We just kicked off our DurhamCares RAAM event at the American Tobacco Campus! It’s going to be a great week down at the ATC, full of live music, local celebrity riders and our great nonprofit partners. Check out the schedule of events for a complete list of all the week’s events.

If you can’t make it down to the ATC, you can see a live feed of what’s happening thanks to our media sponsor WRAL. Just check out the WRAL website to track the team’s progess and learn more about what’s going on in Durham!

Stay tuned to the DurhamCares Facebook page, Twitter feed and Flickr account for updates throughout the week!

Thanks for loving your neighbor!

DurhamCares is seeking a detail-oriented, outgoing, social individual that desires a job in community development and networking.  We would prefer someone with recruiting experience that is passionate about the mission and vision of DurhamCares!  See a full job description here and send resumes to jobs@durhamcares.org.

 Midshipman Thomas Payne (known as T-Payne in the office), a former DurhamCares intern and student at the United States Naval Academy, defeated Andrew Manglcimot from the United States Military Academy at West Point in the National Collegiate Boxing Association Championships on April 10th. Thomas worked last summer as DurhamCares launched its primary programs for volunteering and the Success Grant.  He spent the majority of his time on marketing and communications primarily working on our video projects to tell the stories of neighbors through Durham. DurhamCares is proud of Thomas for his awesome accomplishment and how he’s serving our country. Congratulations T-Payne!

And while we can’t promise you’ll turn into a national championship athlete, we do promise to give you a great place to use your skills and talents over the summer!  If you are interested in an internship with DurhamCares email Heather at hjones@durhamcares.org!

We hosted our second annual NCAA bracket challenge during the men’s basketball championships.  How great for Durham that Duke brought home the championship!

And, it was great for DurhamCares partners as well!  Hundreds of neighbors played along, picked their winners and DurhamCares put in $1,300 as winnings for the top 10 finishers.  So. . .(insert drumroll) here are the top 10 winners and their allocation of the pool as well as which partners will receive their portion of the winnings!

Great fun for all!  We’ll play again next year!

Frachele Scott, Site Manager at Historic Stagville, talks about their work to connect Durham’s history with its current generation.

We had a great time today heading out to Market Street in Downtown Durham and handing out some very tasty Locopops to about 125 neighbors!!  If you haven't tried them yet you should, and even more you should know that Summer and Connie who own the place are all about Durham.

We'll plan more events like this so you can meet your neighbors in Durham, check out a cool local business that loves Durham, and meet us here at DurhamCares and learn a bit more about what we do.  Fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on the 4-1-1.

What should be next? Free taco from Guajillo's? Free pastry from Daisy Cakes? Free Only Burger? Send your favorite suggestions our way! Thanks Connie and Summer and Locopops for a great afternoon!

Greetings people. I am Lauren Wishon, the volunteer Volunteer Corrdinator this summer with DurhamCares. For most of my life I have lived with my family of Mom, Dad, older brother and sister, in North Raleigh. I went to Broughton High school and when it came time to chose a college I was determined to get out and spread my wings. Naturally I attended NC State University : ) I was not so happy about that decision at first, although it made sense, but God has challenged me and stretched me right here at home, and I have loved it! I have grown to love the triangle area and their ain't no shame in staying close to home (as long as you travel sometimes because the rest of the country...world, is pretty amazing too!)

I just graduated from NCSU in May with a BA in Political Science-International Politics and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. Now I know this doesn't initially make sense considering I am currently a volunteer coordinator for a local Durham organization helping the community here. And to that I would have to say that focusing on international (especially Middle Eastern) issues during college has helped me understand that while I have a passion to serve the Middle East my community has many of the same issues, struggles, and needs. I was confused at first too: what would my purpose be in Durham? Being at DurhamCares and around the amazing people here I have come to love the simple commandment: Love Your Neighbor. And it isn't less gratifying, less interesting, or less important to serve the person in your back yard vs. the one over seas. They are all our neighbors!

