Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Breakthrough Community,

Here at the close of 2023, I sit back and reflect on a year that has been monumental for
Breakthrough. I am so excited to see the engagement from the entire Breakthrough community. We are connecting in person again and breathing life back into the foundation of our community. Which is to be together in a space where everyone is welcome, where everyone is appreciated and where everyone receives acceptance and love.

Some highlights of this were a communications workshop in the spring on the Sympatico Method by Lee Garland and Arnie Buss. Our summer retreat where Fred Jealous came as our keynote speaker and for the first time in many years addressed our community of men. Our annual barbecue in Carmel Valley where we shared in sunshine, great food, and camaraderie. And, just on the first day of this month, we held our Dinner Dance Fundraiser for the first time since 2019. Nearly 120 people attended and helped Breakthrough move the needle on our fall fundraising drive through MCGives!

In addition, our workshops continued to refine using in-person day-long sessons in combination with virtual zoom sessions to deliver a workshop that reaches more men and provides the loving in-person connection so vital to what we do.  And all our online workshops are now delivered through our digital application of InTouch allowing the men to connect virtually in ways that we couldn't imagine two years ago.  Yes, 2023 has seen some real successes for Breakthrough!

Yet, there have also been challenges.  The changes that came upon us in 2020 have persisted as we adapted to the pandemic, to the post-pandemic; and, now to the new economic reality of the world. Like many nonprofits, Breakthrough has seen costs go up while income has gone down.  We've taken a few hits—yet, we are resilient. Now we look ahead to new growth, new invigoration and new horizons for our Breakthrough community. 

We are planting this new Breakthrough garden for you, our beloved community.  In 2024 you can look for more in-person events and more opportunities to connect together. Some examples of this will be live in-person, drop-in sessions. New in-person team trainings for men who want to be on leadership teams or just refresh their skills.  And, we're looking forward to offering new short courses to men in our community as refreshers and as advanced courses.  Yes, Breakthrough is reimagining the future.  In order to bring that future into reality we need support.

In the year ahead, we ask that when Breakthrough makes a call out for support you answer in a generous way that also makes sense for you. A gift of your time, a gift of your talent, or gift of your donation will make a world of difference.  You can start right now by making a year-end donation to Breakthrough. Let your support be the wind that lifts us up as Breakthrough rises.

My warmest and sincerest wishes to all of you at the close of 2023 for love, happiness, well-being and connection. You matter, you are safe, and you belong. We are Breakthrough.

Meet a Brother: Paul Tanks

Q: Who was your presenter when you took the workshop and what would you say to him about the workshop if you had the chance?

A: Wow it seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away but I think it was Lee Garland and the founder of Breakthrough Fred Jealous. What is there to say thank you brothers, Breakthrough has changed my life.

Q: What did you like to do as a boy?

A: As a boy I liked building model airplanes and then attaching firecrackers and blowing them up. I know cool right!

Q: What would you tell someone considering the workshop?

A: Have you taken care of yourself, given yourself the kindness and love you truly deserve? Our Breakthrough workshop explores how we view ourselves how we treat ourselves and how we treat others. It is a personal awareness thought process that moves one towards life long positive change.

Q: What is one thing you can affirm about yourself?

A: Early on in life I learned how to survive and I am grateful for those skills, now with what I’ve learned from Breakthrough I’m learning how to live life, thanks brothers.

Q: What was the most significant change for you as a result of breakthrough?

A: Becoming a love finder instead of a fault finder.

Q: What are you doing with your life and what are you doing in community and/or what’s new and good?

A: I’m currently continuing my boyhood dream flying as an airline captain and recently reestablished phone check in’s with my Breakthrough brother Paul Gaucher.

Letter from the Executive Director September 2023

Dear Breakthrough family,

This past quarter was very active at Breakthrough. In the month of August, we hosted our annual summer BBQ On August the 13th, attended by 114 people. We were thrilled to honor Kelsey Schwind as Breakthrough’s volunteer of the year for 2023. Also in August was the annual Breakthrough Summer Retreat held at the Saint Francis retreat center in San Juan Bautista. We enjoyed a keynote address from Breakthrough founder Fred jealous and a powerful weekend together.  Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make both of these events a huge success for breakthrough.

