50 Years, 50 Stories - Susan LaHoda

This installment of “50 Years, 50 Stories” comes from Susan LaHoda, Executive Director of The Imagine! Foundation. The Imagine! Foundation has had a significant positive impact on Imagine!’s ability to serve some of our most vulnerable citizens - to date the Foundation has raised more than $5.5 million to support Imagine!’s programs and the people we serve. How did it all begin? Find out below.

I Think We Can Make This Work

By Susan LaHoda

 

Imagine! Foundation Director Susan LaHoda and Imagine! Foundation Board President Walt Pounds

 

I remember clearly where John Taylor and I were – at the foot of the stairs in Imagine!’s Dixon building lobby in the spring of 2000 – when Bob Charles said something like, “I think we can make this work!” He was talking about the brand new, separate fundraising arm of Imagine! to be known eventually as the Imagine! Foundation. It was the “we” that was critical, because he was, in effect, saying that he would take on the lead volunteer role in establishing the Foundation. I believed then, and I believe now, that without Bob Charles the Imagine! Foundation would not be where it is today. I had worked with Bob when he was on the board of the Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools (now Impact on Education) and I was the Executive Director from 1988-1998, so was well aware of Bob’s charisma, commitment, and influence in our community. I remember doing a little fist-pumping and “Yessssssss”-ing when I got to my car after the meeting! It was going to work. We were on our way!

Bob was able to assemble an incredible group for that first small board of six people, including current Emeritus members George Karakehian and Kathy Coyne . That group grew quickly to 13 people, and the Foundation began to fundraise, bringing in $167,748 in its first full year. We also held our first fundraising event that year. Board members George Karakehian and Stephen Tebo both had birthdays in August and decided to hold a birthday party at the new Foothills Group Home before any of the residents moved in. The party was a great success both in raising funds and in introducing community members to Imagine!. I received a check for $1,000 this week from a donor who attended that birthday party and has given a total of $10,000 to Imagine! since then.

What a privilege it has been to work with all of the Foundation board members over the years, including especially our Board Presidents: Bob Charles, Jack Stoakes , George Karakehian, , John Mehaffy, Leona Stoecker, Sandy Bracken, and now Walt Pounds. What an amazing group of people! It is no small feat to take the time and energy to understand the complexity of Imagine! and to devote countless volunteer hours to telling the Imagine! story in our community and asking for support. But all of our Foundation board members over the years have done this with enthusiasm, dedication, and heart.

My story as an Imagine! employee wouldn’t be complete without mentioning those who work at Imagine!. I have been in the non-profit world for about 35 years, and I have never encountered a staff of the caliber of Imagine! employees. Most of my interactions are with the Executive Team, and I have not seen a group of people in a workplace that really functions as a team as much as this group does! At least from my perspective, people are encouraged to voice their opinions, disagreements are respectful, humor is ever-present, people are accountable to themselves and each other, creativity is supported, and hard work is appreciated and recognized. (I think it also helped that early on I asked Caroline Siegfried to have coffee and enlighten me in her wisdom to the personalities of the Executive Team, which many years later I can still see as spot on!)

But the two people I work most closely with bring the real joy to my workday. Heather Sabo has been with the Foundation since 2006 when she saved me from a disastrous hire I made that lasted one day before I realized that it was a terrible mistake. Heather, whose mother Cheryl Sabo worked at Imagine!, then volunteered to work for me for three days for free to see if we were a good fit. We were, and she has contributed immensely to the Foundation’s success and my life ever since. Christina Craigo, our contract grant writer, became part of the team in 2008. I remember that before I contracted with her one of her references told me, “She will not just do an excellent job for you; she will improve your whole organization.” How very prophetic! I now see Christina’s words and ideas ringing throughout Imagine!.

I feel very lucky to have landed here at Imagine! and occasionally pause at the foot of the Dixon building stairs on the way up to my office to recall that first “step” 13 years ago and to marvel at my good fortune.