VOLUNTEER EXTRAORDINARY SHARES HER STORY

One! International had it’s 4rth Annual Gala Celebration on Saturday January 28, 2012. It was a smashing success and I will probably write further about it.However, at this time I want to share the contents of a speech that our extraordinary Canadian volunteer Julie shared with the crowd of over 400 people who attended the Gala.

Hello. My name is Julie Hawkins and, I AM a volunteer!

• I became actively involved with One! International following my own personal adventure to India in 2005.

• About four weeks after my return from India, I attended a fundraising event for One!. At the time, I was still trying to make sense of the sights, sounds and people I encountered in India and was trying to find my place back home.

• This adventure changed me and challenged me. It changed who I was – how I felt about me and I was questioning – why was I lucky enough to be so fortunate with this life. The spiritual adventure was rapidly unfolding and I endeavoured to find the answers to all my questions.

• At the fundraiser, I felt an immediate connection. Someone else understood what my eyes saw, how emotionally raw I was and seemed to have some answers to the questions I was asking. I knew then, that this extraordinary young woman from Sherwood Park, was someone that I wanted to get to know better. So I signed up to be a volunteer. I signed up, for a challenge.

• Two years later, I was asked to take the position as Manager of Programs and Events. I took this role, very seriously.

• I actually think Tania and Marilyn were not quite sure what to do with me at times because of my never ending questions about process, policies, terms of reference, organizational structure, etc.

• But before long, I found that I started to feel less like a volunteer and more like this was MY organization.

• I am proud and honoured to be invited into this One! family. So I moved forward doing what I felt needed to be done.

• Volunteering to me, means taking the time to do something – anything, with good intentions and the hope that it will make a difference. I believe that by nature humans have desires to make a meaningful impact on the world around them. I believe it is just a part of who we are.

• One! survives, quite simply, because of our volunteers. Whatever reason a person offers his or her time, each moment spent together helping is a moment that holds great value, and in return, we receive huge personal rewards. One step at a time.

• One! reaps those rewards, tenfold. I personally feel incredibly fortunate to be working with a team of such determined, passionately dedicated, fiercely loyal and compassionate people.

• It was important to me that our volunteers each had a role that they could call their own. To allow their self-worth to flourish, their pride to bloom and for them to know, that they were making a difference.

• We did this by establishing a Steering Committee; the objective is to ensure all operational activities align with One`s vision, mission and value statements. We assist in identifying strategic level issues and risks and ensure that our projects and fundraisers achieve their goals.

• We also established working groups like the Priorities and Strategic Management Group – with that title, you just know that’s a fun group!! They have the dubious task of helping One! Canada: secure our longevity by helping us with policies to minimize our risks, give strategic direction, establish realistic priorities, and more importantly, make sure we stay on track at a reasonable rate of growth, so we don’t compromise the future of One!.

• We also established a Gala Planning team. This is our fourth Gala and each year we become even more successful. It takes an extraordinary team, a lot of time, a lot of ideas and lot of coffee at 1912 Block where we meet regularly.

• Quite simply – My team rocks!!! I feel like the mother hen who is incredibly proud of all her little chicks!

• We are our own little dysfunctional family, with a few cracks around the edges…but you know what, it works. And it works because we all have the exact same goal in mind and that is to help our children.

• We are all – in this for the long haul – and – for the future of One! which looks really bright!

• You can’t help but feel incredibly humbled being around such amazing people, true ambassadors of One! International. It truly is a privilege.

In closing I would like to share this inspirational quote about volunteering.

We do not choose to be born.

We do not choose our parents.

Or our times, or country of birth,

Or the circumstances of our upbringing.

We do not—most of us—choose to die

But within all this realm of choicelessness

We do choose how we shall live

Courageously or in cowardice – Honourably or dishonourably

With purpose or adrift.