I am grateful that I ended up at DurhamCares after seeking a job at a few places. Heather mentioned that I could volunteer and I thought why not- this place sounds pretty amazing. Needless to say, I plan on being here as long as possible! I grow more and more obsessed with what I do here every day. I work with the volunteer matching program that matches people's skills, passions, and interests to the communities needs in the form of long-term volunteer opportunities. That means there are two pieces to my job. First, I get to communicate with people that are willing and excited about volunteering in the community. They (you?) fill out the registration online and then we get to talk on the phone and I hear more about them. Then I go and search for a perfect match for their preferences, availability, passions, talents, etc. That leads me to the second part: networking with local not for profits to find out, and sometimes help them define, their needs. Many times they are used to talking about short-term opportunities that they are surprised when we ask: "If you had all the money in the world to hire staff members, what would those jobs look like". It is awesome to see a light go off when we say that and suddenly they give an eager description of volunteer opportunities that can strategically help them run and improve the organization! These jobs are SO varying for the many organizations we have built with relationships thus far. It has been difficult at times to meet and get to know all these amazing organizations and not be able to help them then and there myself, or find them all the volunteers they need, right away! So I say all this to hopefully help you blog readers to see that this isn't your typical volunteering and you have a chance to make a huge difference for your neighbor and see your impact : ) Do it! Love your neighbor! Volunteer!

Join us for the next one. http://www.durhamcares.org/index.php/trips

Editor's Note: Thomas (we call him TPayne) wrote it.  Heather posted it.

Greetings fans of DurhamCares!

My name is Thomas Payne and I hail from the great state of Utah in a small ski town called Park City. Where is Park City you may ask? Well, head West and stop when you find a beautiful little valley up in the Rockies with ski slopes streaming along the faces and ridges of the surrounding mountains and hills. Even though I love the mountains, I have spent the past 5 years on the East Coast at school. Most of it was spent in New York and just this last year Maryland.

In high school, I spent part of a summer interning at Bandwidth.com. I learned a great deal working in the customer service department and from the great people who worked around me. My main task was answering phones and helping work with customers to provide a variety of solutions for them. Overall I enjoyed the experience and North Carolina itself.

When it came time for colleges, I ended up applying to the three Military Academies and colleges with the ROTC scholarship. I decided that I wanted to serve my country directly out of college. In the end, I chose to attend the United States Naval Academy.

As of now, I am studying both Political Science and Chinese. I plan to serve in the Marine Corps but don't have to decide for another 2 years. Upon graduation from the Academy I must serve a minimum of 5 years in the Navy or Marine Corps. I have not decided at this point what I want to do with the rest of my life. I hope I will know in time but am not worried about what God has in store for me. After finishing my first year, I can honestly say I am very pleased with how things worked out even though life, plainly put, stunk for a while.

Since becoming part of the Navy, I have learned that I must be flexible. Thus, when my orders changed this summer, I decided to call my uncle, David Morken, to talk about interning at Bandwidth again. I hadn't heard much about DurhamCares yet, but when he mentioned the idea of interning there I became interested. I have wanted to do more work for the community after experiencing the work done every day by volunteers in New York City. And, in short, I love America and want to give back to the people. Thus I decided to give DurhamCares a shot. A few days later, I was greeted by Mr. Kaestner, Heather, Mike, and the other great interns

already at work loving their neighbor and I soon felt at home.

My job at DurhamCares primarily consists of video editing. I compile clips into an editing program and attempt to produce a video that gives others a good idea of what we are about and what we are doing. The program itself is just beginning, and I can't wait to see how it will grow and perhaps even move out West to a small ski town in the mountains - ParkCityCares anyone?

I have come to love the South, Durham, and the great people who I work with and meet every day.

Very Respectfully,

T.M. Payne
MIDN 3/C USN

Thomas between his Uncle Dan and Uncle David

Editor's Note:  Jonathan wrote it.  Heather posted it.

Hello faithful readers of the blog... or maybe future readers...
My name is Jonathan Clarke, and I was born at Durham Regional Hospital a little over 22 years ago. Although I have traveled all over the US, I still enjoy and find myself drawn back to Durham. I started off my college life at Durham Tech at 16 when I was enrolled in their high school credit / college credit program where I took 2 college classes each semester till I graduated high school in 2005. I went on for another year at DTCC to obtain my Associate of Applied Science in Electronics Engineering Technology in 2006. From that point I decided to take a trip up to Anchorage, Alaska where I spent a little over 2 months going from having no connections, jobs, or money and eating 1 meal a day at the soup kitchen, to securing a management position at local movie theater, ending up buying a new snowboard and ski clothing, and spending 5 days up on the slope where I had the run of the mountain. After Alaska, I enrolled into North Carolina A&T State University in the Electronics and Computers Technology department where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 GPA in 2009.

