Continuity is the key to success in any endeavor.
At Hill House, this principle is all the more important. At a community and non-profit organization, it is often very easy for very good people to leave very quickly. Often, their tenure does not last with completion of ideas and programs that they have started to implement.
This was not the case with Ian Moorhouse. He will be leaving Hill House at the end of next month after almost seven years at the local organization.
Ian was first hired to refocus and expand Hill House programming. He did this job very well as the offerings went from 70 programs to 100. A few years later, Ian was tapped to become the Executive Director.
While running an organization like Hill House that has to focus on diverse segments that range from children to senior citizens is never easy, Ian has done a commendable job.
Parents whose children have gone through the various programs at Hill House know Ian’s imprint was undeniable.
Just looking at the picture on page 5 of this week’s issue of the soccer travel team, Ian is to be commended for implementing this program that has raised the level of play for many of the local players.
On any given Saturday during the fall or spring, hundreds of local children are on the fields playing soccer or baseball. And in each sport, the local children have benefited from instructive and dedicated coaches that Ian has brought to the program. In many cases, one sees the “graduates” of Hill House teams now having aged out of play but are still involved in coaching or refereeing the various games with children who are as old as they once were when they played at Hill House.
A recent event was held at the Boston Garden where 40 local hockey players had the opportunity to play on the ice at Boston Garden before the Bruins game. It was difficult to know who enjoyed the experience more — the parents or the childern. After the event, one skater came home beaming and bragged to his mother about playing on the ice at Boston Garden noting that this was “awesome’ and added “Dad had a great time, too.”
He was right.
This is only one of many examples of the positive impact that Ian has brought to parents and children alike at Hill House.
As Ian starts this new venture in his life, we wish him and his family well and we say thank you for leaving Hill House, our community resource, better off than when you came seven years ago.