Persevering with to Serve, and Nonetheless Having Some Enjoyable

One of essentially the most rewarding components of my profession as a Federal government had nothing to do with contracts, coverage, or procurement.

It was the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).

I had the privilege of main the Region 4 (Atlanta) CFC for a number of years, working alongside devoted volunteers and assembly leaders from tons of of charities. Every group had a unique mission, from serving to folks experiencing homelessness to offering life-saving organ transplant flights, however all of them shared one factor in frequent: passionate folks making an actual distinction.

Choosing which causes to assist was by no means simple as a result of there have been so many deserving organizations.

Of course, selling the marketing campaign additionally meant having a bit of enjoyable. To encourage participation, I accepted a couple of “threshold challenges,” together with:

• Dying my beard brilliant pink.
• Wearing a fancy dress for the workplace.
• Taking the Ice Bucket Challenge (I nonetheless want I had that video!).
• Agreeing to get a tattoo if we reached an formidable fundraising objective… fortunately, or maybe sadly, we by no means fairly made that one.

As I start my first 12 months of retirement, I wished to remain concerned. This 12 months I deliberate on serving to Wilderness Way Girls Camp with their CFC software to assist them fundraise.  A small act to assist my area people.

I used to be disenchanted to study that the way forward for the CFC program is unsure. I sincerely hope these evaluating this system have the chance to go to the charities it helps. Seeing the influence firsthand makes it not possible to view the CFC as simply one other office marketing campaign. It modifications lives.

I’m additionally rolling up my sleeves another way. This 12 months I’m volunteering to steer the camp’s firewood program. Why firewood? Because the ladies dwell in tents as a part of this system and use about 14 cords of wooden yearly to remain heat. It looks like an ideal alternative to place my woodsman expertise to work.

If you are ever close to Westminster, South Carolina, and wish to spend a couple of hours splitting wooden, I’d love the assistance. And if swinging an axe is not your factor, please take into account supporting Wilderness Way Girls Camp via a donation. Every contribution helps make an enduring distinction.

Sometimes retirement is not about slowing down, it is about discovering new methods to serve.  Enjoy the photographs, and if somebody has the ice bucket video, please share.