The adjustments and changes that Fort Support needed to make in order to achieve the vision and mission as ideally as possible are discussed in more detail below. We encountered four obstacles, one of which caused us to shift the objectives to better serve the Salvation Army's March spotlight.
Obstacle 1
Since we partnered with four of United Way's partner agencies, highlighting each one with only about a month to do so was difficult. We were limited on the time we had to plan for each agency spotlight, but wanted to take the time to really understand the needs of each agency before it was their turn for the spotlight.
Actions Taken for Obstacle 1
We began right away reaching out to each partner agency to schedule times to meet with them to better understand how we could help them support the most vital needs of the community at the time of their spotlight. We managed to get in contact with each agency by email during the planning phase to schedule times to meet in person. We all met with First Call for Help at the end of January to learn more about their hygiene, food, and diaper pantry needs. Next, Elizabeth and Jaylah met with Salvation Army at the end of February to understand what exactly was needed for the paper pantry. At the beginning of March, all team members met with Bill Dinkel to learn what it takes to host and help run a successful blood drive. Finally, in April we contacted Options via email and informed them that all the money we fundraised throughout April would be donated to them to use at their own discretion.
Obstacle 2
All four members of this team had very busy and often conflicting schedules due to differing class, work, and extracurricular schedules. This made it challenging to find periods throughout the week when all team members could be present in person outside of the scheduled class times. Along with our internal scheduling conflicts, getting responses and times to meet from some partner agencies was difficult.
Actions Taken for Obstacle 2
To combat our scheduling conflicts, we communicated on a weekly basis to determine if and/or when we would meet outside of scheduled class times. However, there were still weeks that we were not able to meet outside of class time on Tuesday and Thursday. These weeks lead us to use our class time diligently to achieve as much team work as possible. We also had a group chat to communicate outside of class.
We worked to plan dates/deadlines for the agency spotlight events as far in advance as possible, hoping to have as many Fort Support members in attendance as possible. Along with this, we kept regular contact with our spotlight agencies via email about times to meet in person and to update them on how the project was going.
Obstacle 3
The blood drive we scheduled for the American Red Cross was intended to be a follow-up drive for individuals that missed the 2-day blood drive held on campus just 2 weeks prior to ours. Because the previous drive was so large, it was difficult to schedule enough donor appointments to reach our goal of 25.
Actions Taken for Obstacle 3
Together we worked to reach out to community members outside of the FHSU campus in hopes to find more people that would be able/willing to donate blood at our follow-up drive. We posted flyers and a link to schedule appointments for our drive on the Ellis County Facebook page, networked with coworkers, family members, and friends about the blood drive, and contacted donors that missed their appointment at the larger drive two weeks earlier. These actions allowed us to get over 25 people signed up to donate blood, with 10 of those individuals being first time donors.
Obstacle 4
When starting on the paper goods collection drive for Salvation Army, we thought that just contacting a few banks within Hays to be drop off locations would not be enough for the drive to gain traction within the community to be successful. This lead us to reach out to as many churches in Ellis County that we could find contact information for to see if they would be willing to be drop off locations. The hope here was that multiple churches would agree to advertise the drive in their weekly bulletins and have a drop off site set up for multiple services for people to notice and donate to. Unfortunately, this did not go as we hoped it would. Only 2 churches and 2 banks in Ellis county agreed to be drop off locations, which severely impacted the number of donations we had planned to receive.
Actions Taken for Obstacle 4
The first action taken for this obstacle was to reach out to not only the banks in Hays to be drop off locations for the drive but to also contact all churches in Ellis County. A spreadsheet was created with church names, their contact information, and if they agreed to help with the drive. Team members then started contacting the churches, and did not have much luck. From here we decided to still hold the collection drive at the four places that agreed to be drop off locations. We had this set up prior to spring break, thinking that work towards the drive was being done passively. When the end of March rolled around and it was time to collect the donations, we were surprised to find only about 20 items had been donated in total. Our original goal was to collect 50 items minimum. So we had to think quickly to give Salvation Army the spotlight they deserved.
Project Changes for Obstacle 4
We decided to reach out to churches and not just the banks for the paper goods drive
In order to give Salvation Army a proper spotlight we decided to use the Applebee's fundraiser we had planned for Options for Salvation Army, since we were confident that the raffle for Options would be a success.
We then used the money from the Applebee's dine-to-donate fundraiser to purchase the items that were still needed for the Salvation Army paper pantry.
Adaptability & Performance Effectiveness
Adaptability
Fort Support's impact on the Ellis County community spanned the course of three months while we actively worked to spotlight and provide for four of United Way's partner agencies, including First Call for Help, The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, and Options. Although the spotlights for United Way's partner agencies were just a month long, our hope is that the completion of all our fundraisers and drives allowed the community to become more informed of the resources that these agencies each have to offer. The more that individuals know about the agencies we collaborated with, the more likely they are to use their helpful resources when needed. This alone leaves a lasting impact in the community and also achieves Fort Support's vision for Ellis County residents to have access to the resources they need to succeed.
By adapting to the various obstacles previously discussed, Fort Support was able to reach all of the goals for each partner agency. Some goals were even exceeded. Achieving our objectives are what allowed Fort Support's mission to spotlight and provide for four of United Way's partner agencies become a reality.
Performance Effectiveness
United Way is a nationwide nonprofit organization that works to, “Improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.” United Way achieves this mission through various resources that exist within each unique community.
In Ellis County specifically, United Way has fifteen different partner agencies they support, so that the local community is equipped with impactful resources that can be used by all. Fort Support is serving United Way's mission by addressing and providing the current significant needs of First Call for Help, The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, and Options through month long spotlights. The spotlights for each agency includes various fundraisers and collection drives that will help contribute to solving the most crucial needs each are facing at this time.
