by Dawn Franks | Jul 10, 2024 | Blog, Dawn's Blogs, Donors, Giving, Nonprofits
I turned the calendar page this morning and found this quote: “Starting over is not starting from scratch; it’s starting from experience.” Career changes, family interruptions and losses, moving, education decisions, devastating weather events, and on and on, starting...
by Dawn Franks | Jun 19, 2024 | Business, Dawn's Blogs, Giving, Wealth
I stepped out of the sunroom to a sunny, cool morning. Then I realized it’s mid-June, and the year is half over. Summers used to mean running barefoot through the neighborhood, walking to the corner store for an ICEE, and trips to the nearby park for serious...
by Dawn Franks | May 20, 2024 | Blog, Dawn's Blogs, Donors, Giving, Next Generation
The front page of today’s newspaper has a wonderful story about a graduating high school senior at the top of his class, already facing life’s realities and unexpected changes to his dreams. You remember the dreams when we were young and barely tarnished...
by Dawn Franks | Mar 21, 2024 | Blog, Dawn's Blogs, Donors, Giving, Nonprofits
Exactly twenty-two months ago, we adopted a two-month-old corgi. On the drive home, we named her Sophie. Later, while completing her registration papers, I decided that Sophie’s name didn’t do her justice. The application provided a long string of squares...
by Dawn Franks | Feb 20, 2024 | Dawn's Blogs, Family, Giving, Next Generation
Tiny stacks of 35-millimeter slides covered the dining room table. One by one I passed them through the slide viewer. The story of my parents’ earliest years together unfolded from Okinawa to North Carolina to Colorado and Texas. Pictures are only part of the story. ...
by Dawn Franks | Feb 7, 2024 | Dawn's Blogs, Donors, Family, Giving
My date and I headed to the zoo for a fun afternoon. With curiosity as a guide, I expected to enjoy the animals and maybe answer a few questions about a guy I found interesting and thought I might like to keep around for a while. The zoo had areas designed to see the...