Welcome, boys & girls! My name is Alison Brantley, and I am the Coordinator of Development and Public Relations at Bona Vista Programs in Kokomo, Indiana. I will be the primary author of this blog. I hope to have occasional guest columnists once we get the ball rolling, but for the most part…you’re stuck with me. So, sit back, interact & enjoy!
If you aren’t familiar with Bona Vista Programs, that’s totally fine. Believe me, if you continue following this blog you will learn more than you could ever imagine (right along with me… because I know very little you’ll come to find out). I’m a married, mother to two daughters woman who sees the good in the world, believes in empowering others to their fullest potential and, generally, is so busy running here, there and everywhere I can hardly keep up and find myself at the end of the week looking back going, “Huh. I made it. Not sure how that happened.”
With all of that being said, I have only been employed with Bona Vista Programs for about two months. I had volunteered at many of their events in the past, knew several people who worked for the organization, had covered the organization in a previous life (read: previous job), and thought I had a fairly good working knowledge of what they were about. I. Was. Wrong. Whew. It’s a good thing this blog will have a date stamp, because someone needs to document that admission. But, you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re knee deep in your first week and people are asking you questions you’re not sure you’ll ever know the answer to.
I digress. I know I am not alone. I know there are probably many of you who have heard of Bona Vista Programs if you live in Central Indiana. I also know that you may not know as much as you think you do. Don’t get offended. It’s natural when you’re on the outside looking in. However, I want to bring you inside the organization, and that’s where this blog comes in to play. I’m going to take you on all of our adventures, tell you why we do what we do and be totally transparent and open when we are awesome and even when we learn from mistakes we make. That’s right! Like I mentioned at the beginning of this blog…I don’t, in fact, know everything (just don’t tell my kids).
I hope you’ll come with me on this journey. Meet the staff. Meet the people we serve. Realize why we do what we do, how we do it and what our plans for the future look like. Until next time…keep a good view on life.
-AB