This past month, we celebrated Shelley Skinner’s one-year anniversary with Powerhouse! We are incredibly fortunate to have this talented graphic designer on our Powerhouse team. You should see what this powerful design maven can do when she puts her talents to serving our amazing clients like Cape Henry Associates, for whom Shelley designs social media ads, desktop backgrounds, marketing slicks, and press releases. Shelley holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in design and visual communications from Belmont University and brings well over a decade of experience in visual design and communication.

Shelley describes what she loves about Powerhouse: “I love that Powerhouse is a female-owned business that works with clients who are making a positive impact in this world…but that also empowers everyone to work in a way that flexibly fits into their lifestyle, while they get to work with people they love, on projects they love.”

Earlier this year, Shelley and her partner, Sean, purchased a new home in Virginia, where they enjoy hosting their friends for barbecues and sports on the weekends. They have a seven-year-old Labrador mix named Liam, who loves finally having a backyard to run around in and play fetch, which is apparently his favorite thing in the entire world (other than cheese).

When Shelley’s not working, she enjoys traveling, visiting museums, learning new things, cooking delicious food, spending time with friends, and playing with her dog. She really loves her location and says that living near Washington, D.C. is great. “There is so much to explore (much of it free!), great restaurants to try, and lots of nearby outdoor activities: from kayaking/SUP on the Potomac River, to hiking in the Shenandoah, to biking along the many trails, such as south along the Mount Vernon Trail or west along the old Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) railroad trail.” Listening to Shelley’s ideas makes us think she would be a pretty awesome travel guide in addition to her already being such a gifted designer!

We asked Shelley to reveal one fun fact about herself that possibly no one else knows (even her Powerhouse compatriots). She tells us, “I do not watch scary movies under any circumstances. I almost always listen to podcasts while I cook, but when I’m cooking, I’m particularly drawn toward listening to podcasts that are a bit on the spookier side. Maybe the act of being at home and cooking makes me feel safe and comforted, making me feel less anxious about listening to something spooky.” Shelley’s favorites include LORE with Aaron Mahnke, Serial (season one) from This American Life, Dirty John from the L.A. Times, and The Clearing from Pineapple Street Media/Gimlet.

This month at Powerhouse we are focused on the topic of self-care, so we asked Shelley what self-care means for her and how she makes it happen. She says, “In my professional life, self-care means getting all of the information that I need for a project up front so that neither myself nor the client are scrambling to gather/provide extra info closer to the due date. She continues, “I also say ‘no’ to projects when I know that I won’t have the time or energy to give it what it would need. When I schedule my work hours around the ‘life’ activities that I already have planned, have been looking forward to, and need in my life, it helps me maintain a feeling of ‘balance.’”

For Shelley, balance is essential. “I’m a big fan of the word ‘balance’—I guess you could say it’s the closest thing I have to a mantra. For me, it’s very important to have a balance of work and fun, whether that means a balance of work and fun at work (i.e., working on less exciting admin tasks and having fun designing something beautiful and impactful) or a balance of work and non-work activities.”

Shelley offers this advice for other freelancers: “When you start feeling things moving out of balance, try to think of something that would start moving things back to a balanced state. Maybe that means taking a day off to do something that brings you joy or setting aside a larger chunk of hours on a weekend to get caught up on a work project.” She also says, “Make sure that you’re working on projects that you love. Maybe it’s not every project, but strive to keep getting more and more projects that are bringing joy and fulfillment into your life. There are always dry spots and tough times, and when you hit those, carve out time to do something you love, even if it’s pro-bono or a personal project that may never see the light of day.”

Shelley tells us that she loved being profiled for Powerhouse’s month focused on self-care as it’s something that is important to her both in her professional and personal life. She even discloses these self-care practices that work for her: “Face masks. Yes, I look silly, and I know dermatologists say they don’t accomplish much, but they make me feel SO relaxed. There’s not much you can do while wearing a sheet mask, other than lay back and relax for a few minutes. Try talking or running around the house to do something and that mask is going to slide right off!” She reveals that she loves “drinking a nice Pinot Noir and chowing down on some cheese—I love the ‘Unexpected Cheddar’ from Trader Joe’s—or listening to an audiobook (Circe by Madeline Miller was a recent favorite) while I run around the house dusting and vacuuming (yes, those are self-care activities…because I actually enjoy cleaning and LOVE having a clean house!). I started following Melissa Maker’s blog and YouTube channel Clean My Space years ago, and she does a phenomenal job about getting you excited to clean, in part because you learn the right way and most efficient way to clean!”