The third quarter of the year also saw the addition of two live in person workshops to the Breakthrough calendar. In February of 2024 Lee Garland and Larry Kingsland will lead a workshop in the Santa Cruz area and, starting November 1st of this year, I'll be leading a workshop here on the Monterey Peninsula. Now is the time to refer someone to the Breakthrough Workshop. After enduring the pandemic, we know many men are longing for the social connection an individual development that only the Breakthrough Workshop can provide.

Looking ahead in the month of October Breakthrough will be moving its location. We are going to be in a new space that will allow us to conduct small workshops, host social and educational events and recreational programs, and allow easy access from the community at large. We are very grateful to Breakthrough alumni Patrick Tregenza for opening up his photo studio to a space sharing arrangement with breakthrough.

November will see the launch of the annual Monterey County Gives campaign. This annual fundraising campaign is designed to help nonprofits by matching anywhere from 10 to 15% of the funds contributed. We will soon be reaching out with mailers and phone calls from Breakthrough and we ask that you give generously to support these programs that offer such a valuable and needed service to the men in our communities.

And we are very excited to announce the return of our fall dinner dance fundraiser! Mark your calendar and save the date for Friday December 1st.  This year's event is titled Sparkle Shine and Share.  It will be an evening filled with good times good food and generosity. This is a celebration event and we encourage you to invite friends and family to join us in the celebration.

Looking farther ahead to 2024 Breakthrough plans to continue to expand and support our amazing community., welcoming new alumni and new community partners.

Warmest wishes as we head into the holiday season.

Meet a Brother: Hans Gerritsen

Q: Who was your presenter when you took the workshop and what would you say to him about the workshop if you had the chance?

A: Manning Philips was our presenter for our group in 2019 and we started with 20-25 guys and he intrigued at least 16 of us to keep going with a self led group. We are all very thankful for his insight and patience to help us nurture and find our little boys again.

Q: What did you like to do as a boy?

A: As a boy I was always attracted to water. I swam in freezing cold unheated pools. Plus we explored the local river and canal area in our rural town in the Netherlands and came home wet and muddy.

Q: What would you tell someone considering the workshop?

A: Our Breakthrough workshop was a personal awareness class- how we started in life, what we managed to do wrong in life and how to open and accept ourselves in new and constant changes in a positive way.

Q: What is one thing you can affirm about yourself?

A: Over the years I became pretty independent and after college I lived in different countries. I enjoy being creative and express this in my house and landscape designs and wood carving projects.

Q: What was the most significant change for you as a result of breakthrough?

A: I count my blessings every day and look at my family and heritage more positively.

Q: What are you doing with your life and what are you doing in community and/or what’s new and good?

A: Currently I am still working part time in the ornamental nursery and seed business and started with new landscape designs for locals. I am also building a new home on Whidbey Island for retirement.

Letter from the Executive Director

Well, the last two months have been quite busy at Breakthrough. We launched a workshop in April, we welcomed a new class of graduates on March 30th and we had a communications workshop called the Simpatico Method led by our very own Lee Garland at the Asilomar Conference Center. This event was open to both Breakthrough alums and the general public. This is the start of an outreach from Breakthrough to share our tools with the broader community. Plans are in the works to start running additional shorter workshops so that we can invite friends, family members, and loved ones to share a little bit in the work we do.

Another exciting milestone was opening registration for our Summer Retreat. This year we meet again in San Juan Bautista at the Saint Francis retreat center, August 25th to 27th. Our theme this year is “Taking life on with love! Responding to life's challenges with the 5A's.”  I am very excited to announce a special keynote speaker Friday night at our retreat, Fred Jealous.  This is a chance for past alumni to come back and get a little dose of Fred and, for those men like myself who haven't experienced Fred in the workshop, this is a wonderful opportunity to hear from the man who started it all.  He'll be available before dinner to talk with anybody who wishes to join him and speaking after dinner starting our weekend off with his insight and wisdom. 

