Lauren Rutkin is my guest this week and she's got an eye opening story to share with us about her mother, Gail. Currently, Lauren is the Executive Director of a Family Foundation where she manages the volunteer, philanthropic and DEI programming at Geller. Her life has come full circle in a way regarding the similarities of her mother's career and what Lauren is passionate about today. Lauren is ecstatic when she says, "I get to give back to the world almost every day."
Lauren believes that she's gotten her interest in the philanthropic and not-for-profit industry, from her mother. Rutkin says, "I do think that I learned that from my mom. My mom was always someone who gave back."
Thinking back of what her home life was like after her parents divorce, Lauren says "my mom was present, but not in the way teenagers need, -in the critical ways, she wasn't present."
Unfortunately, mental illness played a big part in Lauren's mom's inability to properly care for her daughters. Later on, under the care of her doctor, medication helped and she was very good at her job at Head Start. "She did feel like her life was saved in some ways by some of these medications. She was able to raise her adopted daughters very effectively," says Lauren.
Lauren believes her mom had a gift though she was very troubled.
Lauren's mom definitely had some limitations and problems but she had a huge heart and worked very hard as a social worker.
Unfortunately, Gail's two biological daughters suffered after the divorce because Gail was unable to give them the crucial things that her girls wanted. Yes, their mom was present, but not fully and that was very hard for Lauren to understand.
Head Start and Early Head Start programs are free, federally funded programs designed to promote school readiness for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers from families that meet income eligibility requirements. Early Head Start programs support pregnant women and families with children younger than age 3 years.
There's so much more to Lauren's story. I hope you like the episode.
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Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or that help wouldn't be available if things go wrong.
GELLER:
https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/geller-family-foundation,357048970/