Tempe Tuesday Talks

Good morning Tempe! The sun is just coming up near Mill Avenue as I can see out my home office window. The birds are wide awake and loving that they own the world right now without all the cars, planes and people. It’s a very different world than it was just three weeks ago. In many ways, it is a bit lonely and isolating. In many ways, it’s a struggle to find the new routine that doesn’t include getting in the car, finding a place to park in downtown Tempe, planning where to have lunch, and needing to stop and fill up the gas tank on the way home. A plus – I haven’t needed to get gas for three weeks.

This will be a new platform for me, Hilary, Program Director of the Tempe Coalition. I plan each Tuesday morning to write a blog for the Coalition and for the Tempe Community. A bit of personal stuff as we navigate this strange time and some information on the Tempe Coalition and how we plan to navigate while maintaining our vision and mission.

On the personal note, yesterday I had to go to the bank. Lawdy Lawdy! Won’t be doing that again any time soon. While my Desert Financial branch at Broadway & Dorsey is wonderful (friendly staff, very efficient and they always remember me), the experience was traumatic. I had to go through the drive through – and I selected the wrong one twice (yikes). I had to get a new debit card (dispute of a charge). I had to get a cashier’s check (name was misspelled the first time)…..all through the pneumatic tube. Never again. Ok, I survived and my new card has a puppy and a kitten on it. I will recover.

Now, on to our wonderful Coalition. What makes it wonderful in these difficult days? The members. There are so many amazing members/partner organizations out there. We are all connecting daily and they are putting some amazing content out there for the Tempe Community. This week, we are really working hard to get it up and on our website. Our Community page is divided into our three target audiences: Youth, Parents, Educators. Look for new content just for your group to help you and your families, students, clients.

As well, we recently received new funding from the Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Families for the State Opioid Response. Look on the website for our new Initiative – Opioid Resources. There will be new content coming in there on: safe disposal of prescription drugs, resources for probable prescription drug misuse and highlighting our partners in this initiative: Tempe PD, Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Services, CARE 7 and notMYkid. Stay tuned for that!

Also visit our Events page as we get upcoming online events posted there. This Saturday 4/11, our ACEs Consortium Trauma coach, Mike Edwards, will present a Facebook Live workshop on Trauma, designed for parents but appropriate for all. 10 am – noon. The Tempe Coalition Facebook page. We are living in very trauma inducing times!

Thank you all for indulging me over my first cup of coffee today! Come visit the Tempe Coalition website as we put on a fresh coat of paint, organize our pages and bring you some valuable, new content.

Stay safe, stay health and stay positive. We are all in this together!

Hilary