You can do it. We can help.

'YOU CAN DO IT. WE CAN HELP'

By Richard Friedman, Executive Director

"You can do it. We can help."

That has been a slogan of one of America's best known companies, The Home Depot. And apparently it's a good one because though I'm not much of a home improvements guy, it's a slogan that has stuck with me.

I found myself thinking of that slogan in the wake of a meeting I had the other morning with a young man in our community who came by The Birmingham Jewish Federation to update me on what he's doing. I've known him most of his life. He's now in his late 20s and building his career in Birmingham.

We talked a lot -- more than the hour I had planned on and it was a great conversation. Like so many of our young adults, he's motivated to succeed, wants to be involved in the Jewish community and knows that he has friends (both in real life and on Facebook) at The BJF.

SUCCESSFUL LIVES

This young friend especially talked about how helpful our BJF Director of Outreach, Caren Seligman, has been to him the past few years and how great it is that The BJF started "You Belong in Birmingham," an initiative that helps young adults build successful lives in Birmingham.

You Belong in Birmingham -- which already has changed Jewish Birmingham -- is an outgrowth of "Our Next 100 Years," a historic Federation-led Jewish community initiative. (See below link.) Our Next 100 Years is premised on the belief that we can do many things today that can enhance our Jewish community for decades to come. And connecting with young adults and helping them think about their future is one more gateway to tomorrow.

This young man has embarked on a new career path at a difficult time, given our country's continued economic uncertainty. He knows that, yet he's driven, focused, optimistic and willing to work hard. Key to his plan is networking -- spreading the word about himself and his new venture -- and it seems he's doing a pretty good job.

We talked about the similarities in what we do. His focus is on customer development, mine often is on donor development. Both are ongoing processes of connecting with people; getting to know them, engaging them and educating them about what we offer. I think he was surprised by the similarities and thus found my perspectives helpful.

I told him that to me, the building blocks of effective donor/customer development are the "Two I's" -- Internet and Interpersonal, and that integrating the two skillfully will pay off. He listened intently and asked questions, particularly as we talked about Facebook and the ways in which social media can be used to build and nurture relationships.

He seemed uplifted by our time together and asked if he could come by every few months just to chat. Of course, I said, it would be my pleasure. This, after all, is one of our primary purposes these days at The BJF: To be a place where young people feel free to come for advice, friendship and support -- and even a free lunch if they come around noon.

AWKWARD ISSUE

There was, however, an awkward issue in our conversation. This young man is in a "mixed" relationship: He's an Alabama fan and his girlfriend roots for Auburn. She's bright, lovely, successful and he cares about her deeply; still, I could tell this was bugging him.

"Hmm," I thought to myself, "how can we help?"

As we walked downstairs from my office into our main foyer, I had an idea. Of course!

"Come with me," I said, as we walked to our store room.

There they were -- the t-shirts! Alabama, Auburn, UAB -- all in Hebrew and in each school's colors. He smiled and knew exactly where I was coming from.

"Sizes?" I asked him, as BJF staffer Donna Berry, who was helping us at this point, rummaged through the stacks.

"Extra-large for me; medium for my girlfriend," he smiled, adding, "She'll really like this."

I could see that he liked it as well. With that, it was time for him to head out, and he thanked me for both the shirts and my time. "My pleasure," I said standing at the door, thinking, as I said goodbye, "You can do it. We can help."

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