IMPOWER

FYI: I am fully aware the word is spelled empower.

I wrote this post on Friday but needed to double check the acronym. Then I found out a friend's house was broken into for the second time in as many months and I almost deleted the post. But, I decided that's exactly the opposite of what I am trying to say here so I thought Better of it.

Impower is a local non profit organization which was created a few years ago to 'inspire, motivate, Prepare And Organize, women to engage and reinvest'. The organization hosts quarterly luncheons where women of the community come to mingle, enjoy wine from a local vineyard, have a nice lunch and a motivating guest speaker. The lunches raise funds for other local charities and help to unite the women and hopefully inspire them to fuehrer serve and develop the community.

Our firm generally has 3-5 seats at the luncheons and I think there is a group of women who rotate attendance. Yesterday one of them asked if I could take her place because she couldn't make it. And, although I had opted to skip a shower, makeup and most forms of daily prepping in order to get to work on time, and although I knew the luncheon would be full of women who had been primping since the time I woke up, I happily accepted the offer. I'm so glad I did!

I have talked a lot (I think???) about how much I like my job and the firm for which I work. I have talked about my mixed feelings about California and the sometimes beautiful place we call home. But I don't think I've talked about how I feel about the town of Salinas, and this luncheon really made me want to.

Salinas, CA has the highest murder rate per capita in the state of California. If your geography has failed you, the state of California includes Oakland and Los Angeles. Highest murder rate per capita. Salinas also has an extremely high rate if illiteracy, gangs, and homelessness. We don't watch the news often but when we do we are all but guaranteed to hear about the latest murder, vandalism, or other slew of crimes that took place overnight in salinas. The city does not carry the greatest reputation.

In fact, when we first met some military people here we were instructed to beer step foot in salinas. 'There's no good reason to go to that hell hole of a town' they said. (I kept my lips sealed when later asked if I had found a job!)

But despite the violence, sketchy areas and bad reputation I really, really like this town. First of all, I love driving through the salad bowl of the country. Call me crazy but I love seeing all the farmlands and smelling the air on the mornings as they harvest lettuce. (Not so much on spinach harvest morning)

What I really love is the sense of community and generosity. Salinas is home of the of the largest relays in our country. Last year they raised almost a million dollars and since the first relay began in salinas they've raised over $12million. In a city overrun with poverty they've raised $12million for cancer research. Amazing.

More than that though are the plethora of local non profit organizations. They make everything a non profit. Seems like everywhere you turn someone is raising money to benefit something and helping others in the town. It's amazing. While other parts of the county and state are turning their noses up at the thought of 'stepping foot' in this hell hole of a town, the community members are standing up and working to preserve what they can. And it works.

Growing up in such a huge city I didn't get a sense of a place where everybody knows your name. But when I walked into the room of hundreds of women who all somehow knew each other (and were all as well dressed as I had dreaded) I got a glimpse of that. I loved it.

The food was good, wine at lunch was a fun treat, and the speaker was really engaging and entertaining. But I mostly appreciated the opportunity to see another example of how great this community really can be.

Oh - and I won a raffle prize. Can't be a bad day when you bring home a prize right?