Community Partner Profile: Mission Possible

The following post was written by our Community Partners, Mission Possible, as they were preparing for their annual Momentum Awards. It illustrates the simple yet profound way that recognition can impact and improve people’s lives by giving them confidence in themselves. Presenting awards at a ceremony like this is exciting and helps provide both context and meaning. It is powerful to be appreciated in front of your community and it can affect how you see yourself within that community. In actuality though, the deeper transformations come in the weeks and months that follow, as these new perceptions sink in and the recipients see themselves in a new light. Ideally, a beautiful award will remind us of feeling appreciated by our community every time we see it.

Ashley Dreger, Office Manager, Mission Possible wrote:

As we prepare for our third annual Momentum Awards ceremony, we are struck again by the value and importance of recognition. For three years now we have honored graduates from our work readiness program and members of our community who have made outstanding contributions. We gather together – employees, community members, family and friends of those being honored – to present awards and celebrate the accomplishments of our amazing people. The concept of being celebrated is foreign to many of them.

Most of our honorees have had challenging life circumstances and many have experienced homelessness and poverty. Most have never been given opportunities to feel proud and dignified for having accomplished something. That’s what makes the award that we present to them so significant – it gives testimony to the greatness in them! The award, with their name engraved on it, symbolizes their hard-work, potential and perseverance. The value of recognition cannot be underestimated.

Every year when we hand them out the recipients can’t stop looking at it. They take them home and day-after-day the award reminds them of their capability and strength. They really are momentum-builders! We are very excited for our next ceremony in May and can’t wait to see the joy on the faces of our amazing honorees as they receive their awards.

We are extremely appreciative of Eclipse Awards for their Community Partnership Program and for the many ways they positively impact our community. They have really helped us understand the power of recognizing people for their accomplishments and helped us implement this in many different ways. We’re incredibly thankful for how their involvement has benefited us and continues to impact the lives of our community members!