Now you know why it’s so easy for us to love Shelley and you can benefit from her awesome tips and recommendations! Thank you, Shelley, for your creative and positive approach to life and work. The Powerhouse team is amazing because of individuals like you. Keep on shining and rocking the balance game—and we hope to have many more wonderful years working with you on the Powerhouse team!

By: Julie H. Kirchner, Technical/Grants Writer, Powerhouse Planning

Have you ever had to think about whether or not you would have food to eat for the weekend? Ten years ago, three forward-thinking gentlemen—Bob Barnes, JY Clerc, and Sam Jordan—perceptively formed a nonprofit organization to help fight childhood hunger and malnutrition in Brevard County, Florida. Since then, The Children’s Hunger Project has served thousands of elementary school children who are at risk of hunger and malnutrition by providing meals to last them through the weekend until they return to school on Monday morning.

According to The Children’s Hunger Project website, the number of children in Brevard County in the free and reduced-price meal program exceeds 50%. Some elementary schools have 80% or more of their kids on the free and reduced-price meal program, with many at risk of childhood hunger and malnutrition. As a determinant of hunger risk and poverty in a geographic area, the availability of the free and reduced-price meal program in public schools has been recognized as a key indicator. For children at risk of childhood hunger and malnutrition, the risk doesn’t stop with the end of the school week. These kids are also hungry on the weekends.

Keith Gee, who has served as executive director of The Children’s Hunger Project since 2016, explains, “The kids we serve are elementary school children who are eligible for the National Free Lunch Program. Here in Brevard that means that they get breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday when they attend school. The problem is that lunch on Friday is oftentimes their last nutritious meal until they return to school on Monday morning. That is 68 hours without proper nutrition! We deliver a package of kid-friendly food to the schools and the teachers can put the package in the kids’ backpacks before they go home on Friday. This ensures that these kids return to school on Mondays ready to learn and be successful.”

On their website, The Children’s Hunger Project describes how everything is designed with the child in mind: “Each week on Friday, The Children’s Hunger Project, Inc. helps as many elementary school children as possible have food to carry home for the weekend in their backpack. This kid-friendly food is lightweight and easy for kids to handle—no cooking is required. Even if the power is out the kids can still pull the top off the can and eat Beanie Weenies. On Monday, the kids return to school but with a better and healthier foundation for learning. Our goal is to ensure elementary school children, at least on weekends, will have basic nutrition.” The Children’s Hunger Project measures success in positive results in children, including improved attendance, better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, and improved health.

With such a powerful mission and purpose spurring the organization on, we can imagine that it feels good to go to work every day for The Children’s Hunger Project (TCHP). We asked Executive Director Keith Gee what he enjoys most about his work with TCHP. He says, “I love helping people. I have been involved with nonprofit management and fundraising for over 30 years (my entire career). I love the fact that I know each and every day my efforts are going to help people in need. I love the fact that TCHP is solely focused on Brevard County. I love the people I work with. All of the volunteers and staff are so passionate about our mission. It is truly inspiring being around them and watching them work. I also love the amount of support we receive from Brevard County residents. We have wonderful volunteers, consistent donors, and supporters who make our organization so successful.”

It’s easy to feel hugely drawn to their mission of feeding local hungry children, and that’s exactly how Powerhouse’s President Jessica Bertsch and Executive Assistant Jennifer Kirkpatrick felt about The Children’s Hunger Project after attending one of their events. Following the event, Jessica and Jennifer met with TCHP’s leadership team, identified their greatest and most immediate needs, and moved forward, as they would with any other contract, except this contract was pro bono, meaning it had an amount due of “$0.00” and Jess paid her freelance team members from Powerhouse’s “Share the Goodness” fund. (We have mentioned before that Jessica is kind of a non-traditional CEO, but if you have the opportunity to get to know her and Jennifer, their combined creativity and passion for giving back are positively inspiring.)