While finishing up my senior project "Boost Converter: Guidelines for Boost Converter PCB Layout" I ran across a Facebook notification about summer interns at DurhamCares for the upcoming summer. I had 3 other companies I was talking to for a job, but the idea of working with a successful entrepreneur, in a young small company really sparked my interest, and I sent an e-mail to Henry asking for some more information. Long story short I did decide to come and work with DurhamCares and fully enjoy the work that I am doing for the community and advancing my business skills.

My role here at DurhamCares is working on a comprehensive business and operational plan for future replication of the DurhamCares model to other cities. Also I am working on a video interview initiative, which involves interviewing business and community leaders of Durham and getting them to express their story in order to further help the citizens of Durham connect with the leaders in a more personal and informational way.

For my future plans I am currently studying for the GMAT where I want to apply for Business School later this fall. My top choices are MIT: Sloan School of Business, University of Pennsylvania: Wharton School, University of Chicago: Booth, and UNC - Chapel Hill: Kenan-Flagler. After B-School my plan will be starting a small tech company dealing with new product development in embedded systems.

Editor's Note: Blog entry is written by Jessica and only posted by Heather.

Hey guys! My name is Jessica Metcalf and I'm from Maiden, NC, a tiny town about two and a half hours west of Durham. I am a rising junior at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I'm studying Public Relations. Growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor with a desire to help people. Then I realized that the medical field was about so much more than a typical Grey's Anatomy episode, and I decided it wasn't for me. I went into my freshman year of UNC having no idea what my future held. It was overwhelming, yet incredibly humbling to walk blind and fully trust the Lord's plan for my life. Before registering for classes at the end of my freshman year, I was forced to sit down and declare a major. Eventually, I settled with Journalism and Mass Communication. I say settled because I wasn't quite sure if that was in my future.

This past year, the Lord has just solidified my decision to work in Public Relations and has shown me over and over again that He has a future planned for me in this field. It's a relief to finally be able to answer someone when they ask the dreaded question, "So what do you want to do with your life?"

My summer at DurhamCares was literally dropped into my lap in the form of a church bulletin at The Summit Church. These past few weeks at DurhamCares have been exciting and incredibly encouraging. I'm working on planning the Durham tours, which will introduce Durham residents to new parts of the city and offer opportunities to engage with their neighbors in a new way.
I'm often so absorbed in the UNC bubble during the school year, focusing on school and other activities, I forget that there's so much going on in my community around me. I've been at UNC for two years now, yet I'd never bothered learning more about such an amazing city a few miles down the road from me. As I learn more about this city from people I meet and talk to, I'm beginning to see why Durham is so amazing.

It's refreshing to work with a group of people who truly have a heart for Durham and for engaging residents with their communities. I'm looking forward to the learning more from DurhamCares the rest of the summer and truly living out the phrase, "love your neighbor."

Editor's Note: posted by Heather but written by Maria!

Hey! I'm Maria. Although I'm originally from Cincinnati, once summer ends, I'll be returning to finish my Bachelor's degree at the University of Dallas - all the way down in Texas. What drew me to DurhamCares was its warm and wholehearted spirit. It is an organization that is prepared to make deliberate steps for positive change. The everyday fervor I find at the workplace is absolutely contagious. As a philanthropic organization, it stands out. DurhamCares is an organization that seeks to enrich Durham with the tools it already has: well-established charities and an enthusiastic, colorful community.

I'm still unsure of what my future entails after this summer, but I hope my experience as an intern gives me insight into the individuals of this unique and robust community, a community that is fervent in its wanting to improve. From what I've seen, Durham is far from being apathetic, and I look forward to using my talents this summer to help DurhamCares engage this diverse community. I hope to help Durham serve as a paradigm of involvement and pride that other communities around the world will later embrace and emulate.

Currently, I'm creating an informational DurhamCares video with Thomas. I am also co-organizing community interviews with Jonathan, editing, and eventually compiling our videotaped work onto the web.

So we want you to meet the interns working at DurhamCares this summer.  It's a great team with diverse skills and interests and we're having a great time together.   Tune in every day for the next five days and meet an intern!

Left to Right: Lauren Wishon, Jessica Metcalf, Thomas Payne, Jonathan Clarke, Maria Murdock

Hear our latest news and meet our newest intern - Thomas Payne. We call him T-Payne and he just finished his first year at the Naval Academy.

Check out our new Durham digs!

