Bremerton mother Natasha Fecteau has been learning how to make a difference for kids for years. This year, she put her learning to work more than ever before.
Natasha believes child care ought to be within financial reach of parents who are struggling to earn a living. That’s why, when the Children’s Alliance issued a call this year for budget action to protect early learning and stable care for kids, she spoke up for Working Connections Child Care.
She believes timely, preventive oral health care ought to be available for kids and their families. So when Children’s Alliance pushed this year for the creation and authorization of dental therapists, she spoke up about her own arduous experience trying to find a dental professional she could afford.
She knows she’s not alone in struggling for health care and other basics. Four years ago, she attended the Children’s Alliance Advocacy Camp, a leadership training for those seeking to make big change for Washington’s kids. On one morning during the three-day training, she was listening to a Latina mother describe the barriers to opportunity that kids in her community faced.
Natasha remembers having a sudden realization: This mother was fighting for her children, and these children were American, and that it was wrong to divide and separate one of our families from another.
“America doesn’t pay enough for anyone to live,” she remembers thinking. “That’s the problem.”
Now, Natasha says, she believes that we could allow ourselves to be divided, or we could build a great nation together. A nation united by love, founded in the love that families deserve and that strong families radiate.
If she could prescribe one approach to Washington’s kids and families, it’d be based in the recognition of families’ deep capacity to hold and to give love.
On June 9, 2016, Children’s Alliance will honor Natasha with the Brewster C. Denny Rising Advocate Award at the annual Voices for Children Luncheon. Children’s Alliance is a public policy advocacy organization doing smart, strategic, equity-focused work to secure the resources necessary to enable ALL of Washington’s kids grow up safe and strong.
This event is an opportunity to honor those who have worked hard to make sure Washington’s kids get what they need to become healthy, successful, and engaged adults. It is also an opportunity to pool our resources to put public policy on the side of Washington’s kids.
The luncheon is on Thursday, June 9 at Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion. Governor Jay Inslee is the keynote speaker. Doors open at 11:00 a.m., the program will begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. and will include a call for investment.
Come June 9th to celebrate and honor the work of Natasha and other child advocates making a difference for kids in our state. You can find more information and order tickets here. If you use the discount code GLOBALIST you will receive $20 off your ticket.
This post was written and edited by our sponsor.
