After a long night and early morning at the hopeline call center, Monday morning was a rest time for all involved. In the daylight, we could now appreciate the beautiful countryside with its rolling hills and open spaces, and the clean and neat appearance of many of the buildings and grounds in the area where we are staying. We arrived back at the Dawson McAllister Association (DMA) in the afternoon to warm welcomes. The ministry has two distinct workspaces in the facility pictured here. One houses the radio production and the other the call center, although they work hand in hand.
Other spaces are rented or to be rented. Layoffs at a neighboring GM auto plant that formerly manufactured Saturns have made leasing the vacant space challenging, just another example of how the troubled economy has had a negative impact on nonprofit organizations.
We were introduced to many of the DMA staff and then went to work. Debbie found some workspace in the studio to update their call database. Production uses this database to locate previous calls to the radio show for prerecorded shows or promotional content. The ministry logs these calls by issue, gender, and length. Wes Crafton, the Senior Producer, explains in the video below how these calls are used to create DM Late Nights.
Although Debbie claims to enjoy mindless tasks (as do I at times), we found a less tedious, more efficient way to complete this on Tuesday after speaking with the software vendor. While she was entering data, I grabbed a spare phone in the production area and made some phone calls to selected donors, thanking them for their past support and offering them a new perspective as a fellow donor.
The short day at work led to grocery shopping at Publix in the evening. Our pad is equipped with refrigerator, stovetop, microwave, sink, and (bare) cupboards, which allows us to save some money during our extended stay. We learned after our shopping excursion that a stovetop did not necessarily mean that an oven was below it. However, I know that Debbie is creative enough to make a great stovetop meal with the chicken and Shake N Bake that we purchased. During our grocery shopping as well as lunch at Cracker Barrel, Debbie and I both noticed the friendliness of the people and the attention to customer service, living up to the South's reputation for warm hospitality.
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