EPISODE SUMMARY:

Welcome to Because We Love U. A podcast dedicated to helping you live a life of wellness. In this episode, co-hosts Stacy Lipowski, Ph. D., and Jade Breeback, MHS PA-C, interview Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser and Dr. Allie Blosser about why giving matters and how to give more responsibly.

Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser is the Executive Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at High Point University. He received his Ph.D. in Religious Ethics from the University of Chicago, M.Div. at Vanderbilt University, and his B.S. at Texas Christian University. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He joined the HPU faculty in 2011 after teaching at the University of Chicago and DePaul University. He primarily teaches Business Ethics, Educational Ethics, Christian Theology, and Civic Responsibility and Social Innovation.

Joe is highly involved in the High Point Community of North Carolina. He helped get the High Point Schools Partnership going, and serves on the Board for the Guilford Education Alliance. He also helped found and later served as chair of the board for the Greater High Point Food Alliance. He served for six years on the Board and as the Grants Committee Chair for the High Point Community Foundation, and he serves on the advisory boards for the Community Clinic of High Point, Open Door Ministries, and more. He was awarded the “Spirit of Advocacy” by the United Way of Greater High Point in 2015, named the “Community Partner of the Year” for Communities in Schools in 2018, was recognized by Triad Business as one of our community’s 40-under-40, and was the inaugural recipient of the Spirit of High Point University Award in 2018. He currently serves on the NC Commission for Volunteerism and Community Service.

Dr. Allie Blosser is Assistant Professor of Education in the Leadership Studies Department, as well as an Honors Faculty Fellow at High Point University. She holds a PhD in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago, an MA from Michigan State University and a BA from Texas Christian University. She primarily teaches Education and Society, Diversity in Education, Qualitative Inquiry, and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.

Allie is actively involved in serving her surrounding community. She serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations in the High Point/Greensboro, North Carolina area such as Ready for School, Ready for Life, the Enrichment Fund for Guilford County Schools, the National Conference for Community and Justice, and Congresswoman Kathy Manning’s Military Academy Nomination Committee. She also researches and publishes on university/community partnerships, is a 2021 NC Educational Policy Fellow, and in 2020 was awarded the Spirit of High Point University Award.

Joe and Allie have two children, Seth and Beatrice. The Blosser family resides in High Point, North Carolina.

NOTES, QUOTES, & LINKS

• [ARTICLE] 10 Year-End Giving Statistics Every Fundraiser Should Know written by Ronnie Gomez

• In this episode, Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser refers to French sociologist and political theorist, Alexis de Tocqueville, as well as the United Way Tocqueville Society. You can read more on these topics by clicking the appropriate links.

• "There are healthy and harmful ways for ourselves that we can give. Just because we're giving, doesn't mean we're helping our own well-being." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• "We live in a society that posts a picture every time we do anything great. And I battle this. Am I taking this picture to give awareness, or to get some type of glory?" Jade Breeback, MHS, PA-C

• "I want to pull you into a deeper way of giving so it becomes a lifelong habit, and not something that's built on immediate brain response." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• [ARTICLE] Worldwide, Highly Religious More Likely to Help Others written by Brett Pelham and Steve Crabtree.

• "People who consider themselves religious were 50% more likely to give in the past month." Stacy Lipowski, Ph. D.

• "We have to be together. We have to see each others needs. We have to be proximate to the need in order to feel compelled to give." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• "If we live our lives in gated communities, or at work, and are not regularly engaging people who are experiencing poverty it's pretty easy to ignore it." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• "We stress building relationships with the community to our students. We want you to become proximate to the need. To be in the community. To get to know the people." Dr. Allie Blosser

• "The most important thing you can do is go and build relationship with one person today at this site. Because you can't actually do anything until you are in relationship." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• "How can you get proximate to people? How can you empower people?" Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

• [BOOK] Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser and Dr. Allie Blosser refer to the book Toxic Charity: How The Church Hurts Those They Help and How To Reverse It written by Robert D. Lupton.

• "Often times when we take food out of our pantry, it's the food we don't want. Here's a can of creamed corn that's been sitting there for 10 months and we're going to donate it to our food pantry. If we don't want it, what makes us feel that someone else is going to want it?" Dr. Allie Blosser

• "Through giving we can make more for everybody." Rev. Dr. Joe Blosser

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