- Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:22 am #57 I did the Legacy Leadership program over two years ago, and one of the biggest lessons I learned was that I COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the WORLD! As part of my Leadership program I committed to devote just two hours a week to volunteering in my community. I choose to work with the Mountain Area Information Network () starting up a low-power FM community radio station. We had NO FCC licence, NO money and NO equipment. Now two and a half years later, we are on the air, we have a fine studio, we raised over $150,000 in grants for start-up, we hired a station manager, we have many locally produced programs, and we have successively raised more money each year during our fund drives indicating a growing listenership. But it's not all perfect, we have terrible signal problems and our original grants have run out, BUT we have vision and we view these problems as challenges and we continue to work on them. I am now the Programming Director and head up a team of 50 (or so) volunteers. I NEVER would have taken this kind of leadership role before I did the workshops. If you'd like to give the station a listen, we are streaming on the web at . One of the things I like most about this station is that we give a voice to people who would never get on the air at a large corporate station. We have programming for Latinos, Women, Spirituality, Environmental news, Labor issues, and Poetry & Literature. WPVM is a tool for empowering and inspiring people and I owe my involvement with it to the Legacy Leadership Program

- Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:15 am #61 Before I did the trainings I was unhappy with my career - I had been a legal librarian for about 15 years. I hated going to work and disliked most of the people I worked with. The work I was doing did not make a difference for anyone other than large corporations.

After the trainings I relalized that I do love being a libraian, I just get to pick my jobs. I chose positions that had me working with people that share my worldview and began to work serving children. Upon moving to NC, I realized that my real passion was teaching children to read. Currently, I am being certified to teach special education students. I now teach at a school for students with learning disabilites (www.thefletcheracademy.com) plus I am the school librarian. Both of my passions have been combined and I wake up each morning eager to meet the day.

Sally Hand
NY DC 1 & NC47