May the Work Continue
#TheCampaignContinues
The campaign continues as we establish The John Anthony Clary Umberger Foundation
to inspire others to live boldly and make a difference as John did.
What will you do?
The Purpose
The foundation’s purpose is to make the world a brighter and better place just as John did before his death.
Through the foundation’s five focus points, we want to inspire others to make a difference and to consider “what would John do?”
Join us as “the campaign continues” to carry on John’s legacy.
The Pillars
The Focus of Our Efforts
SAFETY
WELLNESS
INNOVATION
SUPPORT
SCHOLARSHIP
The Board
Meet the JACU Executive
770-853-9922
Meet the JACU Board Members
Sara Brooks Adams
Sarah Baker
Mo Baptiste
Lauren Bosler
Eolene Boyd-MacMillan
Tracey Burnette
Alexander Campbell
Josie Coats
Doug Coulter
Alex Coulter
Diane Dematatis
Joanna Dematatis
Amanda Gross
Kayley Henderson
Carol Holmes
Jackie Howard
Laing Humphries
Henderson Hunter III
Jones Hussey
April Kerr Roscher
Megan Kessell
Wilson Kieffer
Ian Koll
Tracy Koll West
Carol Maloney
Jessie Mason
Kyndall McKemie
Oby Morgan
Everett Nadal
Allison O'Brien
Michael Roberts
Corinna Robinson
Clark Seydel
Caroline Thomas
Ben Umberger
Caroline Watkinson
George Watkinson
Harry Watkinson
Ken West
Holmes Whalen
Chesley Wiseman
Jade Womack
Donate
We are in the process of applying for 501c3 status and all donations the IRS will view as retroactive.
We can accept check donations made payable to: The JACU Foundation & mailed to: P.O. Box 19672, Atlanta, GA 30325
On Work
By Kahlil Gibran
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.
You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, And all knowledge is vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, “He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet.”
But I say, not in sleep but in the overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.