So, just an update on 3 things for you:

0. Henry's hair is still on the line and getting longer and longer everyday!  Right now we have 144 people pledging towards our goal of 350. Thanks to everyone who has already made a pledge.  If you haven't yet would you take a look at the site and make a pledge and then tell a friend as well? www.durhamcares.org/index.php/grant.
0. To celebrate Durham (and hopefully shave Henry's hair!) we'll be having an event at Tyler's in the American Tobacco Complex from 6-8pm next Thursday 5/21. This will be a really fun time to meet up with your neighbors, hear some live music, buy some good food and drink from a local establishment and celebrate lots of great things happening in Durham.
0. We've upgraded the pledging functionality on our website to make it easier to pledge to great organizations in Durham and to make multiple pledges at once. Check it out: www.durhamcares.org/index.php/grant and make a pledge.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback don't hesitate to contact me, Heather Jones, at hjones@durhamcares.org.

It's just too much fun!  So, we're extended the hair shaving deadline to May 20th!  We're up to 115 people and since we're extending it the new goal is 350 and Chris Garrett, Executive Director, Samaritan Health Center is throwing his hair in the ring too and will submit to the clippers if we reach 350 as well, and we'll invite you all to join us for an event in Durham to watch the hair come off!

Last Thursday night, some young Durham football players got a little extra motivation to do well in school and go to college.

The Pop Warner football Durham Eagles League gave out 27 scholarships. Most of the boys were in their young teens. Some were even younger. The boys will get the $1,000 scholarships once they get accepted to a post-secondary school like a technical college or university.

"Football teaches so many things about life," said Durham Eagles founder Don Jones. "Discipline, teamwork, focus ... it's just a world of things that are going to serve you outside of the football field."

Scott Stankavage , who was a professional football player and whose son played with the organization, made the scholarships possible.

"It gives you a lot of motivation," said Christopher Howard, a Hillside High student and Durham Eagle. "It gives something to look back on and something that will make you go forward and want to go to college and make something out of your life."

These Pop Warner football Durham Eagles players are now called the "Elite Eagles." The founders say their coaches selected them because they demonstrated outstanding performance and potential, either academically or altruistically.

Reposted from: http://durham.mync.com/site/durham/news%7CSports%7CLifestyles/story/32782/young-durham-football-players-get-1000-scholarships

That's right! We're going to do it! We have the opportunity to get the word out about the DurhamCares Success Grant program that's revolutionizing the way people give money to non-profits in the community, and if we're successful Henry's hair will be sacrificed for the cause and our entertainment.

Next Friday, May 8th, at 3pm we will shave Henry's hair down to almost nothing, and if you have seen how long it is lately you'll know this is no small undertaking!! We'll video the whole thing and post it shortly after the deed is done.

However, the clippers only start clipping if by Thursday May 7th we mobilize and get 300 people to make one or more Success Grant pledges at www.durhamcares.org/index.php/grant

No money or credit card is required now, and any pledge amount is great but there have to be 300 new people participating by the end of the day next Thursday 5/7. This is all about getting the word out about the Success Grant program and the new way to give money locally and connect its impact in the community. Henry has a video blog explaining Success Grants that you can check out.

So, game on. Tell your friends, neighbors, loved ones, and anyone with access to the internet and let's get at least 300 people pledging so that Henry needs a little extra SPF on his noggin this summer. 

Some quick updates from Samaritan Health Center as they are getting their clinic up and running and working towards their goals of providing high quality, compassionate and efficient care to the underinsured and uninsured in Durham.

Just last week they reached some milestones and firsts:

• They received their official IRS approval of their 501(c)3 Non-Profit status
• They held a full clinic with 13 patients last Thursday evening, many of them "repeat customers" who were following up on intricate problems
• The first ECG was taken and interpreted
• The first use of the new wall mounted otoscopes / opthalmoscopes
• The first use of the new Dinamp auto BP / temperature machine
• The first official hymn-sing with the patients after the clinic was over
• The first time electricity was available in all exam rooms
• The first visit from a kidney specialist, Dr. Pat Pun

This Thursday will be another first for the dental clinic as the nurses will be able to screen the patients before being seen by Dr. Eaker. 

A few weeks ago DurhamCares hosted a bracket challenge as part of the NCAA tournament.  It started small but soon became a big group of neighbors in Durham and beyond.  Every time 50 new members were added to the group DurhamCares added another $1,000 to the initial pot until the group was 346 people who were all playing for a piece of $9,000 that they could donate to a DurhamCares partner!