As we move into summertime, I would be remiss not to mention that our annual BBQ is also on the calendar. Sunday August 13th we will gather in Carmel Valley village at the community park once again to share food and fun and to appreciate all the volunteers who support Breakthrough with their time talent and love. This is our annual celebration for all our volunteers, and I encourage everyone to come out and show your appreciation to those men who have supported you in your Breakthrough journey. We're also going to have some pretty amazing BBQ again and perhaps even a few games to play on the beautiful green lawn. Remember this event is open to everyone including our families our friends our partners our dogs and our marsupials... Well maybe not marsupials. Registration will open soon.

Last, I'm thrilled to announce that we have started running our workshops using the InTouch app. For those of you who don't know about InTouch there is a separate article in this newsletter talking about the rollout, application, and ability for this tool to help us connect more within our community. It has taken the dedication and hard work of several men to make this happen. And it is all for you our graduates, alumni, and community members. We are working hard to help find more ways that we can connect and support you in your day-to-day lives.

In Love and the 5A’s

Introducing InTouch

Over the last two years a quiet movement has begun within Breakthrough. The mighty networks InTouch Breakthrough Community. Many of you may have heard of this already and I know many of you are using it already. This is what we are calling a “digital clubhouse” using an application available on phones tablets and as a web browser which at its heart is a communication tool. Imagine a private version of Facebook where only people who are in the club can use it to stay InTouch.  

Through this application we can send each other direct messages connect for phone support organize social events and most amazing of all is there are workspaces in it where we are able to conduct the workshops. It operates very much like an online college learning platform where we deliver courses, share materials and content, and post all things related to each cohort’s workshop in one place.

Each class has its own private section in the application for only their class and their team members. When the classes graduate, they then have access to the full online community there of Breakthrough alumni.  All graduates of Breakthrough are eligible to participate. We are currently working on a process to invite men into the “clubhouse” through an enrollment form on our website. Stand by for future announcements as this gets ready for launch.

Currently we are in the final part of beta-testing and things are going very well. We have our 3rd class running on the platform now as well as a few hundred alumni who have been invited in to test it out with us. One huge success of this platform occurred in May when one of our breakthrough brothers self-organized a picnic at Via Paraiso Park. About 20 men showed up to that event and it was a wonderful time to gather socialize and connect with men we knew and some we've never met before. Along similar lines, groups are forming up around cycling, skiing, hiking, and other social activities. It's also a place to post thoughts comments and links to other resources. If you have a book you love, or an amazing podcast or other content this is a great place to share that with all the men in the community. It's our vision that in touch becomes the go-to space for men in Breakthrough to reach out and connect with each other.

A key component of using this application is that it is designed for our privacy. This company is not affiliated with any big data such as Facebook Amazon et cetera. Data is never shared or sold and all the content in our area is private to our group. This new digital clubhouse is considered an extension of the workshop and each participant who joins it is expected to commit to and honor our workshop confidentiality agreement in this space. That means all content is private, not to be shared, not to be discussed without permission, and the space is not to be used for solicitation of business or relationships. This is truly a space where our tenet of “you are safe you belong, and you matter” applies.

We are excited here at Breakthrough for the future of this and look forward to seeing all of our alumni participating and connecting with each other in this way very soon.

Meet a brother: Kelsey Schwind!

Q: Who was your presenter when you took the workshop and what would you say to him about the workshop if you had the chance?
A: Lee Garland. I have expressed to Lee, and here I will express again, how profound the workshop was for me, and my enormous gratitude for him in passing on this work on to me, and to many men year after year for decades. I especially appreciate his gentleness when needed, his firmness when needed (to model boundaries), and his musical additions to the workshop that make it so special.

Q: What did you like to do as a boy?
A: My favorite times were playing nerf football with my classmates in elementary school (tackle when the teachers weren't around). At my rural home I enjoyed climbing my favorite apple tree.

Q: What is one thing you can affirm about yourself?
A: I am valuable. No matter how insignificant I can seem to myself sometimes, I can remind myself that that is thinking from the small self, and that yes, I do indeed have an impact on the world around me.

