09/09/2019
To our Beloved Nest Mothers, Fathers and Children!
This is Zack writing, the President of the Board of Directors for The Nest. Let me start by saying that I’ve never been more excited than I am now for The Nest and where it is headed in the coming years! As well, this last year has been challenging, to say the least. Families in leadership have endured some rough family and transitioning moments all whilst The Nest was going through a major leadership and organizational structural shift. That being said, I want to thank you. Thank you for your patience over the last year as we have sorted through things, had good and bad times, made easy and tough decisions. Without you, we would not be an organization that gets to love families well.
We’ve recently had some very tough but necessary conversations as to what it looks like to help propel the Nest forward, to a good balance of what it once was (a thriving organization partnered with other local organizations as a resource center for families) and what it has transitioned to today (a place for families, mainly moms, to come and meet, build relationships and talk through life’s tough moments and do life together!) We want to be a balance of the two and there are barriers holding us back from doing so fruitfully.
The largest financial barrier to us being able to restructure well, rebuild our groups and focus on what we do best, is the building. Leadership (the Board and group leaders) have their focus being pulled two directions and we’ve realized, by focusing in one direction, we can be better, stronger and more effective at loving families. We have made the decision, and let me add, very emotionally made the decision, to sell our building. The Nest is not 752 Canton Rd. The Nest is the moms, dads and children that band together to stay together, build each other up and help pursue high purposes and callings for each other.
Candidly, because of the shift in roles for The Nest and leadership, monthly support has fallen to nearly half of what it once was and because of that we have quickly “tapped out” when it comes to being able to afford keeping on the lights. If we want to be able to provide a home of structure, consistency and transparency, a change had to be made.
The big question…. “What does this mean for the Nest moving forward?” It means we can love better! We are going to be meeting over the coming months, as leadership, to start working on schedules. Individual groups will continue meeting, but we will be able to meet in homes, local venues and will have someone working to coordinate and communicate these schedules better than we do today. This is going to free up cashflow to pay for more events that we used to love, ie Touch a Truck, Fall Festival, Moms Tea (no longer at Christmas time though,) etc! This will also produce more cashflow to pay for an interim director that does not have to take on dual roles, (leading a group and trying to pull The Nest out of a tough position.) We want to really delegate things out even more than they are to become an organization that can reestablish itself as a light in the community.
What we need from you… time and patience. We realize the timing of this announcement was “off” but items had to be sold from the building to pay bills and we had to notify donors. We will be working diligently to get everything up and running smoothly but this is uncharted territories (back to when The Nest first started out of homes) so there may be some bumps. In the end, I ask this, “Join us!” Help us bring back The Nest as a light to ALL groups. Help us connect The Nest with local organizations. Help us help families, local and afar, to navigate life. Our hope is to balance this out and once again be a “fun, supportive, and safe place for families to meet, connect and grow together in Akron, and surrounding areas”
If you have further questions, please reach out to your local PROGRAM leader and they will be able to communicate with your or with us directly. We love you all and thank you again, for your time, prayers, financial and emotional support.
