Welcome to New Care News!
New Care publishes a newsletter, the New Care News, twice a year in June and December. We write about our clients and highlight our Feature Creatures, our outstanding staff members. We include interesting information, heartfelt poems, funny items, and an array of zany bits of knowledge.
We welcome you to send us information that you think our clients, families, staff, colleagues, and friends might enjoy. The following are examples from past newsletters. Enjoy!
Message from Jamie
After recently reading a book about John Wooden and an article about him in “Caring” magazine, I have been thinking about how his belief in strength of character and strong values relate to us and what we do.
As many of you know, John Wooden was known as the “Wizard of Westwood” for his coaching (he referred to it as teaching) of the UCLA Bruins basketball team for many years. I remember his various teams, sometimes full of great talent and sometimes not. So many of his players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton went on to play in the NBA. I have followed Wooden since 1964 when the Bruins won their first NCAA championship. Wooden and his Bruins managed to win ten national championships in addition to a winning streak of 88 games. Many wonder how this soft spoken man accomplished so much since he never talked about winning.
John Wooden knew the importance of leading with love. He believed that caring was “love in action.” With Mother Theresa as his hero, he lived life according to the Golden Rule and dedicated his life to teaching others how to follow. Like Mother Theresa, Wooden exemplified caring as a rare art. He wholeheartedly believed that “great organizations are marked by an extraordinary bond within” and “teams with a sense of family have uncommon strengths and resiliency.” Sound familiar?
Besides great love, one of his secret weapons was his Pyramid of Success. It was the foundation of his life and the core belief for his teams. This Pyramid eventually evolved into 15 blocks of values ranging from friendship, loyalty, enthusiasm, and cooperation to personal best at the top. Winning was not ever mentioned. He did not consider it a value. It may have been a by-product, but he did not consider it a value upon which to build one’s life.
For us as well, life is not about winning. We strive to bring out the best in ourselves and those around us. We are driven to care for others while building a sense of family. We are bonded. We have great resiliency. We are New Care.
I can’t say that we have stringently or formally followed this Pyramid. I did not even know about it until recently. However, I realized while I was reading about John Wooden that New Care has been evolving during the past 23 years with many of his values. We strive daily to make this a better world full of caring and love. I look forward to learning more about this Pyramid and sharing it with our New Care family and team.
Today
Outside my window, a new day I see and only I can determine what kind of day it will be.
It can be busy and sunny, laughing and gay, or boring and cold, unhappy and grey.
My own state of mind is the determining key, for I am the only person I let myself be.
I can be thoughtful and do all I can to help, or be selfish and think just of myself.
I can enjoy what I do and make it seem fun, or gripe and complain and make it hard on someone.
I can be patient with those who may not understand, or belittle and hurt them as much as I can.
But I have faith in myself, and believe what I say, and I personally intend to make the best of each day.
This poem is dedicated to all of our clients who fill our days with happiness.
You help us to make the best of each day.
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.” ~ ELEANOR ROOSEVELT