The beginning of my week was traveling to Atlanta to attend the 2008 National Conference on Volunteering & Service put on by the Points of Light foundation. My role was man a “booth” for the American Cancer Society with aspirations to link to our current corporate constituents and to look at the potential companies for our workplace solutions programs. It was a great conference – with a theme “the urgency of NOW” – which I found very inspiring. We were surrounded by some wonderful non-profit volunteer recruitment and engagement companies and major sponsors of the event such as UPS, Loreal, Delta Air Lines & Home Depot. It was great to meet people excited about volunteering in their community and how to connect with what they had to offer volunteers.
One of great people I met was Lynne Norton of “opportunity knocks” – an online job site for non-profits. The traffic of people was slow that morning and we sat and talked for quite some time. She told me about her move from corporate to non-profit and the transfer of skills and experiences, and then I spoke about my career history with ski patrol, acquatics, American Red Cross & American Cancer Society and how I have grown as a professional within ACS. It was fun to talk to her about the journey and she then asked if I would be interested in being interviewed as a part of her podcast series on “OK Radio” highlighting professionals in non-profits. What a great “opportunity” for me to share my story. And very appropriate after the presentation with the AMA!
