Hello Birth Warriors!
I think it is time to officially unveil the new face of ICAN of
the Twin Cities, as we have had three major changes in our board this year.
The first is to say with a heavy heart goodbye to Sarah Shannon.
She has been part of ICAN of the Twin Cities for 6+ years and has really
been the one who knew how to get all our ideas more than just talk. She
is extremely high energy and organized and excellent at setting goals and
following up so we all stayed on track. She just received her Ph.D in
Sociology from the U of M, so how she put so much time into our chapter, while
working on that, along with being mom to two boys and wife still amazes me. She
has inspired me to act on what I believe in, and she has given me the tools to
know how to do it. Besides all that, I consider her a true friend, so it
shouldn't have surprised me when I burst into tears the day I said goodbye to
her before they drove to Georgia. I guess I should add that she and her
husband (also a new doctor-congrats to you too, Jerry) have both accepted
positions at the University of Georgia in Athens. ICAN of the Twin Cities
owes a debt of gratitude to the Shannon family and we have grown so much
together-our boys, our bellies (pregnant ones, I mean), our VBAC journeys. It
is hard to say goodbye to such a momentous part of my life, but Sarah was
definitely that and I say Thank you and Onward! I know they will bring
many great things to Athens.
The second big change is that Kara stepped
back from her Chapter Leader duties to focus on her career and her family a
little more. She is still on the board, thank goodness, so it isn't sad,
but a little scary as I have assumed her position. Kara has fearlessly led
our chapter for 6 years and these are big shoes to fill. Under her
direction, we attended ICAN conferences, held several huge fundraising events,
and yes, started the Twin Cities Birth and Baby Expo, not to mention keeping
the monthly meetings running and growing. She has always been the brains
of our group-knowing when to put the brakes on something too big, and when to
say "go for it." She is an accountant in her regular life and
very organized and good with details, and I have tried to learn as much as I
can from her. I am nervous about running our chapter, but as long as she
is still with us, I will always have her knowledge base. She was also an
officer for ICAN International, so is a wealth of insider information.
Not to mention, she is a great person and her family too has grown right
along with us.
The third is that we grew our board.
Our "old" board had been Sarah, Kara and me for a long
time. We then invited Jill a year ago,
which gave us some much needed new energy and woman-power. But with the
loss of Sarah, we were facing a pretty big hole so we put out a call and
received several impressive applications. And now we are so excited to
have Katie (congrats on your HBAC!), Alexis and Kelly as new ICAN of the Twin
Cities board members. We also had a wonderful lady named Ruth, but she
suddenly moved back to Chicago so we had only a short time together. I
believe that Chicago has some VBAC challenges, so I have encouraged her to get
involved there, as I am sure they need all the help they can get. We will
certainly miss her and appreciate her stepping up to the call. So now,
our "new" board has just the right mix of creativity and high energy
and more woman-power we were looking for, as each woman brings fabulous and
unique skills. I know we are on track to grow our chapter in a way that
will continue to be on track with the ICAN mission, by reaching more and more
women. Thank you, ladies, for joining!
So from here, we are working on adding to
our chapter and getting more visible and organized and accessible. The addition of the Facebook Group has
already added a huge jump in online help-so thank you Katie for managing
that. We are looking to grow our
library, our website, our presence in the hospitals and other communities we haven’t
been very visible in yet. Our top
priority will always be our meetings and the mother-to –mother support that is
critical to healing and learning, so look out for some really great meetings
coming up. And of course the Twin CitiesBirth and Baby Expo is coming Saturday, October 12. Finally, Kelly will be managing the Blog, so
look for upcoming interesting and helpful posts.
We are truly lucky to live in an area that has many options for
first time and VBAC moms to have the birth they deserve and should have. We
have choices here, and it isn’t like that everywhere. Little by little, one VBAC at a time, one prevented cesarean at a time, birth
gets safer and better. I feel very
rewarded being a part of this and look forward to doing more.
Rock you birth and your life ladies-there is no one who knows your
baby, your body and your needs better than you!
Heather
