Volunteer!

Many of us have done volunteering in some shape or form, whether for PMI, church, other institutions, or community causes. Have you ever wondered why? It is interesting to note that we choose to volunteer for various reasons; for some, it provides an opportunity to make a positive difference to the folks around them, or to make a beneficial impact on the community they live in. The work involved can also provide opportunities to network, or to help others to build new skills. Irrespective of motivational factors, though, we all agree that we enjoy volunteering because it is both challenging and rewarding.

On April 7, 2022,  I was fortunate to attend the PMI Leadership Institute Meeting (LIM) 2022 conference. It was exhilarating to see close to 300 volunteers from North America attend the conference and share their success stories. These included accounts of volunteering while navigating through the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic. This outstanding response shows that we are a community of ordinary folks making an extraordinary impact on society at large.

One example of this effect occurred last fall when, because of your leadership and generosity, we completed the Diaper Drive for Guardian Ad-litem. During this project, we generated 18,000 diapers and 26,000 wipes for the kids in need. "Thank You" very much for that!

So, what plan has our chapter in store to cope with similar projects for this coming year? Well, we are working on development of a volunteering framework that can connect people, processes, and community. This framework will guide us on how we recruit, retain, nurture, and recognize our volunteers. On the community side, it will guide us on how we select the projects and how we will subsequently deliver our services. To name a few projects under consideration: mentor-mentee Program, learning clubs for certification, institutionalizing project management concepts in schools and universities, resume workshop for jobless, and food drives.

 

Please stay tuned for updates. We are looking forward to your zeal and enthusiasm for upcoming volunteering projects. If you have any suggestions or would like to be involved in the planning stages, please contact me, Shajil Kalathil at vpfirst@pmitlh.org.

Do Today What Will Benefit The World Tomorrow!

	VP of Communications Michelle Webster Email		VP of Membership Tony Gilyard Email
	VP of Professional Development Frank Pugh Email		VP of Administration Diedra Jones Email
	VP of Volunteers Lonna Peterson Email		VP of Programs Jeff Erle Email

The PMI Tallahassee Chapter was founded in 2002 to support the vision of PMI and to promote the discipline of project management to our membership, government, and businesses in the Big Bend/Panhandle areas of North Florida. Our vision is to foster an environment of sharing experiences and continued education for the project management discipline through scheduling, promoting, and facilitating engagements for the local community. Have you thought about contributing more to your Chapter? Please consider offering a small portion of your time to become a member of a committee and help us keep the Chapter thriving.

PMITLH is looking for energetic volunteers to help us make our Chapter the best it can be!  There are many tasks associated with running an organization.  We need to plan meetings, communicate with members and prospective members through various methods, obtain sponsors, manage our finances, and more.  A volunteer can serve in multiple positions while gaining experience to be elected to Board vacancies if so desired.  Volunteers must be members in good standing of both PMI and the Tallahassee Chapter.

The PMI Tallahassee Chapter works to create new programs and improve existing ones for the benefit of the chapter and the local community. The success of the chapter and our ability to provide high quality programs is only achievable with the help of our members who volunteer. It is through the dedication and commitment of individuals like you that we are, and will continue to be, successful. We are always looking for volunteers to join our team as the Chapter continues to grow and broaden its services to the member community.

Reasons to Volunteer:

• Opportunity to effect change and to initiate improvements.
• Personal and professional growth gained by sharing talents and giving back to the Chapter.
• Opportunity to work with tremendous talent from a variety of different organizations.
• Great social events (dinner meetings, conferences, seminars, certification training, etc.)
• Knowledge that what I am doing will impact thousands of prefessional people and hundreds of organizations in Tallahassee for years to come.
• Earn PDUs.