We met a lot of people during that crisis, but there was one who made a huge impact, Leslee from Key Largo. Leslee came back to something she never expected after Hurricane Irma, her house and all of her belongings were destroyed. Yet Leslee used her free time after the storm, like other residents, to think about others.
She reached out to let me know how appreciated we were, and that if we REALLY wanted to add value, we might want to consider something different. Her idea?
She wanted us to find and deliver furniture.
I had to wonder, did she talk to Betty? Or was the need that great? So I did a little research. Sure enough, people were sitting on the floor, beds, or if they were really lucky, a plastic lawn chair. Not only did they want furniture, they really needed it. So we adapted to change, and we delivered furniture. 14 loads of furniture, over the next 7 months. We used a mashup of Scrum and Kanban called Scrumban. We used 4 week iterations, and helped over 150 families.
What we didn't expect, and what really surprised us, is that along the way, we delivered something else. As we met with each person, we listened to their stories, and we let them share their frustrations, and their dreams. And we helped the people who donated see more goodness in their world.
We delivered comfort and joy. We delivered a belief that things could be better. And we delivered an impact, along with others who refused to stop caring, when those people started restoring their land, and their sea, which is still happening!
I'm grateful for our time spent in service to the residents of the Keys. I'll never forget what I learned about agility in the midst of crisis. I'm so incredibly grateful for the amazing friends and family who decided to #BePartoftheGood with their support.