January 16, 2011
Developing my pearls
Sometimes, our God often has a deliberate way of getting our attention. The Holy Spirit spoke to me today to watch Joel Osteen and the message was just for me. I really needed to hear this one today.
Just as a pearl faces many irritants to become beautiful, God uses uncomfortable situations to mold and shape us. Isaiah 64:8 says God is the potter and we are the clay. One of the ways God shapes us is by allowing us to be in situations where we’re uncomfortable. This pressure brings to light impurities in our character – pride, selfishness, being critical and easily offended – that need to leave our lives so we can move forward into His blessings.
I am runner. I often run from adversity, pray away hard situations or difficult people. I often say nothing happens per chance and God has a purpose behind every situation to shape me. Therefore, I must work with God through this situation.
“After you have passed the test, you will receive the victor’s crown of life.” James 1:12
God knows my value. I’m a work in progress. God has me on the wheel; I must not fight against it. These present sufferings are nothing compared to the blessing he has in store for me. I must trust and believe that he knows best and knows his plans for me.
As Always,
Allison
February 15, 2010
Ruby R. Wharton Award Winners announced
Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. and his wife announced the winners of her coveted awards in her namesake. Congratulations to the winners of the Ruby R. Wharton Awards.
Early Childhood
Marka Bennett, Agape Child and Family Services
Youth & Delinquency
Martha Beard, President and senior branch executive of the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Race Relations
Aurelia Kyles
Women’s Rights
Dr. Rosie Bingham, University of Memphis
Business
Kelly Dobbins, Owner Mid-South Testing
Politics/ Community
Yvonne Acey, Africa in April
Community Service
Charlie Nelson, MIFA
Child Advocacy
Tran Bui Smith
January 12, 2010
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and his wife Ruby to honor Exceptional Women
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and his wife, Ruby, are seeking nominations for the Ruby R. Wharton Award to honor exceptional women who have made outstanding contributions to in the Greater Memphis community. The awards will be presented by Mayor Wharton during the Eight Annual Tea and Talk at the Top on Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 3 p.m. in the Hall of Mayors.
Established in 2005, The Ruby R. Wharton Award recognizes women who have unselfishly worked to improve the quality of life for others and made significant strides in the areas of:
- Early Childhood
- Youth & Delinquency
- Race Relations
- Women’s Rights
- Business/Politics/Government
Nomination forms for the Ruby R. Wharton Award may be received by contacting
Allison Fouche’ at 576-6006 or by email at allisonjfouche@gmail.com or Catherine Green at 486-4198 or by email at Cat73green@yahoo.com
Deadline for nominations is 4 pm, Friday, January 29, 2010.
Click here for details: RUBY WHARTON COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS
Ruby R. Wharton Outstanding Woman Award
Past Recipients
2009 Recipients
Brenda Taylor, PhD, Director of Compliance, Shelby County Head Start
Nettie Rogers, Evangelist/Founder, Memphis Inter-Denominational Fellowship, Inc
Johnnie Turner, Executive Director, NAACP
Louise Patterson, President, Bountiful Blessings, Inc.
Jefferie Bruton, CPA, Executive Director, Shelby Residential and Vocational Services, Inc.
Dorothy “Happy” Jones, Founder, Memphis Area Women’s Council and Network
2008 Recipients
Kenya Bradshaw, Community Planning & Development, The Urban Child Institute
Michelle Fowlkes, Associate Director, Partnerships Southeast FO USP, Save the Children
Brenda Harper, Vice President of Mortgage Lending for Enterprise Corp, Delta HOPE
Jean Saulsberry, Development of Student Development, LeMoyne-Owen
Marion Levy, Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Public Health Program, University of Memphis
2007 Recipients
Nancy Bogatin, Community Activist
Dr. Shirley Hilliard, Counselor, Whitney Elementary
Espi Ralston, Healthcare Interpreter
Anita Vaughn, CEO, Administrator Baptist Women’s Hospital
Pat Morgan, Executive Director, Partners for the Homeless
Rita Stotts, Judge
2006 Recipients
Derna Abreu Greenberg, Bilingual Homebuyer Education Coordinator of United Housing, Inc.
Barbara Sax Jacobs, Program Officer & Director of the Plough Foundation
Barbara King, Executive Director of the Exchange Club Family Center
Linda Moses, MD., OB/GYN Physician with Hollywood Health Loop
Beverly Robertson, President of the National Civil Rights Museum
2005 Recipients
Dr. Carolyn Bibbs, President & CEO, Creative Life Preparatory School
Ruby Bright, Executive Director & CEO, Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis
Patricia Chandler, Founder and President, Impact Marketing
Barbara Holden, Director, Institute for Early Childhood
Antionette Holman, Regional Administrator, TN Department of Children Services
Barbara Motley, Director, Goodwill homes Community Services, Inc.
Lyda Parker, Retired Educator
Nisha Powers, Owner, Powers Hill Design, LLC
Ester Shaw, Educator
Nancy Williams, Director, Memphis Child Advocacy Center
December 27, 2009
The Power of Online Fundraising
Wikipedia has proven for the sixth year that online fundraising really works if you have a foundation, cause or nonprofit that people can believe in. Wikipedia relies solely on donations to finance its operation and pay its employees. Wait, I thought they used volunteers. Anyhow, the site’s founder posted a message and the appeal drew $430,000 from about 13,000 people in the first day and $345,000 in the second. The campaign started in November and to-date has raised $6.6 million of its $7.5 million goal.
So Wikipedia is run by a foundation?
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, the fourth most visited website in the world. The Foundation plans to spend the money on the day to day operation. They are even looking for a Chief Development Officer for continued fundraising efforts. The Foundation list more than enough financial history, annual reports and vision/mission information that would allow any serious giver a chance to explore why their gift matters.
Why do some people hate Wikipedia?
Conversely, academia and serious researchers, including my very own graduate program at West Virginia, sneer at using Wikipedia as a reliable source of information. The reason quite simply – Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, at anytime. This leads to numerous problems, including some pages that are changed to suit a particular bias. Apart from this, Wikipedia has served the internet community, since 2000. A decade later, Wikipedia is still a place where information seekers can discover information. For example, if a person wants to know or verify something, then they can visit Wikipedia and find out more on their own. They can add information on a page, create a new page if the information doesn’t exist, and comment on the nature of the writing or structure. For informal purposes, Wikipedia seems to have its place. What I use it for, on occasion, is as a secondary source to find primary resources and verifiable information that can be used in my research. So, is this still direct use of Wikipedia? I also allow my son to use it when looking for basic information for class projects. Then we verify it in the 20 year old encyclopedia that I had as a teen. So what source is better?
Wikipedia suffers from other problems, such as edit wars. It also suffers from the problem that pages are not routinely monitored, so that someone could create false information and never have it cross-referenced. This leads to what drives academia crazy – Wikipedia is largely information without citations. This means that many statements do not have proper sources to back up claims and therefore rely on a writer’s memory, opinion, judgment or other misinformation.
So how can an unreliable source raise over $6 million? The world may never know why. But I think the money should be used to hire better researchers and editors to validate this online tool, so that academia as well as other serious researchers can use it for what it was designed for –a true online encyclopedia.