From the Desk of Executive Director, Arnold Westphal

Dear Breakthrough Community,

When I came to Breakthrough I did not know what I didn’t know. There were a lot of “unknown unknowns”. Like inherent worth, loving nature, adapted parts, 5A’s my little boy and a host of other practices and principles I have used to build a new empowered and fulfilling life.  Before Breakthrough I had no idea the power of re-learning how to be an adult man.  The power of letting go of the limits and stories that had contributed to a less than authentic version of Arnold.  The power of saying yes to love.  Fred Jealous said “Men are built for love” and he was right in my opinion.  That is the foundation on which I hope to build these little quarterly notes of mine.

Thinking of the “Breakthrough Men’s Community” and the impact of two years of forced isolation inspired myself and others to purposefully reach out and engage the Breakthrough family in three ways:

1)     Highlight and expand the practice of phone support

2)     Introduce and engage the InTouch Breakthrough app

3)     Creating more in-person events and workshops

Phone support is huge part of connecting to community and integrating the Breakthrough practices into daily life. This simple act of spending a few minutes checking in with another, or others, using the tools and principles learned in the workshop helps many in our community continue to grow and deepen the impact of what was learned. Recognizing the value of this simple practice the Board of Directors for Breakthrough has started a new initiative; calling men in our community to offer a phone check-in.  Over the coming months you may get a call from one of our board members to simply say hello and offer you a chance to share a phone support call. It is a way for the Board to let you all know that you are the reason they give their time and energy to Breakthrough.

InTouch is a new app for your phone, tablet and web browser and is a fully private social media platform where no data is collected and used for any marketing purposes, nor shared with any outside companies or organizations. It is in line with our commitment to each member of our Breakthrough community that you are safe, you belong and you matter.  This amazingly powerful tool will deliver workshop content, setup social events, and user created groups such as dog-owners, skiing, cycling, fishing, book clubs etc.  Look for more information on this in the coming months.  InTouch is becoming Breakthrough’s “Digital Clubhouse”. 

We are excited to announce two wonderful events:

1)     “Simpatico Method” Weekend Workshop on effective communications on May 5th – 7th at the beautiful St. Francis retreat center in San Juan Batista, CA. This is presented by longtime Breakthrough presenter Lee Garland and Arnie Buss, who have taken their years of experience teaching this method and written a new book “Hear Here”.  They have been teaching workshops on this topic for years and for the first time are going to hold an immersive experience where participants can engage the principles of effective communication in a workshop setting for two whole days. Called “The Language of Understanding” this powerful work is now available to all. Even more exciting is that this event is open to all adults (18 years+)-- not just Breakthrough alumni. This includes couples and singles regardless of background, gender identification or relationship status. Registration is live on our Breakthrough website.

2)     Annual summer retreat. August 25th - 27th also at the St. Francis Retreat Center.

There are so many wonderful things happening in Breakthrough right now! In the works, our Fall 2023 Celebration Dinner Dance. In February 2024 we will hold a fully in -person Breakthrough workshop for the first time since 2020. This will take place in the Santa Cruz area.

I began this by focusing on the connection loving community - I personally want to thank everyone reading this newsletter. I am to be part of this organization and my door is open to you.  All are welcome any time to stop by the Breakthrough office at 532 Abrego St. in Monterey

With all of you together in the 5A’s,

Arnold S. Westphal

Breakthrough Executive Director & Workshop Presenter

Meet a Brother: Manning Phillips!

Q: Who was your presenter when you took the workshop and what would you say to him about the workshop if you had the chance?

A: Phillip Morgan and John Hain. Phillip, you scared the crap out of me but I learned that I was safe. John, your intellect intimidated me but I learned that if I kept at it, I could get the material.

Q: What did you like to do as a boy?

A: I loved to be outdoors and I loved to have epic dirt clod fights with the neighbor kids.

Q: What would you tell someone considering the workshop?

A: If you really want to change the course of your life, then Breakthrough is one of the centers of excellence along the path to the life you want.

Q: What is one thing you can affirm about yourself?

A: I admire my willingness to work hard for the things I value and want in my life and to provide for those I love.

