When we provide nutritious meals for residents who can’t afford to eat healthy food, we have succeeded.
When we acquire places for our community's children to safely play and build the social skills needed to exist peacefully and constructively in a society, we have achieved one of our goals.
And when systems are in place to care for the needs of a thriving community, we can do more, help more, and be more.
For these systems that allow us to be more, we want to thank Sara Sherman.
At a time when DSAL was living check to check running community based programs, and the concept of Community Capitals Policing was still taking shape, Sara Sherman started working for us, providing part-time project management and fund development support. Sara soon became an indispensable part of the organization.
“Sara is an amazing project manager,” said Hilary Bass, Senior Program Specialist for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). “She got to know about our work on the grant writing side of things. Her tireless efforts helped bring DSAL into a financially viable position. She gave us breathing room, financially, so we could finally focus on growth and proceed with our plans to hire a Chief Operations Officer.”
Although DSAL’s Board of Directors had plans to hire a Chief of Operations when the organization reached a healthy place financially, Sara had a different vision.
“Sara told us that instead of hiring a Chief Operations Officer, ‘you really need someone like me!’ and we fully agreed,” said Bass.
“Sara is so committed to problem solving—especially for the greater good—that she ended up working well beyond full time in terms of the hours, energy, and passion she invested in DSAL,” said Bass.
“DSAL was built to serve as many people as possible, and accomplish as many goals as it could in the unincorporated areas and throughout the county. What it lacked was a strong foundation and set of systems that would support growth. Sara built all that and more for DSAL!”
Everyone who works with Sara knows that she prefers staying behind the curtain, but it’s important to recognize great people for their contributions. DSAL simply would not be where it is today without Sara’s back-end wizardry.
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