The world today changes so swiftly. Whether it be environmental, governmental or even within the families that make up the populus of the earth, animal, and human. A while back I wrote a proposal that received little commentary, not even more than a cursory glance from those whom it was aimed toward. I appreciate the feedback on the proposal written. Though, i feel as though there were some who only didn’t give the proposal a fair shake, or full understanding of it. You’ll note, I changed the address for the letter.
The proposal, what is it? It would be an attempt to give every able or not able human being the right to choose a job that doesn’t discriminate based on any “requisite or prerequisite”. The proposal is to help economic recovery and help prevent mass hysteria in regard to what they are doing to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more. When I first wrote the proposal, I wrote it from the perspective of a small business wanting to help. What it ended up being was the foundation block for true change. Would you like to listen? Would you care to understand?
When I was a little girl I saw prejudice in a million ways. As I have aged, I continue to see those prejudices, some of them touching my life personally. I am one of those people who says, it’s not about color, age, disability, even housing, it’s about giving back to make this world a better place. It’s all we have, right now anyway. It is for that reason I wrote the proposal, which follows this, including a link to the video series.
POETIC-EXPRESSIONS & COVENANT OF HOPE MINISTRIES JOBS PLAN
A POETIC METHOD TO MOVE THE ECONOMY OF THE USA & BEYOND
© 2010 ~ Rev. Laura A. Neff ~ Poetic-Expressions & Covenant of Hope Ministries
http://www.poetic-expressions.net/index.html and http://www.covenantofhopeministries.poetic-expressions.net/index.html
An Open Letter to:
The People, for the people, by the people and of the people, worldwide.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1857333110163&saved
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6423584E42857EB8
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The economy has been sliding into chaos. The spiraling sensation has struck every outlet, from jobs, to economic sub-structures, to housing and development, even to entrepreneurial considerations not just in one town, one county, one state, but everywhere we look. It has become an economy of “if the shoe don’t fit, we’re not gonna get you one that does.” When my grandparents were children, they lived in the Great Depression. Colleagues and church members have said the very same, that it has the eerie feel of what the Depression did all those years ago.
We the people, the Constitution says, of the United States of America, and yet here we are, divided on how to help this country. No one can say how much can be done. People are going without. They hold off on buying things as simple as new shoes and new clothes. This is done similarly to buying homes, building them, and savings accounts, IRA’s and health insurance fees are beginning to go the way of the dodo. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt both worked hard to get America back to work. I know that you are trying to do the same. What if there were innovative small business owners who could come up with outside the box ideas to motivate this world?
Would those small business owners be able to turn things around? Would they be able to do so in a grassroots effort to change the economic outlook to one of promise than of devastation? If the work to prepare is done with very careful, very strategic steps, then that is very possible. Some will ask the questions. Where do we start? Who do we talk to? How do we get rolling? Let’s start with talent. In this country there is talent of all shapes and descriptions that is completely ignored. Either the ones owning that talent are living paycheck to paycheck, are homeless, or jobless, or they can’t do ordinary work due to their age, disability, or layoffs.
We want to keep America working. We don’t want to shove them out to the curbstones. The last thing we want to do is to transform the working age men and women into a host of carpetbaggers and hobos.
So, how do we manage this? Well, Mr. President, I’ve thought long and hard on that one. I am a mother who is an ordained minister, who works on donations alone. I am a poet, a writer, who has yet to sell a poem in the past two years. I am an American woman with a disability I must live with every day. And yet, I have only worked outside the home a grand total of seven years in my lifetime. The last paying work I did was over three years ago. My disability? I am a sufferer of fibromyalgia, chronic pain and chronic fatigue as well as costochondritis, all of them causing serious pain.
Sure, my husband works. Sure, my daughter, who is now grown, works. But again, it is more part time than full time at the moment. We live on more wishes and dreams than actual money. We’re not the only ones, as I have seen in the work I do daily. I work as a minister for the Christians who are disabled, displaced, disadvantaged and disenchanted. I do what I can to keep their spirits buoyed as economics get tougher and tougher to handle. I want to find more ways to give back, but all I have in my possession that is worthwhile is my time.
I don’t want to destroy the social security benefits structure in place for those people who could do the work described in the following pages. I know that I receive none of those benefits, but that’s okay, I’ve suffered before on little to nothing and survived it. I can do that again if I have to. It’s the ones I look out for, those who struggle to save enough to buy food for their households on a clearly inadequate stipend through a system seriously overburdened by debt and a broken seesaw in the realm of retirees versus working age folk. The longer any of us can postpone going on Social Security, the less treacherous that will be. Help me help America, this is all I ask.