Q: What was the most significant change for you as a result of breakthrough?

A: I now have a conceptual framework to begin to make sense of my very human condition.  Before Breakthrough life just happened, now, more and more I am an active participant in the dynamic play, my life.

Q: What are you doing with your life and what are you doing in community and/or what’s new and good?

A: Breakthrough is still what’s energizing me even after 17 years of participating in, facilitating, presenting, and developing the main workshop. I am more and more motivated to train the next generation of small group leaders.

I am also interested in creating new ways of taking the material to other groups of men because I have come to believe that having some Breakthrough is better than no Breakthrough. One of the first groups I want to work with is new fathers who don’t have the time, energy, or money for the full workshop. 

Additionally, I want to develop ways to offer support for young men who are redefining what it is to be a man and caught between the anger of feminists towards the concept of strong men and the disgust of chauvinists for men who are fully capable of love.

A Message of Gratitude from Executive Director, Arnold Westphal

Dear Breakthrough Community,

As incoming Executive Director for Breakthrough Men’s Community, I want to start the year by taking a moment to appreciate all the hard work of our community in 2022.  First and foremost, thank you to the men who enrolled and participated in the Breakthrough workshop for taking a stand for themselves and making an investment in their own happiness and aliveness. Next, thank you to the workshop presenters and team members who generously volunteered their time to be with those men through their Breakthrough journey. Thank you to the committee members without whose efforts much of the work behind the scenes would not have gotten done. Thank you to our Board of Directors in 2022 Donn Wilkerson, Jamie Alonzo, Paul Finnegan, Brian Bajari, Tom Lee, Ron Gaasch, and Paul Gaucher. Thank you to our outgoing Executive Director Stephen Osborne, for the love commitment and wisdom you gave to Breakthrough in 2022. The combined support and commitment of all these dedicated individuals is what makes Breakthrough, Breakthrough. And very special thanks to all who donated to Breakthrough in 2022. Your generosity directly impacts the men who take the workshop, their partners, children and communities by making it possible for Breakthrough to reach more men with this powerful work.

2022 at Breakthrough was full of the post pandemic renewal. From expanded reach of our program to many in-person programs including joyous musical gatherings and our meaningful annual retreat, our community enjoyed the connection that was missing from many parts of pandemic life. 

Going into 2023 our primary focus is to make the workshop available to as many men as possible from all walks of life and continuing to offer support to our expanding family of alumni out to new strategic partnerships to find ways that Breakthrough’s work can support the missions of other amazing nonprofits in our community.

This message of thanks would be incomplete without taking a special moment to acknowledge the volunteerism of the Breakthrough community.  Workshop volunteer team members give over 120 hours of their time per workshop representing 1500 hours of volunteer time per workshop.  This generosity of time love and support opens the door to transformation in the lives of the men who participate in the workshop, as well as the lives of the team members who support it. As men regain a loving relationship with themselves, they positively impact the lives of their families, their workplaces, their communities, and the world. 

It is an honor to take on my new role at Breakthrough and a privilege to serve this community that has contributed so much to my life.

With Gratitude,

Arnold S. Westphal, 

Executive Director & Workshop Presenter

Meet Small Group Leader, Tyler Scheid!

I started my Breakthrough journey in the Fall of 2020, over two years after first learning about the workshop.  Around the time that I first heard about Breakthrough, I was feeling stuck in several areas of my life and knew that there was 'something' holding me back from experiencing the truly fulfilling life that I knew I was capable of.  I was feeling alone in my struggles and not too sure about how to get the support I was looking for from friends and family.  I was looking for answers in books and podcasts, working harder and smarter, exercising more, meditating, optimizing my sleep, sweating it out in the sauna, taking all the right supplements and eating all the right foods. While all this helped, nothing seemed to help me get truly 'unstuck'.   Luckily, a new friend who I admired for being a peaceful and joyful presence told me about his experience at Breakthrough, and his ongoing support there, which helped me see that my preconceptions around Breakthrough and 'men's work' were false.  I decided to investigate further and found that Breakthrough was a welcoming and safe space to explore myself, get support, and be supportive of others in their journey.  Just those simple things have been transformative for me.

