Another Good Week in the Books

spending my morning at the BMV

I somewhat expected this past week to be calmer and more routine than the last few weeks and I was incredibly wrong.  I had a bunch of meetings that wound up happening and a ton of progress that has gotten made on some big things.  This morning didn’t even give me a break as I found myself at the BMV getting new plates for the company trailer and dealing with the logistics of getting a new company entered into the BMV system.

But a recap of this week goes like this…

First, we had some awesome news this week that we were awarded a grant from a local foundation to provide programming to a school in Wayne Township.  It’s an incredible honor to receive this grant as the foundation does not normally fund programming, but they had an already existing relationship with the school so they made an exception to their rule and provided the required funding to get Nine13 to the school.  It was the final piece of the puzzle that I needed to secure to mark the busiest session for Nine13 to date.  I’ve grown the organization from doing 2 schools per week, to an organization that has booked 6 schools per week (one will be a morning/afternoon different school schedule) and have secured the funding to provide our services at each school.  It’s such a pivot from the early days and highlights how far I’ve brought things along in a relatively short amount of time since taking over the executive director role.

one of the schools we’re in even has a school dog! Meet Lily, she’s an absolute sweetheart

I saw Mayor Ballard Wednesday night at an event I was at for work and we talked for a few minutes in a relatively low key manner.  he was incredibly complimentary of what we continue to do and even gave props to our social media efforts.  It’s amazing to hear feedback like that and makes me feel great about the path we continue to push forward with.

Additionally, got a verbal firm commitment for another significant grant that will be awarded at the end of Quarter 2.  It’s from an organization I have literally been chasing for 2 years and have submitted 6 grant applications too previously; so the fact they’re finally ready to commit to Nine13 makes me smile and incredibly happy.

some awesome steak and good friends tonight for dinner

It will be a bit calmer this week, not a ton of meetings, an afternoon off on Wednesday for a deposition related to the divorce and otherwise just keeping busy.  I’ve got some steaks to grill tonight, basketball on today and tomorrow and of course–sushi Sunday tomorrow night.  Not a bad weekend at all…!