Keith reflects on his experience of working with Powerhouse, “Jessica and her team have been absolutely wonderful to work with. Not only did they take the time to truly understand what we needed to get done, but they worked very quickly to get some of our items done right away. The brand standards that they developed for us were useful immediately. Their assistance with some of our campaigns really helped us track our progress.”

The services and deliverables that Powerhouse provided for The Children’s Hunger Project included
• Brand Standards Sheet
• Giving Tuesday Campaign Plan and Graphics
• Child Champion/Ambassador Toolkit
It was an incredibly positive experience for both organizations to work together and accomplish something meaningful and impactful, and it’s a dreamy scenario all around. Keith and his team at The Children’s Hunger Project are passionate to go to work every day with the ability to focus on the things they love to do and all the good that they can do in their community for children. Jessica and Jennifer go to work for Powerhouse every day feeling passionate about being in the position to provide vital support to many incredibly deserving nonprofit organizations, like TCHP, who may otherwise not have the time and resources required to manage every aspect in-house.

It can be nearly impossible for many nonprofit leaders to find the time and budget to onboard new staff in each of many key skillsets that help businesses thrive—such as strategic planning and marketing, social media campaign design and management, grant writing, internal and external communications, website design, and graphic design. That’s where Powerhouse comes in and becomes your support team solution, giving you the time and energy to focus on your strengths and achieve your most desired goals for your organization.

This month, Powerhouse is focusing on the topic of self-care for freelancers and business owners/CEOs. While we learned about all the hard work that the team at The Children’s Hunger Project is doing to help children in the community, we also asked Keith to share his advice as an executive director/CEO on the importance of self-care and how he practices this in his personal and professional life. (First, he laughed.) Then, he acknowledged, “Honestly, I struggle with this. Work/life balance is difficult, but also one of the things I love about my job. My work is my professional life and my social life. I attend events on the weekends and in the evening that support our cause. It is wonderful to meet new people who also support our organization.” As for his personal life, “Personal fitness is a big priority for me. Although I do have a ‘sweet tooth,’ I work out and try to stay active.” And professionally, he says, “I push myself hard. I do not mind working nights and weekends because I love my job. As the saying goes, ‘Get a career following your passion and you will never work a day in your life.’”

Keith shares with us that TCHP is going to continue to grow in 2020, and he is very proud of their accomplishments this past year as well as their focus on sustainability and careful planning going forward. “My proudest moment with TCHP is that we received a large estate gift from a gentleman who passed away. As a board of directors, we have carefully planned to make this money work for us as we continue to grow and feed more kids in the future.” They have big plans for 2020, and Keith says, “Our goal is to add three to five more schools and serve more children in the county. Currently, we are serving over 2,100 kids every week at 46 elementary schools. There are over 1,000 kids still on our waiting list. We need to do more.”

If there is one thing that Keith and the TCHP team wish people knew about The Children’s Hunger Project, it would be that anyone can help make a difference. “One of our biggest fundraisers is our Health First Fight Child Hunger 5K,” Keith says. “This is a joint fundraiser for TCHP and the Sharing Center of Central Brevard. The event is Saturday, January 11 at Viera High School. The race begins at 8:00 a.m. This is a very family/dog-friendly run. People come out and run, many walk, but it is all about raising money to feed local kids. We will have a live band there and a FREE pancake breakfast for everyone after the race.”

If you don’t have a child in elementary school, it can be hard to feel personally connected to this need. But for savvy business owners, retirees, local colleges, and large employers in the community, this issue matters deeply. Being hungry at school is part of a larger economic picture. When you have young kids who can’t focus on learning because they are hungry and uncomfortable, or not getting enough nutrition to keep them healthy, the wider community is impacted, both now and in the future. Children who grow up participating in and being successfully involved in their school education become the future economic support of their community. They are the future employers and employees, nurses and doctors caring for an aging population, and future educators. And, yes, as the building block for every step of education that follows, early childhood education matters. Bringing these children out of hunger is the key to giving them a strong start in life and in education—and that is the basic building block of a healthy community.

You can read more about The Children’s Hunger Project here:
www.facebook.com/thechildrenshungerproject
thechildrenshungerproject.org