Balancing the Scales

What brought me to Kentuckians For the Commonwealth? My longing for community after finishing five straight years of school and recovering from burnout. Community has always had a special place in my heart so when I saw a Facebook event posting I thought to myself, “what is the worst that could happen?” I attended the first meeting and never looked back since. That was in March of 2023. I have since attended two annual meetings, one in Lexington last year and the one recently at Berea college. Both experiences have always been eye opening, I learn something new each year and it is extraordinary seeing the love that fellow residents have for Kentucky. 

I briefly mentioned above that I went to college five years straight. I got my BSSW (Bachelors of Science in Social Work) in 2021 and I got my MSSW (Masters of Science in Social Work) in 2022. I spent that next year recovering from academic burnout while learning about myself as a professional social worker. I now work at Family Scholar House, whose mission is “to end the cycle of poverty and transform our community by empowering families and youth to succeed in education and achieve life-long self-sufficiency.” We serve single parent families and foster care alumni who are going toward a degree or trade to provide a better life for their family. My favorite part of the year at Family Scholar House is around Christmas when we have Adopt-A-Family. 

Adopt-A-Family is an annual event where community members decide to adopt a family for Christmas and provide them with gifts. We do this because life is so hard already but to add on being a full time student means that our residents do not get to work much which, in turn, means they have less to provide for christmas. We believe that every child deserves a good Christmas, especially when their parent is working toward getting their post-secondary education. There are families with one individual to almost 6 individuals so if you are interested in adopting a family and providing for them this year, there is a variety of family sizes to commit to. It is required that you are able to drop off the gifts at one of our five locations in Louisville, Ky. If you are interested in participating in Adopt-A-Family, please contact Deja Jackson at  [email protected] 

One last aspect of my life that I would like to share with you today is that I run a self care page on instagram. My overall goal is to spread more positivity on social media instead of spreading negativity and toxicity, which there is already an overabundance of. This self care page came about as a project I dedicated myself to after leaving an abusive relationship during college. We can choose to be kind. Let's choose to be kind to ourselves. If you want more positivity on your instagram feed, please follow my self care page @be.kind.to.yourself__ 

Thank you for listening to my entry and experiences with KFTC! I hope to see you all at the next KFTC annual meeting next year! 

Jaz’Myne Ware 

KFTC Member