CHIP 2020-2021 Annual Report

GIFTED LEADERSHIP

Robin Haldiman, CEO It is with a bit of sadness, but much pride that I am writing this last message as CEO of CHIP prior to my retirement. The past 27 years at CHIP have brought one of the best gifts of my lifetime: a sense of purpose and accomplishment in knowing that I have had the privilege to work with so many amazing staff, donors, and community organizations that have strengthened thousands of CHIP families by building relationships that propelled them forward, often toward self-sufficiency. When I joined CHIP 27 years ago, the organization was drawing off a line of credit to meet payroll. Walking through the dark, paneled building on Luck Avenue, I saw bags of donated clothes, no computers, and mounds of paper everywhere. I talked my mother into volunteering to help solicit donations for a staff kitchen, and to start organizing all the donated clothes. I wrote a grant and secured funding to purchase computers, and we found someone to build a simple database to run basic reports and track clients. At that time, our major collaborator was the Roanoke Allegheny Health Department, and many of the CHIP nurses were still health department employees. Over the years, in tandem with the board, we have stabilized staff and funding, and have a rainy day fund for years such as the ones we are experiencing as the pandemic rages on. The deed to our office building was granted to CHIP, and a generous foundation helped us refurbish and later purchase the building that houses our counseling center. Today, CHIP has a sophisticated database, continuously improves workflow, and refines metrics to evaluate organizational outcomes. We have built strong community partnerships that surround CHIP families with supports such as food, after-school care and child care so families can go to work, and we have expanded medical and dental care to our adult caregivers, so they can be healthy and able to take care of their children. CHIP has a talented cadre of volunteers who help with marketing, creating our annual report, organizing fundraising events, and washing and sorting books and clothes for our staff to give to families. I am

so proud of our very loyal donors who support the CHIP mission year after year, enabling us to impact the community in which we live. In 1987 CHIP was started in Roanoke by local pediatrician Dr. Douglas Pierce. The fact that CHIP has served over 25,000 children and is thriving 32 years later is a testament to the community, as well as the board and staff leadership that both created the vision and provided momentum to sustain it over time. CHIP is on strong footing for the future, and my hope is that additional, stable funding can be secured to grow the numbers we serve. The many children in poverty we serve in our community only amounts to about 1 in 7 who are in need. I look forward to watching CHIP thrive and grow to continue to meet the needs of our most at-risk children. I believe in living one’s life deliberately. I leave CHIP proud to know that the organization is strong and healthy. While I was raising my son, I wrote messages on a whiteboard on the door we used to leave the house. The quote that remained longest was this: “Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” My 27 years with CHIP have made me come alive, and for that I will be forever grateful.

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CHIP OF ROANOKE VALLEY’S GIFTED LEADERSHIP

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