Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Erinn Burch enjoys indulging her curiosity.
Erinn Burch grew up an "Air Force brat," before settling here in 2001.
For nearly 20 years, Erinn Burch has played an integral part behind the scenes of the Clovis-Portales community. As the executive director of United Way of Eastern New Mexico, Burch brings "our generous community together to support vital local programs and services," - something Burch considers life and community changing.
Though she grew up all over as an "Air Force Brat," Burch particularly enjoyed her stint in Bitburg, Germany. She and her husband met while she attended college at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. The couple moved away for several years, but came back to the area in 2001 to be closer to family.
When she's not busy keeping the community connected, Burch loves to read - especially science fiction, fantasy, and thrillers.
Q: What is your favorite thing about your career?
A: I love that through United Way I can make an impact across the region. We are not "one cause" focused so I get to bring people and organizations together and seek solutions for addressing the root problems. Our programs include: 211, http://www.volunteerenm.org, YouthSuccess/100% Community; all these, plus our grants, enable us to make more things possible with what we have.
Q: What is one thing you absolutely love about living in Clovis?
A: Truly connecting and being part of a community. Growing up, we moved every three years and so I had no sense of how interconnected a place can be. I love that Clovis and Portales are the perfect size for being able to know people and organizations and to see the community working together.
Q: What's your favorite childhood memory?
A: Spending time at my cousins' place in east Texas. They had a little ranch with a pond, woods and fields. My sister, cousin and I would play, run, climb, read (they had lots of books), and swim all day. That slice of life is my measure for happiness.
Q: If you could be a character in any book or TV series, who would you be and why?
A: I would be Tilley on Star Trek Discovery (my latest binge). She is energetic, enthusiastic, smart, and just beginning to grow into her Star Fleet leadership roles. I love to see her rise to the challenges. Plus, the crewmembers on the Discovery are really appreciated for their unique talents and celebrated for their excellence. I think it would be a great environment.
Q: Where was the best trip you've ever been on?
A: It is a toss-up between my parents taking us all on an Alaskan Cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary, and the reunion trips my family have made to Germany to visit the villages where my dad's family (back to 1610) is from.
Q: Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?
A: Indulging my curiosity - learning something new, reading a new story, discussing a new idea.
Q: Who is your hero? Why?
A: I don't really like having heroes or holding someone up as a hero, because we expect too much from them and turn them into a fantasy version of themselves. I like to discover the real person and I want to be OK with their flaws.
Q: What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you?
A: One night, my friend and I were watching the horror film "Halloween." We were babysitting, so no parents were around. A boy from the neighborhood scared us by ringing the doorbell, hiding and then jumping out at us.
We ran him off, and went back to our TV. Then, the doorbell rang again. No one was there. Five minutes later, doorbell. Still no one was there. Four minutes, doorbell. Three minutes, doorbell. We (us and the smaller kids) were seriously freaking out. The doorbell kept ringing closer and closer together even as we stood there staring at it with NO ONE touching it.
Only when my friend's parents came home did we figure out it had a "short." What an emotionally exhausting night!
Q: If you could eat dinner with anyone from history, who would you choose? Why?
A: Mark Twain. He seems like he'd be terrific dinner company -- snarky, clever, a deep thinker but with a sense of humor.
Q: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
A: "What other people think of you is none of your business." Which goes along with, "How people treat you is telling you something about them and not about you."
