No Cows!

The question came from out of the blue.  It's a type that I tend to be very careful answering.  It goes like this,  "What can you tell me about (name of person)?"  



This time the query came from a trusted friend, but I still replied carefully.  I paused for what seemed like hours, but really probably was only 5 seconds, to collect my thoughts.

You see, the person, in question, we'll call her Suzy, was demonstrating that she is all "show."  She had signed up for several committees but had never gone to a meeting.  Recently literally at the last hour, she asked if there was any way she could help.  Good intention, but bad placement.

When I teach the referral-based sales course, we talk about finding out what goals and accomplishments people have.  Obviously, if we know their goals we can help them to reach them.  Even more important is to notice if their goals and accomplishments in line with each other.  If there are lots of goals and fewer accomplishments, or ones that are not in line with the goals, then that particular person (Suzy) has Big Hat Syndrome.  Oh, you haven't heard of that?  It means, big cowboy hat, but no cows!

I caution everyone to really look at their time before they sign up for anything that is related to community service. Not being active in the community can be detrimental, but being half active is even worse!

Little Kids Networking

Yesterday, my DIL, Lisa, and my adorable granddaughter, Kaylie, came to visit for the afternoon so Kaylie's daddy could get some work done.

We decided to go to Woodlands Park in Perrysburg. As you can see Kaylie loved it. I had two very divergent thoughts about this adventure.

The first is that Kaylie loves to play with other kids. When we arrived at the park, she was ecstatic because there were four other little kids playing there. The two youngest little girls, took Kaylie under their wing and helped to introduce her to some of the play scape. I thought about how wonderful it is that kids just jump right in with each other, not worrying about anything. Wouldn't it be great if that happened for us adults at networking events. Just think if when people saw others at an event, they ran (as Kaylie did) toward them.

The other thought I had was about how a small group of people can make such a huge difference in a community's life. This very complex play scape at the park has been in existence for about 10 -12 years. It was that long ago that a couple young mothers wanted this for their children. They took their request to the powers-that-be and were turned away. Determined, they said, "Well, we'll raise the money ourselves." There were quite a few naysayers that said, "You'll never be able to raise that much money." Obviously, they were wrong.

When I think about what those women did for our city, I wonder how many children have run, swung and played at that installation. The ripples of their contribution continue to positively affect the quality of life for our young citizens. One of two main forces behind that project, Lisa Richard, is now the foundation administrator at the Way Public Library. She continues to make contributions to our community.

Thank you Lisa for all that you do!

Collaboration Makes More

Friday night last week, I attended a party to help celebrate some January birthdays. Joy MacLeod, is a member of our Certified Networker community -- all those in the area that have graduated from the course.

Within the past year, Joy has been on a mission to launch a business of being a patient advocate for cancer patients. While out there networking she found two other people that were wanting to provide services to cancer patients, too. Instead of looking at them as competitors, the three decided to form a non-profit that would service the cancer community. By chance, all their birthdays are in January, hence the party which will hopefully give them some money they can then use for their new organization.

Some of their objectives are to provide housing for those coming to the area for treatment -- sort of like the Ronald MacDonald house does for families with ill children. They also want to be a centralized resource center so cancer patients know all that is available to them. Additionally, they want to provide the patient advocate services that Joy is all about. Their organization is called Cancer Connection of NorthWest Ohio. They have applied for their501(c)3 status and expect that they will receive that designation very soon.

As Joy said Friday night, "All of us have been touched by cancer in some way. We want to connect cancer patients and their families and caregivers to physical, emotional and spiritual resources." If you want to know more call Joy at 419-902-4742.

I am so proud of how the CN community members make a difference in the community.

The Eagle Has Landed

Last night when I read the paper, there was a story about a patrol of 11 Boy Scouts who all received the Eagle Scout award at the same time. This is very unusual and obviously merited reporting. (The link is not to my paper as they don't have the story online.)

But it got me to thinking.

Maybe not in the national news, but certainly in the local news, we've all read stories about local boys reaching this highest award in Scouting.

Hm-m-m-m.

It occurred to me that I have never seen a photo of a Girl Scout receiving the highest award. Then it dawned on me even more, that I had no idea what the highest award was for the Girl Scouts, even though I was a GS through my senior year in high school and am now a volunteer with that organization.

So a boy receives an Eagles award.

I did my research. A girl receives the Gold Award. Last year according to the GS website, about 5,500 girls received this recognition.

Do we need to do a better PR job for our girls? Are there no girls in my community receiving this award? What's the deal?

The Eagle Award is very prestigious. Admission officers say that it boosts a young man's chances of being accepted into the college of their choice.

I think the spotlight needs to continue to shine on the wonderful pursuits of these young men

AND

we need to find the switch for the spotlight to use for the girls.

What's your take on this?

Where Has Winter Gone?

Where have all the snow fences gone?

I thought of this today when I was dismantling my winter village that my son, Andy, continues to create for me. He paints the buildings and over the years (20 years since he started) I have added people, trees and other items that I think should be in the scene. I think the village takes me back to my childhood in western NY, where we had REAL winters.

So as I was rolling up the miniature snow fence, it occurred to me that I have not seen one of those in a very long time.

For those of you who live in more temperate climates, a snow fence is a wooden slat and wire fence that a farmer would install in his field before winter hit. The fence would be parallel to the road (usually a north/south road) and back about fifty feet. As the wind blew (usually from the west) the fence would slow the wind speed, allowing the snow to be deposited right in front of the fence. Hence big drifts would pile up away from the road instead of on the road.

I don't think the farmers were paid by anyone to do this -- it was their community and their way to help. Of course, if the roads became blocked with snow, the farmers would be snowbound, too. If they were dairy farmers, that meant dumping the milk when the milk truck couldn't get through.

With global warming seeming to be the trend, maybe snow fences are a thing of the past -- an antique.

What is still in fashion is community engagement. Doing whatever it takes to make a community stronger and better.

What do you see being done in your community that might be today's snow fence?

Holy Cow, Time Flies

I can't believe that it is already Thursday night.

Milestone time! Yesterday I hit the 10,000 visit mark for my blog. Thanks to all who helped me to reach that line in the sand. Now if I don't write, I'll be feeling really guilty!

Today I met with Beth Anne Barrett, a student at Davis College. Beth Anne just completed the Certified Networker accredited course at Davis. She is adamant that all college students should take this course.

But that's not what I really want to write about. Instead I want to talk about Beth and several other young women who are carrying full class loads, working jobs, managing families and still being able to give back to their communities doing volunteer work.

Beth Anne had organized a service sorority at Davis and already there are over 50 sisters participating. Now you've got to realize that Davis has about a little over 500 students. So that's 10% of the student body. And they are committed making money to give to charities each and every month. WOW!

Another student, Jennifer Vaneeckhoutte has the same litany; school, work family and she is a CASA volunteer. I know how rigorous and time-consuming that commitment can be because a friend of mine was a CASA volunteer in Pittsburgh. Jennifer is the advocate for a child in a court situation. She speaks directly to the judge.

I am so proud to know both of these young women and want to acknowledge their contributions.

Please salute these talented young women. Tell us who you admire.