Sincere regards,
Rev. Laura A. Neff
The Rainbow Minister
Covenant of Hope Ministries
Co-Owner Poetic-Expressions
OBJECTIVE:
To create a business that is filled with people who may not have a choice but to work from home. To create a method for persons who are disabled to have work, and to be productive in the economic condition this country would currently be in. To create a place for everyone to be able to share their skills, and to make them worthwhile, no matter what caused them not to be able to work.
METHODOLOGY:
The work we do is an outreach for artists, photographers, writers, poets, marketers, bloggers, assemblers, and more. These positions are for both physically able men and women as well as men and women who are physically disabled. There will be no discrimination in this work done, from beginner to veteran, everyone deserves a chance to work, no matter who they are or where they’re from.
CONSIDERATIONS:
1. There are many who have lived on this earth with abilities that are often ignored when disability becomes part of their life.
2. Jobs are scarce in ordinary work, online and off, brick and mortar or virtual.
3. Being able to bring the persons disabled or work at home parents, perhaps those laid off as well into the workforce doing something worthwhile, that actually does more than help the economy, it helps the morale of those who feel as though they are unwanted, will boost the morale of this entire country, and perhaps beyond that.
4. The imperative is to create work that can indeed fulfill any need. That’s what Covenant of Hope Ministries and Poetic-Expressions both want to show this world. That, even if you are a person who is disabled, disadvantaged, displaced or still yet disenchanted, you CAN be part of something worthwhile, and you CAN make a difference.
5. There was a presidential slogan out that once said “YES I CAN.” It needs to say “YES WE CAN” because together we can do so much, divided we fall, united we stand.
6. We cannot depend on Congress or the Senate or any other governing body to help get the economy going. It has already been proven that they are inefficient and unaffected by the suffering this country is going through.
7. We cannot depend on the larger corporations, or even the smaller ones, to hire us because they have proven their inability to manage.
8. Bankruptcy is NOT an option anymore.
9. Location within the US and its territories is NOT an issue, people can live anywhere and help with this work.
10. Our objective is to improve morale of consumers, no matter their usual walk in life, no matter what has occurred to hurt their finances, this is to help bring us back to what America was meant to be, a body that works for the people, created by the people, and of the people from sea to shining sea.
11. This would be split between a for profit and a not for profit consideration, using both Covenant of Hope Ministries and Poetic-Expressions together with other industries to bring back the talents of this country’s hard working men and women, and to laugh in the face of the idea of retirement at 65, or due to an on the job injury, or due to something that creates permanent disability in the eyes of the government. Disability should not be the first thing people see when they look at us, it should be the last.
12. Bottom line, people in this country need jobs, they need work. Some who want to work can’t, because they are physically unable to do so. That’s the perspective people in this country see, not what truly can be. If it takes an army of human beings disabled for reasons beyond their control to prove that we can work, then Poetic-Expressions and Covenant of Hope Ministries will help find each and every last one.
TYPES OF EMPLOYMENT AVAILABLE:
Poets: If you can write for any occasion for any person even without knowing that person, then you are an asset to this world.
For a one page poem, any style, payment would be $0.25 per word to start.
Types of poetry: rhyming, non-rhyming, rhythmic, lyrical, sonnet, limerick, haiku, free verse
Writers: If you can write web copy or advertising copy for magazines and newspapers without trying, we need you as an asset. If you do creative writing that would also benefit the whole. $0.25 per word to start applies to you as well.
Keyword Articles, Advertisements, public and corporate relations materials, advertising copy for print and web…
Editors & Proofreaders: You will edit or proofread all forms of writing, for punctuation, spelling, grammar, and accuracy, this includes all marketing and sales material. Salary based on monthly returns.
Marketers/Salespeople: If you’ve done marketing or sales even in the smallest of amounts, we’re willing to train you virtually so that you can benefit from this expansion of Poetic-Expressions and Covenant of Hope Ministries. We speak of brick and mortar sales and marketing as well as online sales and marketing.
You will earn a 12% commission on every sale you bring in.
