YAYA with Nico and Heather

YAYA is the Youth And Young Adult Network of the Farm workers’ Ministry. It is, what they call, a solidarity network. They work with multiple farm worker organizations to educate the public about farm worker plights, equip farm workers with the tools for better working conditions, and mobilize the communities of and surrounding farm workers to action. One of the main points Nico and Heather stressed about farm work is that it is a skilled labor job–it’s not actually just anyone who can spend all day every day picking produce.

I learned that they work closely with a community of farm workers located in Fellsmere, Florida. Which happens to be the town I was born in. I was turning 8 when we left there, so it seems like there was a lot I just didn’t understand. We lived on 5 acres of land with a pond and a lot of trees. Up against the back side of our property was an orange grove (or was it grapefruit?). I remember coming home from school sometimes and the oranges (or grapefruits) all being gone. I think I was 5 or so when my mother explained to me that it was someone’s job to come and pick the fruit when it was ripe and ready to eat. How did I think the fruit got into the grocery stores? I have never been back–more because of some personal issues with our old house than anything–but it’s nice to see that there are people helping that little town.

One thing I found really interesting about YAYA is that they don’t make decisions and then raise awareness for the farm workers. They take all of their ques from the workers as far as what they are raising funds or awareness for. YAYA is a mega phone for voices that normally go unheard because the majority of people don’t want to listen.

While I knew that the pay rate was a big issue for farm workers, I didn’t know of the serious adverse affects of the pesticides they are constantly exposed to. In fact, I didn’t realize that the pesticides were sometimes being applied to the produce as it is being picked–I thought it was applied during the night or something. These pesticides can cause any problems from a minor rash to serious birth defects (women who are pregnant work all the way up until they have their child). A group of farm workers now located in Apopka got Lupus from working in pesticide ridden fields for so long. Lupus is something you can pass to your children. So that’s what’s happening even though this group no longer works in the fields. It’s an incredibly viscous and tragic cycle. I also learned that the US is the most lax when it comes to pesticide laws and control.

Nico told us that writing for YAYA is much more than just grant writing (which he does). He has also written film scripts, reports, workflow charts, spreadsheets, phone scripts, and program agendas. It seems like it’s really just a little bit of everything!

The Foundation for Me! Laura Pooser and Anne Boterri

Laura Pooser and Anne Boterri work for the UCF Foundation which is located right here on the UCF campus. Surprising, right? The UCF Foundation was created to raise money for UCF to fund projects such as professor and graduate research studies and scholarships for students.

Laura Pooser is a UCF grad herself. She majored in Graphic Design and worked for a long time for different ad agencies in the area. She was an art director and handled projects dealing with print materials and copywriting. She decided one day that she needed a change and looked into the nonprofit world. She now works as a fundraiser for the UCF Foundation, specifically for the College of Arts and Humanities (which is my college!). Ms. Pooser raises monies from international sources interested in the UCF message, companies, and individuals–with an emphasis on endowments from these individuals. She believes in face to face interaction and engaging potential donors. “Through engagement,” she told us, “people will eventually donate.”

Anne Boterri works as more of a technical communicator for the UCF Foundation. Which is a new position that was created just a few years ago as she was looking for warmer climes to work in–she’s originally from New Hampshire! She heads up a lot of their publishing ventures. She told us, though, that there’s no document we can create that will make someone write a check; so we have to remember to value the face to face interaction and engagement of potential donors. Ms. Boterri is all about storytelling–probably a carryover from her Liberal Arts degree. She worked in journalism for a while, too. When she helps create a document for the UCF Foundation, she focuses on “great photography and great headlines” because that’s what people are going to see first.

We learned some interesting things about donations to the UCF Foundations and the donors that make them. The UCF Foundation has a very clear idea of what kinds of donations they will and will not accept. Donations are considered gifts, not necessarily monies received. Quid pro quo gifts are not really gifts–a donation to the UCF Foundation will not sway the admission of a student. Discriminatory donations are not accepted either. Examples of something like this would be offering to donate to start a scholarship fund and then narrowing down the requirements for the scholarship to only a specific ethnic group or basically a particular student. Donors are able to specify things like GPA and/or area of study for their scholarships, though!
A lot of emphasis is placed on donor intent and making sure they know that we understood what they meant when we implemented their donation to a specific area. There is a lot of documentation that goes on tracking the money that comes in so that we can keep donors updated on how their dollars are making a difference.

Ms. Pooser and Ms. Boterri told us, like many others have, that working in the nonprofit world is all about your passion for the cause you’re working for. Ms. Boterri told us that there’s a lot of writing to be done in the nonprofit world and that we can’t be afraid to put the words together and get them out there.