The Gazette: Mary Beth O’Neill’s guest column, “Iowa needs diverse foster families”
Guest column by Mary Beth O’Neill that appeared in The Gazette: As an organization that spans the whole of Iowa, Four Oaks faces many needs in the coming year. While
Believe in the power of hope this holiday season
It feels like hope is hard to come by these days with the spread of COVID-19 variants, struggles with staffing shortages, coping with the devastation of natural disasters, and more.
While it can be easy to focus on the challenges of this year, we must not lose sight of what truly matters most this holiday season, the power of hope.
No matter the holiday you celebrate or the beliefs you hold close to your heart, we can all unite around the idea of hope.
To have hope is to believe that something better is possible. Hope cannot only help make a difficult situation more bearable, it can also improve our lives by enabling us to envision a better future and motivate us to take action.
We cannot let the challenges facing us deter us from hoping for a brighter future for our children. We need to embrace hope and work together to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our community have the supports and resources they need to be successful.
So as we reflect on this year and its many challenges, I encourage you to lean into hope and think about how we can work together to help make a brighter future a reality for the children and families across our community.
Mary Beth O’Neill
Four Oaks Enterprise President & CEO
Recent News
Welcome to our new blog!
Welcome to our new blog! Educators, we see you, and we hear you. The last few years have narrowed everyone’s windows of tolerance, and you need practical support over philosophical.
Trauma-Informed looks like… Part #4 – Paying Attention to Basic Needs (while bowling)
My niece and nephew had never been bowling before. When my sister and I visited over Thanksgiving Break, we had a Grand idea: we take them bowling for the first