Since we last looked in on the Morales’ lots has transpired. The intervening time after the last meeting with the CPA gave Beto and Cynthia time to think about People Against Income Disparity and what, in the long term, they really meant to accomplish with PAID. Two things became clear. One, they wanted to help other Latino families with some of their day care problems and secondly they had a desire to develop some type of STEM and English language starter programs in lower performing schools. They had no clue how to even approach this last part.
Daycare in communities like Aspen and down valley are available for the wealthy mostly in the form of nanny’s and private daycare centers. Lower income residents share daycare duties or leave their kids with older siblings neither of which is in the best interests of the kids. There are public school systems but immigrants have a difficult time adjusting to this new paradigm. They lack the needed language skills and have absolutely no Science, Technology, Engineering and Math background. As much as the wealthy residents attempt to ignore this problem the fact exists that Billionaire Mountain and other resort communities like them function on the backs of immigrant labor. You end up with a huge dichotomy in educational outcomes.
Cynthia took this time to have stationary printed up and upon the recommendation of Dirk, she mailed contribution confirmation letters to donors. These were obviously late, but at this juncture everything is like playing catch up for Beto and Cynthia.
During the next meeting with Dirk and the attorney Beto and Cynthia discussed their ideas with their two advisors. They were both impressed with the thought that the Morales’ had put into their fledgling plan. Together they came up with a Mission Statement and Statement of Purpose. Dirk Jamieson had received the TIN for PAID and had submitted the Declaration of Trust, Articles of Incorporation and the 1023 Form and was just waiting for IRS approval on the 501(c)3. It was agreed that Beto, Cynthia and the Attorney would act as trustees, but that they should ask someone like Kevin Jensen to become a trustee to take the place of the attorney on a more permanent basis. The attorney was not going to be integrally involved in PAID he said he would rather serve in an advisory role.
Dirk suggested that Beto and Cynthia also try and get two or three of their friends to serve as a steering committee to help formalize their ideas on the childcare project. He suggested they talk about their ideas on STEM with Kevin Jenson, who had an engineering and business background.
Two things happened over the next couple of weeks. Once the letters began to arrive on printed letterhead people started to take PAID more seriously and their friends on the fledgling steering committee began to talk to others about the daycare idea. It was like a firestorm. Cynthia could not respond to all the calls in the little time she had available. Not to mention the fact she didn’t have lots of answers. One thing became apparent, she needed help. Between PAID and her job at the Snowmass Club Cynthia was exhausted.
Kevin and Beto had begun working on the STEM idea but neither had a clue about developing a STEM type curriculum or how to introduce it to a school. Kevin made some calls and found a young math teacher at a relatively new charter school in Carbondale that was excited about the project.
While all of this was going on, unbeknownst to Beto and Cynthia, a small group of restaurant employees had planned a Saturday night work slowdown in Aspen to protest pay and the lack of any childcare assistance. It was loosely organized, but enough people called in sick or just didn’t show up that evening to bring the Aspen dining scene to a slow crawl. If you have ever been in Aspen in January, Saturday night out is a happening thing. Enough dishwashers, buser’s, wait staff and bartenders failed to show to turn Saturday night in Aspen into what one patron described as a “friggin nightmare”.
A direct result was that PAID was flooded with donations and calls about their progress with their childcare efforts. Aspen had just had a glimmer or what life might be like without people to serve them drinks and dinner.
The stress on Cynthia and Beto was becoming overwhelming. The questions came much quicker than the answers. They needed help and operating what was quickly becoming a business out of their trailer on the ranch just wasn’t working. The idea of finding office space, hiring an administrative person, managing a family and dealing with all the issues with PAID had them both stressed. Oh, did I mention Cynthia is pregnant again? 2014 will have been a memorable year.
Hmmm the plot thickens! Thanks for the intriguing story.