Laughlin with Literacy Lubbock, and Samantha Mendoza with Workforce Solutions. We're talking about the varied challenges in today's workforce - from helping job seekers gain new skills to helping employers adapt to the changing environment.

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In today's episode, we're visiting with Roxanne Saldana Jones with United Ways of Texas and Kierstan Schwab with Texas PBS about Start Smart Texas. Start Smart Texas is a part of the nationwide Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. In 2017, Lubbock became a Start Smart City, and since we've been working with the community to improve third-grade reading levels, kindergarten readiness, and other issues impacting a child's opportunity to succeed in school.

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Today on the Hope Pod, three of our team share about their own mental health journeys. Alpha, Devin, and Amanda talk about their experiences with realizing that counseling would help, finding the right therapist, and being mentally healthy. May is Mental Health Month, and we want to spread the message that mental health is health by sharing our own experiences and normalizing the conversation.

Find resources at:

https://www.liveunitedlubbock.org/mentalhealth

Today we're visiting with Cristian Garcia and Erin Baxter at Saint Francis Ministries about the new Community-Based Care model that they are working to introduce in West Texas. Community-Based Care seeks to wrap around children in the foster care system and their families to ensure a collaborative effort to care for our children. Cristian is the Vice President of Child and Family Services and Erin is the Director of Community Engagement. 

Today on the pod, we're visiting with some of our friends from Communities in Schools of the South Plains and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lubbock about how we can support local youth. Eloisa Vigil is the Chief State and Local Program Officer and Nick Hay is the Marketing & Development Coordinator for Communities in Schools. Tamara Rose is the 2022 Board Chair for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We're talking about the many challenges facing local youth and a few of the ways we can all get involved and support students as we finish out the school year.

Today, we've invited 2022 Campaign Chair Laura Vinson to share about our Community Partners and the incredible work they do. Amanda and Laura also talk a little Women's History as Laura steps up to be the second woman in Lubbock Area United Way history to serve as both Board Chair and Campaign Chair.

Today, we're visiting with Ayda Chapa with the South Plains Association of Governments. Ayda is the Director of 211 Texas South Plains which helps people connect with the resources and services they need. 211 is a valuable local resource that is more than just an information service.

Episode Notes:

Today, we're chatting with Dr. Logan Winkelman, Program Director for the Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. We are all hopefully a little more aware of our mental health needs, but what are some simple steps we can take to begin prioritizing wellness in 2022. Dr. Winkelman shares her expertise and some great tips to get us started. 

In this episode:

In this episode, we're continuing our series with our original four Community Partners. Today, we're joined by Becky Burton, Nekisha Henry, Shannon Spencer, and Marilyn Jones with the Girl Scouts. Becky is the Chief Executive Officer, Marilyn is the Chief Development and Community Relations Officer, Nekisha is the Vice President of Mission Delivery, and Shannon is the Staff Development and Volunteer Experience Coordinator.

Today on the podcast, we're visiting with Jason Henry, Executive Director with Women's Protective Services. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We talked with Jason about what domestic and family violence looks like on the South Plains and ways we can all get involved to help prevent violence and raise awareness around the issue.

Today on the podcast, we're sharing an interview from TTU Public Media with our own Devin McCain about the release of the 2021 Community Status Report.

You can learn more and read the Community Status report at

Community Status Report | Lubbock Area United Way

We're back in your feed! We took a break during July to focus on the fall and the many opportunities we have for you to get involved. So today on the podcast, we thought it was a good time to jump in and talk about our commitment to transparency and accountability and why that matters. Whether you are a donor or a volunteer, you run a nonprofit, or you're thinking about starting one - there is a lot in this episode for you.

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At United Way, we've been working hard through the month of July to prepare for a fantastic fall with lots of opportunities for you to get involved and support our community. So today on the podcast, the United Way kids are taking over and telling us their favorite things about reading. Hosting is Amanda's daughter Caroline McAfee, she is a student at Talkington School for Younger Leaders. Joining her are Rhylee Green, a student at Rise Academy, and Lincoln McCain, a student at Waters Elementary. Caroline, Rhylee, and Lincoln share a little about their favorite books, other reading activities they love, and the impact reading makes in their own lives.

Episode notes:

Today, on the podcast, we're talking with Vice President of Community Impact, Devin McCain, about our Summer Reading Calendar, why incorporating reading into your summer routine matters, and some easy ways you can add it in. When summer hits, we often talk about "summer slide" or summer learning loss. But this year, we want to turn the conversation around to talk about helping students make learning leaps.

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The summer is a great time to get out and volunteer and a great opportunity to visit with our 2021 Loaned Executive Chair Tyler Young with Texas Tech Credit Union and Sharon Bass with the Volunteer Center of Lubbock. Volunteering is good for your physical and mental health and makes a huge impact on those around you. We hope this conversation inspires you to find your perfect volunteer fit.

Episode Notes:

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We visited with Dr. Nancy Trevino with the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center and Brad Hunt with NAMI Lubbock about mental health on the South Plains, how we can help fight stigma, and what resources are available for those in need of mental health support.

Mentioned in the episode:

In 2021, Lubbock Area United Way is celebrating its 75th Anniversary. We sat down with Heather Smith with Covenant Medical Group and the chair for our 75th Anniversary Committee and Gary Bain with GMAN Creative and the videographer for our anniversary film. Amy Berry from our team also joins us for a fun conversation on preparing for the anniversary and all the fun things we have planned for the year.

Trigger warning: In this episode, we discuss sexual violence.

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses child abuse and child neglect.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and the Go Blue Lubbock Campaign. We visited with Dr. Amy Thompson with Covenant Children's Hospital and Dr. Brian Payne with UMC Children's Hospital about child abuse and neglect in Lubbock and the surrounding area, how 2020 impacted families, and how we can all be involved in preventing child abuse.

Episode Resources:

Today, we are rebroadcasting a video interview we release on our social media in January for Human Trafficking Awareness Month. We visited with Kristin Murray with Voice of Hope, Derek Danner with Children's Advocacy Center, and Veronica Lowenberg with Governor Greg Abbott's Child Sex Trafficking Team about the newly formed Lubbock County Care Coordination Team that was set up to specifically address the needs of victims of child sex trafficking in our area.

If you have questions or need help, please call:

We sat down last week to record a video with board members Chris Boutwell and Nedra Hotchkins about United Way's new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Nedra is also the Executive Director for Lubbock Children's Health Clinic, and Chris is chairing the new committee.

We intended to release the conversation in video format only, but the full conversation was so good that we decided to share it on the podcast. The format is a little different than the first episode, but we hope you enjoy listening.