Creating canvas areas, seeking market niche…
Corporate Relations, Public Relations, Advertising
Artists: Are you a starving artist? Can you draw, paint, sew, do woodworking, or whatever as a result of something you hear, read, or watch? If you can, perhaps you’d like to try your hand at working for Poetic-Expressions and bringing intriguing backgrounds for the poetry that is written.
Your payment will be on a project by project basis.
Photographers: Oftentimes, people want to see photos of some spectacular locations when it comes to gift giving and poetry writing that is personalized for the recipients. If you can take great photos of the world around you, Poetic-Expressions needs you. If you can do slide shows worthy of YouTube and such, that’s a bonus special. Payment on a project by project basis.
Bloggers: Can you write great blogs? Do your blogs have a purpose for whatever you’re selling or sharing? If so, perhaps working with Poetic- Expressions and Covenant of Hope Ministries will be something you’d be interested in doing. You must blog about the two online locations at least twice a week, and then you will be paid per word mention $0.25 per word.
Assemblers: Whenever it comes to creating a Poetic-Expression, we must be able to first create it, then put the parts together, especially when people want them framed and matted for display purposes. This takes someone with time on their hands and a willingness to work to do this. Your payment will be based on a project to project basis because every project is different. You will be compensated for mail costs.
Future possibilities include hiring musicians and videographers to transform some of the writing into songs, or create music for the backing track of a video poem, and also to have video of awesome backdrops that can also be used, etc.
FUNDING:
This will be the toughest part to manage. We don’t want to get loans due to the interest rates that are very possible, considering our current financial status. We know that donations are severely lacking at this point in time. We also know there is little the government can do to help entrepreneurs like we would be. We don’t know that grants are possible, even with the consideration that we would be giving work to those who cannot get jobs in the brick and mortar marketplace. We wish to prove that the entrepreneurial consideration can be replicated, and improved upon, not just in one case, but in the case of many.
I have heard back from two elected officials. BOTH of them offered nothing more than government programs, no true feedback, just by rote. This is both upsetting and expected. Sadly, that is the state of things in this world. Here is my challenge. To bring the ability to reach out to each of you, not for one reason, but for many. Let us learn how to give the economy a swift kick to its posterior, and prove that there is a reason to do this AS ONE.
WAGES:
The wages will be determined based on a project by project basis. Seniority will only come into play if we get off the ground and stay that way for a period beyond twelve months. Raises will be the same. This will be part time work, not full time, there will be no scheduling unless for deadlines in getting the work done for events and occasions like holidays, anniversaries, etc, for the clients who wish their work to be done through Poetic-Expressions.
PAYMENT:
We will, once the entirety gets out of the basement foundations, have at least a monthly stipend for those who work with us. The payment will be made via PayPal, or via Money Order or Cashier’s Check or Bank Transfer. There will be no ordinary checks. Employees will receive their pay based on what their job description would include.
REASONING:
People will ask why work out a plan like this. I have worked with the disabled since I was a child. I lived half my childhood with a sibling who was disabled and now am a minister, a writer, a poet, a mother who is disabled. I’m one of those who is disabled but doesn’t look it. This proves true for almost every member of Covenant of Hope Ministries, for they are persons who are disabled, disadvantaged, displaced, and disenchanted with the things the world has to offer. It is having the ability to give back that eludes so many. I want to work, but because I can’t do some things, I can’t be hired. Others I know wish the same. It doesn’t matter if you live most of your life in a wheelchair, wearing braces, or prosthetics, are blind, deaf, or even bedridden, every last one has the right to be considered for work if they so wish to do so. It does matter that you feel needed, wanted, and worthy of the work you do.
Productivity is the single most necessary part of the driving force in economies worldwide. If productivity slows due to slacking sales and more, then something must be done to build it up again. In the days of old, people like Andrew Carnegie, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Ulysses S. Grant and many others like Henry Ford, the Rockefellers and more would have done much to boost economic situations, even in the face of the Great Depression. If this country and others want to stay out of the next Great Depression of the century beginning in 2011, everyone has to face up to the fact that it was entrepreneurial genius that got us going before, it is entrepreneurial genius that will get us out of this mess again.
The biggest, most obvious obstacle will be believing that this can be done. It is, for this reason that I bring this to you, the world, because it needs to be seen, shared, and more.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Return Address:
Rev. Laura A. Neff
Covenant of Hope Ministries and Poetic-Expressions
PO Box 602
Midway, GA 31320
Phone: Home (Deleted for Privacy Purposes)
Office – 912-385-7745
Email: poeticart169@gmail.com