My only regret is that I didn’t challenge myself to engage with the Breakthrough workshop and community sooner.  For me, the element of Breakthrough that has been the most impactful is the support I'm offered on my path to self-discovery and healing.  I also grow from supporting the other men as they engage in their own personal work.  Something magical happens in the safe space that’s created each week through deepening trust and witnessing each other as we dig through the many layers to ‘uncover aliveness’ in ourselves and strengthen our connections to loved ones and community.  My passions in life are all things healing, live music, learning through books, podcasts, and workshops, and exploring the majesty of this earth on river trips, backcountry skiing, surfing, and pretty much anything that gets me outside to share experiences with friends and loved ones in nature.

Welcome Enrollment Manager, Dayton Hughes!

Dayton built a career anchored in supporting personal growth, expanding awareness and generating love through education and service.

Having lived and traveled extensively throughout the world for his previous professional positions in education, recruitment, leadership development and humanitarian missions, Dayton developed a fundamental understanding of the universal human condition.

Dayton is an alumnus and three-time former administrator for the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) which is where he first encountered Breakthrough's literature. Our mission resonated deeply with Dayton and he made a silent promise to himself that he’d somehow, someday, make an impact on this worthy organization. 

Noticing the kind, gentle, affirming energy of many Breakthrough alumni, Dayton launched his own Breakthrough journey in 2016.  He reflects: “Entering the program at age 54, I learned that was the average age of a Breakthrough participant.  And I thought—wow!  What if we could reach men at earlier stages in manhood?  What a positive ripple effect there’d be for them, their loved ones, and our world in general!”

Welcome Chairman of the Board of Directors, Arnold Westphal!

Arnold is currently a presenter of the Breakthrough workshop and is passionate about sharing this powerful work with other men- inviting them into an expanded and more joyful experience of life!

Arnold began his Breakthrough journey in March of 2018 when he enrolled in the Breakthrough workshop parts one and two. Immediately after completing the course he volunteered to be on his first presentation team as a small group leader.  Arnold followed this experience by enrolling as a presenter in training and has now moved into the ranks of Breakthrough presenters. Arnold is passionate about sharing this powerful work with other men inviting them into an expanded and more joyful experience of life. 

Outside of Breakthrough, Arnold is happy to live and work here on the Monterey Peninsula where he grew up. He has a full life including his lovely fiancé and their three dogs: Pico, Tudor & Finnegan, his beloved Volkswagen camper van “Sunny” and way…way too many guitars.  Arnold can often be spotted in the early morning hours jogging or biking along the recreation trail enjoying the beautiful Monterey landscapes or sharing a sunset picnic in his VW with his fiancé at Asilomar Beach.

Welcome Executive Director, Stephen Osborne!

Stephen’s Breakthrough journey started in May of 2015 as a workshop participant. Upon graduation he became a team member supporting new workshop participants. He has served as a volunteer on various committees and was asked to join the board of directors in 2018 and was Chairman of the Board in 2021 and became Executive Director in 2022. He graduated from Monterey High School, has a degree in electronics engineering from Cal Poly, SLO and an MBA from Golden Gate University. 

“It’s not that my world was falling apart so much as it wasn’t coming together. It’s hard for things to come together when you aren’t even sure what YOU want. On the surface, I was functional, ticking all the boxes of life. Family, business, economics, health, etc., but I was missing out on, what I now recognize as, a deeper relationship with myself. Which, as it turns out, was the missing link in a deeper relationship with my wife and children too.  

A good friend recognized the signs and symptoms of a man who was ready for Breakthrough. He shared his story with an open heart giving me the courage to take a chance on myself. What I’ve come to recognize and appreciate about Breakthrough is how it is designed to meet a man right where he is. Men from all walks of life, regardless of different life paths, share the very human need for community. I’d only ever experienced comradery with men through sports and business. A community of men healing men. Now that’s something altogether different. And as it turns out, was exactly what I needed in 2015 when I entered the program

In the years since, I’ve been an ally, a friend, a confidant, a mentor, and mentee. I’ve learned so much from my connections in Breakthrough. I’ve participated in and chaired committees. I spent four years on the board supporting the vision and navigating the trials of a pandemic. It’s been humbling, as I’ve never been a part of an organization where men give so freely of their time and resources to keep paying it forward for others.  

