A few people have asked me whether or not I am going to quit practicing law and focus on 200 Million Flowers full time. I kind of laugh when people say that, not because it is necessarily a crazy idea, but because I am leveraging the law practice to be able to help, in part, finance this new adoption agency. One friend said “The divorces are funding the adoptions.” I guess that’s true. However, I really love practicing law and managing my law firm. I get to work with an client base every day – many of whom are in the worst crisis of their life, and the R+A team is world class in my humble opinion. But I am also having a blast helping to get 200 Million Flowers off the ground. It is a really fun second job and we are just getting started.
I know many of you are interested in the progress of the agency, so I am going to spend a few minutes to provide you with an update. It is a very exciting time to become a partner with this awesome movement. 200 Million Flowers was just formed in June of 2011, and over that time, we have been constantly gaining momentum. The following is a short list of what’s happening with 200 Million Flowers:
• A sibling group from Ukraine is being pursued for adoption that they met through a 200MF event;
• We are working closely with the PALS house, a ministry of SCSCY;
• Liquid Creative is building our website and continuing to support us an many ways in developing our brand and marketing strategy;
• We submitted our application for licensure to the DHS on February 23, 2012 (Which was about a 7 inch thick three ring binder);
• We are working on brochures and cloud based administrative tools;
• Raising the Barr Fitness has agreed to be our title sponsor for our spring fundraiser, a race named Five K for the Fatherless and currently scheduled for June 2, 2012 in Olde Towne Ridgeland. Please “like” us on FaceBook to get updates;
• Our social worker will become a full time employment on or about May 1, 2012
• Creative partnerships are being formed for ministry and product development
I hope you will mark your calendar and plan to participate in the Five K for the Fatherless. So you know, we are still looking for sponsors for the race. Contact me if you want more information.
It has been an incredible start to the life of this organization. Obviously, fundraising and public relations are a big part of what has to be done before we dig into the real work of combating the fatherlessness pandemic. We believe that our initial focus will be to provide home study services to adoptive couples and begin to build our outreach program to women in crisis pregnancy situations. Last year in Mississippi alone, 7,000 children were born to teenage mothers.
Thank you for caring enough about this organization to reach this little update. Hope to see you on June 2nd at the race!
By: Craig Robertson
