Communications Team Blog : 8.13.22
The ECM Board Gets Their Hands Dirty
The Extreme Community Makeover Board of Directors doesn’t just make decisions in meeting rooms. They roll up their sleeves and help neighborhoods like the Elyria-Swansea community. First-year board member, John, found a natural connection to being involved with ECM after learning about ECM online when his company had volunteer hours available and he wanted to give back.
“The one thing I am good at outside of work is home improvement things, and it is a good fit for me to give back and meet some neighbors and meet some other wonderful volunteers.”
As a Littleton resident, John has an opportunity to get out of his comfort zone and experience a different perspective of the metro Denver area through involvement in ECM projects. “This has been an exposure to me. I didn’t even know Denver has alleys. That’s how little downtown exposure I’ve had,” he said. There are a lot of people that would like to do projects but there isn’t always an outlet. ECM is an easy way to navigate that since the way Angela has set this up is smooth. People who have the heart to do this can easily get involved.”
Being a board member, John expressed his gratitude for working alongside a committed group of people. "I just wanted to see where else at a higher level besides the day-to-day contributions to my business and my organizational experience would come into play. And this is a great group of motivated people.”
Adriana, who has been on the board for a few years, has a strong motivation to be a part of ECM doing her part to help the citizens of Denver and making sure their roots are firmly planted in the community.
“I think we all in the community have a responsibility to help keep the current residents in the homes that they are currently in and whatever way we can do that - through volunteering, through raising funds, through advocating to our local governments.”
The board got together to work on two large yard projects involving cleaning, brush removal, and lawn mowing, among other things. While weed whacking, board member Madison, who is in the real estate industry, found ECM as a volunteer on the real estate day.
“I like giving back to my community where I sell real estate. We are always so “go-go-go” that it’s nice to slow down and be a part of it. This is my passion, and I have served on other boards, but I like how ECM operates. ”
Madison also connected with other real estate professionals who volunteered and wanted to make a difference in their communities, like Krystal, who has been a part of ECM for a year and a half. “It is nice to be hands-on and help people with homes when we already help them on a different level,” Krystal said.
Board member and Fundraising Team leader, May, originally started volunteering with ECM while getting connected through Denver Community Church. After moving away and coming back to Denver it was a good way to get involved with the community.
“I have gotten friends and family involved with ECM, so now the next step in the process was giving more of my time talent, and resources so I decided to ask Angela to be on the board.”
“It’s important to find ways to help encourage, educate, and inspire the community to get involved from a volunteer standpoint and to consider what are other ways help our neighbors by either giving financial resources or helping outside of work days or just spreading the word. Great work happens on a work day when hundreds of volunteers are deployed in the neighborhood but there are also consistent needs that are a little bit of a challenge but we are supported by wonderful members of the community."
With her main role in fundraising for an established global non-profit, May can use her skills to make significant contributions to ECM. "As a career fundraiser for a large non-profit, it's nice to be able to use my professional experience to also be able to serve in a volunteer capacity and help lead some of the conversations about how we can ultimately reach more folks and be able to encourage and get involved in different ways,” she said.
May referenced the science of generosity and that chemicals are released when doing good work and helping others. “Giving financially is one of the only times outside of an intimate relationship and breastfeeding that the same chemical is released in your brain. We were designed to be generous charitable people,” she said.
During their day working together, the ECM board members were more than willing to invest their time, energy, and talents to make a difference in Denver!
- Kenny, Communications Team