When the opportunity arose in 2021, I threw my name in my hat, and was elected to the role of board chair. I filled that role just long enough to get a feel for the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. When the role of Executive Director opened, it felt like my background was a perfect fit for the present needs of the organization.  And the next thing I knew, I was out of retirement at 71, getting the chance to apply 40 years of business management expertise to an organization I love.

We are living in a time of great uncertainty. Experts talk about the tsunami of mental health issues that are rising across the planet. Men, in particular, are feeling a sense of isolation and detachment from life. I know Men’s Breakthrough can meet this challenge as I’ve experienced it in my own life. My goal, as executive director of Breakthrough for Men is to support the organization in the development of systems and processes that streamline our administrative efforts while also scaling to meet the increasing demand from men, from all corners of the planet, who can now participate via zoom.

The saying, “It takes a village” is just the start. “It takes a community” to see it through. I’m grateful to be part of the Breakthrough community and look forward to watching it flourish at a time when it is needed more than ever.”

Donn Wilkerson and Larry Lightman: 2021 Breakthrough for Men Volunteers of the Year

Donn Wilkerson – Donn has been a visionary for Breakthrough since graduating in 2018. Since then, he has actively participated in his class’s Self Led group and two Leadership teams as a Small Group Leader.  When Breakthrough moved to Zoom in 2020, Donn’s contributions increased dramatically.  When Breakthrough’s annual fundraiser could no longer be an in-person event due to Covid, Donn created, produced and directed a 40-minute film about Breakthrough that became the centerpiece of an online Fundraiser.  This film raised $8600 over 2 days when it premiered and Donn subsequently repurposed parts of it into future online advertising campaigns. 

Since Donn took over Breakthrough’s Marketing efforts, he has expanded our social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and launched a successful Facebook advertising campaign, driving thousands of men from all over the country to the Breakthrough website.   As a result, Breakthrough’s workshop attendance and revenue have increased.  Donn then joined the Community Life Committee so he could help coordinate Breakthrough’s Events & Activities with our new Marketing program.  Following this Donn also was elected onto Breakthrough’s Board of Directors.  As a Board member he volunteered to be on the task force in charge of recommending the next Executive Director, Enrollment Manager and Marketing/Communications Director.  Donn not only found and will train the person that was eventually hired as the Marketing/Communications Director, but he simultaneously served on the Budget subcommittee to help create the 2022 Budget. 

Donn has volunteered an extreme number of hours and his own money and has produced a continual stream of creative and extremely useful ideas as he has helped Breakthrough enter a new phase in its development.  Donn’s vision, leadership and commitment have been highly influential in the sustainability and growth of Breakthrough. 

Larry Lightman - Larry graduated from the Breakthrough Workshop in 2015 in the last class taught by Fred Jealous before he retired. In 2016, Larry spearheaded Breakthrough’s migration to and implementation of Salsa, an integrated non-profit management system.  The project involved many hours of mapping and importing financial and contact data from a variety of disparate solutions that Breakthrough had been using.

In 2021, Larry was called on again to enable newsletter, donation, intro night and event registration through the Breakthrough website, which previously required manual entry of all the contact and payment information into the Salsa system.  Now when a registration form is submitted, all this information is recorded and processed automatically.  Automating these functions became essential as the advertising campaign (created and managed by Donn Wilkerson) was generating thousands of new website visitors, newsletter registrations and potential workshop participants from all over the country. The new automated registration process also now includes e-mail and text message reminders, which are sent before each intro night and scheduled event.  Larry’s volunteer work involved hundreds of hours and has saved Breakthrough a small fortune. While continuing to improve and maintain the important infrastructure he built, Larry also managed to join his first Leadership Team in 2021, where he donates his time/attention to men in need.  Larry’s technical skills and commitment to serving Breakthrough’s mission, have been vital to the continuation, development and expansion of our organization.