We had a great time watching the games and following teams and players to see who would win the tournament and which DurhamCares partners would get the donations.  Congratulations to the Tar Heels for their win of the tournament, and congratulations to the winners in our bracket.  But even more, congratulations to the excellent DurhamCares partner organizations who all ended up getting a share of the winnings!

• Big Brothers Big Sisters won $5,000
• Durham Eagles won $1,100
• Habitat for Humanity won $1,000
• TROSA won $500
• Housing for New Hope won $400
• Durham Rescue Mission won $400
• Samaritan Health Center won $350
• Pregnancy Support Services won $300

We'll be back next year to play this game again and hope it will be even bigger and better! 

I linked to the below via a couple of sites today. The thing that struck? They used the words "relational giving" which we've been tossing around in our mission discussions. I don't know the whole history of the Advent Conspiracy, but they are definitely getting their message out in a relevant way and what they have to say is resonating with me. . . check it out:

I knew long before Friday that I don't naturally think big ideas. The audacious doesn't come easily to me. I'm much better at launching an idea than coming up with it. Pragmatic in implementation and relational in communication, that's me, and I like that role. So, this exercise of thinking about bold and audacious mission and vision stretches me in a good way, and it is part of the reason I'm excited about the new adventure at DurhamCares.

Some specific things resonated for me in our conversations: 

1. To find yourself you must lose yourself. That's audacious, bold and frankly a little crazy sounding. It's not original, but it is true. Jesus said it back in the day. How do we help people believe that losing themselves and giving to others is really the way to find yourself, and can you really invoke that if you are losing yourself in good things but not losing yourself in Christ? Or are we just offering a "noble idol" at whose feet to worship?
2. I may not easily come up with big ideas, but I do know I want to be part of them. Something different or something new connects with me and I'm ready to join in. I don't want to do something that's already been done in the same old way or be involved with mediocrity. I suspect that's true of most of us. So, we've got to nail something that resonates and truly engages not only us but others to join.
3. I can't underestimate my need to pray through this process. Maybe it seems too obvious to actually say it, but I need to. It's easy for me to think that the most important work in this process is sitting in a conference room, hammering through ideas and words to funnel a clear and understandable mission and vision, and then set up an organization to move people to action. No doubt that's important, but the reality is the most important work here is for us to humbly seek wisdom through prayer and trust that God is sovereign and involved - not only in our process but in the hearts and minds of all those people who may in some way connect with DurhamCares in the future and bring glory to Him (whether they know it or not).
4. This process takes time. Even when other people come up with the big ideas it takes time for me to process them. What do I really think? Why? How is my opinion informed? I need to spend some significant time turning over in my mind all the things we've talked about in the past couple of weeks. Admittedly, I'm kind of tired of talking about it, and I'm ready for the pieces to come together. But the reality is that I know I need to sit with this stuff and let it form because the implementation will be so much easier and the work so much more effective when it's anchored.

Sometimes it's just fun to share cool things, but not in that "forward an email to a million people or you'll have bad luck for 10 years" kind of way. More in the "this is totally worth 2 minutes of your time" kind of way. So, here it goes. . .

The Extraordinaires aren't live with their service yet, but I'm intrigued enough by the idea that I'm sure I'll sign up to see how it works when they launch. And who knows, maybe DurhamCares and the groups we work with can utilize some "mobile volunteering."  

Mostly though, I'm enjoying the way in which I connected to them - via a blog link and a youtube video. Sure getting information this way isn't unusual in 2008, but I graduated from Carolina just over 10 years ago without owning a computer and without having ever sent an email. I did own a mobile phone, but if memory serves me correctly it was in a giant bag, had a cord and barely fit underneath my passenger seat. There's no question that in a short period of time we've totally changed many of the ways we communicate, interact and connect with one another.

So, that really begs the question about ways that we at DurhamCares communicate, interact and connect with all of our Durham neighbors right?

How can we intelligently and artfully wield the Web 2.0 tools at our disposal? Right now we're using Facebook and this blog but we're not really promoting ourselves yet. Regardless those are clearly the tip of the iceberg, and just like any technology if you don't use it well it can be more of a burden than a help.

What about you - how do you connect, communicate and interact these days? Can you point us to cool things that worked for you - a video, a blog, a website, a facebook page, a twitter feed or an iPhone app? Why did it connect and why did you watch, read, surf, post, follow or download?