Looking back through this year’s successes encourages my heart. In reality, I missed most of last year while on sabbatical. The spring was spent getting ready to go, prepping the team, and figuring out all of the things that needed to be handled. I missed lots of things and my team just picked up and rolled with it.

The team here at the center kept the focus, serving youth and families. The global pandemic continued to be challenging without field trips; the summer days were long, so very long. Some of the team continued to be virtual to support the youth unable to attend in person. The staff consistently rose to the top, they learned new skills, took new risks, and not only did the center survive without me but it thrived!

I am so proud, and I know that it took so much sacrifice from everyone for this sabbatical to happen. I did not take that for granted. What I did not realize was that in October I would struggle to come back into the work. It took almost another month to re-enter the space in a changed way. I had changed, but all of the systems that cause burnout and the culture of working hard all of the time had not. We rest when we get sick. All of those horrible leadership qualities I brought to the table had to go! So, we started reworking the staff wellness plan around here!

We have an amazing fundraising team who were not only able to maintain but to increase the budget to a place where the Board and I felt comfortable to do a wage reset with the team. This increase is a huge step in faith, but we really should have done this years ago! I am refreshed and excited to re-engage in the work.

In Gratitude to the Colorado Health Foundation for seeing the need and blessing with abundance,

Kris Rollerson