Women in Philanthropy Episode 6 with Leticia Ochoa-Adams
Hosted by Tara Doyon, Director of Client Services and Sarah Rose, Director of Communications.
In this episode Tara and Sarah are joined by Leticia Ochoa-Adams, Writer and Speaker. They discuss being "poor" in the Catholic Church as well as grieving a great loss and how the church responds. Find out what the similarities are when giving as a donor and giving as a community rallying around one of their own.
Show Notes:
Leticia Ochoa Adams is a born and raised Tejana who loves bluebonnets, longhorns and Texas shaped waffles. She writes and speaks on faith, grief and suicide loss because after the loss of her oldest son Anthony to suicide she saw a lack of space for honest grieving and acknowledgement of trauma so she set out to create one.
Inspired by other women who have a passion and gift for storytelling like Jen Fulwiler, Nora McInerny and Stephanie Wittles Wachs who all make stories on their own terms, Leticia set out to do the same which is to use storytelling as the means to change the world’s idea of what it means to grieve, be a mother and change dysfunctional patterns that have been set for generations.
Leticia believes that this is how we change the world, by facing our stuff and healing from it.
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Background
Leticia grew up in the church and during her teen years, when her mother lost her source of income, Leticia and her family became what she calls, poor. She was the one asking for money, not the one giving money.
At 17 years old, she gave birth to her son, Anthony. In 2017, Leticia lost her son to suicide, which impacted her faith and future in so many different ways.
Her church community rallied around her and her family during their loss. She was given financial aid, food, room, care, comfort and support. There was no limit to the support she received. As well as no expectations of what she did with it.
Parish Council
Leticia served on the parish council for her home church. What has stuck with her from that experience is how easy it is to feel like you aren't important if you don't have the big checks.
How do you feel important if you can't give as much? Will you continue to give, or will you just give up and check out. And, unfortunately, we are seeing a decline in small gift giving in the church as people follow that line of thinking.
We as a community have a responsibility to continue to stay involved. And we can talk about sacrificial giving as well as stewardship of time.
When all the leaders are centered on Christ and we remove our own egos, that's when we can start to hear everyone's voice.
Keep the mission of Christ first and foremost, for everything will work itself out.
Take-Aways:
- After Leticia experienced the tragic passing of her son she had a conversion and turned towards Jesus in the Catholic faith. Humanity is messy and everyone has baggage they are carrying. We can all learn to open our eyes more to the people in front of us.
- Thoughtful gifts were among the most meaningful in Leticia’s time of extraordinary grief. Her community listened to her needs and intentionally met them. We can take this example to our ministries and by hearing our members and serving them based on their situation.
- As Catholics, we need to holistically appreciate different levels and types of giving. The Church has a responsibility to allow everyone a seat at the table. And as long as we always reorient ourselves towards Christ and His mission, everything will fall into place.
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If you have any questions, email us at [email protected]. Please reach out and we would love to connect. God bless you and your work and we will continue to pray for your success.
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