The Enjoy Life Community™ Project
I was privileged this past week to have our Enjoy Life Community™ committee and members of the Time to Play Foundation’s Business Advisory Board attend the Town of Brookhaven’s Board meeting to announce the Enjoy Life Community™ Project. The first Enjoy Life Community™ is in the process of forming in Port Jefferson Station, New York. It is an amazing concept, and something that I know people will embrace so we can ALL have a better life and enjoy life.
I cannot describe the feeling I had presenting this to the Town Board. This project is something I have been working toward for many years.
Thank you to our community coordinator, Christian Dideriksen and our core committee Christina Grimes, Michael Dorn, Dina Simoes, Jacki Kirsch, Charles McAteer and Jeff Kito. Thank to to our dedicated Business Advisory Board Members of the Time to Play Foundation Dr. Joseph Rella, Nick LaMorte, Kevin McCormack, and to the Business Advisory Board Victoria Molloy whose intelligence and energy never ceases to amaze me. Thank you to Jennifer and Councilwoman Cartwright – your support is a driving force behind us.
The following is the LONG version of what I did want to say at the Town Board Meeting, but I only had 3 actual minutes to speak, so I had to cut it down significantly. I figured I would post it here to give readers an overview of what we’re aiming to do.
If you would like to get more information, please email me at doreen@timetoplay.com or call our office at 631-331-2675. We have a whole protocol which we would love to share with your community – and this is applicable for anywhere in the country (or international if there is interest)!
It’s Time to Enjoy Life!
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Good evening Supervisor Romaine, Town Clerk Lent and members of the Board. My name is Doreen Guma, and I am the founder of the Time to Play Foundation, a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation with the mission and purpose to enrich the lives of others through programs, public awareness outreach activities, events and learning opportunities that further the concept of enjoying life.
I am here this evening to make you aware of a new community initiative called the Enjoy Life Community™ Program, the first of which is launching in Port Jefferson Station, my own home town. I am currently in the process of introducing the concept to other communities, as it is believed that every community should be an Enjoy Life Community™ .
We acknowledge that there are many organizations in EVERY community that do wonderful things. As a matter of fact, our current inaugural committee, our enjoy life ambassadors, are still in the process of contacting and explaining the concept of the Enjoy Life Community to the over 50 organizations in Port Jefferson Station. Our inaugural group has met a few times, but it is the goal of the Enjoy Life community to include everyone and every organization – for example rotary clubs, civic associations, business improvement districts, volunteer fire departments, schools, PTAs, clubs, religious organizations, law enforcement agencies, girl scouts, boy scouts, healthcare providers, veterans service organizations, and our elected officials… we are all in this together.
The intention of the Enjoy life community is NOT to duplicate what is already being done by a community’s groups, but to provide an opportunity, through the enjoy life community coordinator, committee and enjoy life ambassadors, to prioritize projects and programs needed, collaborate together and achieve. The enjoy life community will not focus on problems, but the goal is to proactively embrace what our community needs to enjoy life.
The enjoy life community also creates a cohesive way to disseminate the information about what our amazing organizations are doing and to identify ways to support each other and work together to identify ways we can make things better… and, then, to make it happen!
Therefore, the goal of the Enjoy Life Community™ is to bring ALL community organizations, groups and businesses together to focus on the needs of the community as a whole and not the problems; to encourage everyone to get involved, to spread the news of the good works community groups and people are currently doing; to eliminate the hopelessness or powerlessness feeling that people feel, and encourage them to believe that, as a community, we can achieve anything.
Another feature of the enjoy life community will be the welcome to our enjoy life community signs, which we envision installed throughout the community, to remind people of the importance to enjoy life. It is hoped that the reminder will trigger a sense of pride and a positive momentum in the lives of all who live here.
The Enjoy Life Community will become a micro hub where we can create a wish list and everyone can pitch in so we can ALL enjoy life and make things happen. Where we can focus on the positive of what we need to enjoy life, not the problems and negative, for example neighborhood watch communities which say “we have crime here”, or anti drug task force or anti anything which absolutely emphasize the issues and problems. How amazing would it be to replace those “neighborhood watch” signs with “We are an Enjoy Life Community” signs. We are not disqualifying the good works being done or discounting the value of these types of committees and functions. We acknowledge that they may be necessary and that they may be part of the enjoy life community’s objectives… but, just think of the possibilities of turning to the positive and what the concept of the Enjoy Life Community™, can do.
Nothing is impossible when we work together.
The enjoy life community will also provide a centralized location, both online and off, to inform people of all the good work and great resources that are currently in our communities. With every organization involved, the information about what’s going on and what the Enjoy life Community’s focus is will be easily communicated.
We believe that when people know the needs, goals and objectives of the Enjoy Life community™, we believe so many more will get involved in the initiative and be an active part of the good works being done and the good works that will be done, together. We hope that people will feel good about and proud about where they live and become enjoy life ambassadors of their community, which is what we here, before you, are today. I, and those next to me are the first enjoy life ambassadors for Port Jefferson station.
Each enjoy life community™ will have a coordinator and a committee made up of liaisons of all of the community organizations and any interested community members not yet part of an organization. The enjoy life community will also act as a central repository for existing resources, and, together, the committee will develop a list of priorities where the community can work together to fill in the void where there is a need.
I am pleased to be joined tonight by an amazing and dedicated group – the first enjoy life ambassadors for the Port Jefferson Station community. The committee coordinator is Christian Dideriksen, a lifelong member of Port Jefferson Station and volunteer firefighter. Christina Grimes, Michael Dorn, Dina Simoes, Jacki Kirsch, Charles McAteer and Jeff Kito. Also here tonight are some of our dedicated Business Advisory Board Members of the Time to Play Foundation Dr. Joseph Rella, Nick LaMorte, Kevin McCormack, and Board Chair Victoria Molloy, who fully support this initiative.
Over the last few months I have met with my Councilwoman, Councilwoman Valerie Cartwright, to inform her about the Enjoy Life community™ project. We are looking forward to her participation at our first event and our first full committee meeting scheduled for 11/6. It is our hope that the Town board will be supportive of this endeavor and that we will have opportunities to collaborate and partner in the future.
The Time to Play Foundation’s mantra is collaboration = success and people helping people. We look forward to helping Port Jefferson Station and many more communities to Enjoy Life.
Thank you for your time.
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Enjoy Life Community™ Copyright © 2014 by Doreen Guma for the Time to Play Foundation, Inc., a 501c3 not for profit corporation with the mission and purpose to enrich the lives of others through programs, public awareness outreach activities, events and learning opportunities that further the concept of enjoying life. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to: Time to Play Foundation, Inc., 1075 Route 112, Lower Level, Pt. Jeff Sta.,NY 11776 | 631-331-2675 | www.TimetoPlay.com | info@timetoplay.com
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