Dear friends,
When you join Girls Inc. of Memphis, either as a girl taking part in programming or as a staff member, you become a part of something bigger – you become a member of a sisterhood of support. Being part of Girls Inc. means that no matter what, we can depend on each other for encouragement, support, motivation and inspiration.
Although our programs and offices are closed, we are still working. We are staying connected to identify our girls’ and staff members’ needs, identify resources, and explore alternate ways to deliver programming.
We are all experiencing stress in this difficult time. Members of our staff are fortunate to be equipped to work from home during the Memphis city-wide Safer at Home Order. We have surveyed our girls and their families to learn what they need and what access they have to necessary services and technology. Based on this feedback, our staff members are putting together a calendar of online interactions for our girls that will be finalized this week and shared next week.
Exciting news… thanks to the commitment and creativity of our staff, we will be moving the entire Girls Inc. Experience online! Each aspect of our mission will be represented in online offerings. “Strong” activities may include sessions such as yoga and meditation, while “Smart” skills will be boosted with fun sessions such as in-home STEM activities. Our girls will build their “Bold” skills with interactive sessions such as how to write a letter to a local leader or a DYI how-to in making a piece of furniture look new again. This exciting new way of programming will be a rich array of Strong, Smart and Bold age-appropriate, fun and educational experiences. In addition to online Girls Inc. programming, our staff is committed to checking in individually with all of our girls on a weekly basis so they can remain connected to the important mentors in their life and know without a doubt, we are in her corner!
We all want to do something, and want our actions to be in alignment with what is actually needed. Our girls and families are driving our actions and we will be posting our schedule on our website and social media outlets. So stay in touch with us via Facebook and check out online resources page. We make updates regularly and we look forward to posting our schedule of online programming very soon.
This “now” normal we are all experiencing looks differently for each of us…but what never fails is Girls Inc. of Memphis’ power of sisterhood. Because of your support and being in our corner, we are able to weather this communal storm with strength and purpose. We will get through this together and our girls will continue to grow strong, smart and bold knowing we are in her corner.
Be well in your “stay in place” experience. To those of you who are having to continue to work so that we are healthy and well, THANK YOU!
Lisa Moore
President and CEO