Archive for December, 2009

Are you giving for Christmas?

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Today, I was one of about 50 volunteers who helped to distribute food, clothing and toys and serve lunch to about 250 people who are clients of the St. Andrew’s (Brampton, Ontario) Food Cupboard. A variety of circumstances bring people to the point of needing a food bank. Whether it is job loss, inadequate social assistance, addiction issues, unexpected medical costs, every client has a different story to tell. Whatever the reason, they need food and St. Andrew’s Food Cupboard gives food to those who need it. Many lined up outside two hours before lunch was to be served. Because it was so cold today, we invited people to enter the sanctuary to keep warm while waiting for lunch. They were each given a number so they could keep their place in line for lunch and for distribution of groceries.

By 9:30 a.m. a hive of activity swarmed the Great Hall, as we put tablecloths on the tables, put out the plates, cutlery, napkins. In the kitchen we prepared huge basins of salads, buttered many dozens of rolls, heated pots of chili and soup, boiled hot dogs and warmed shepherd pies and lasagnas. I stopped counting when there were 25 lasagnas in the oven and warming ovens. We put homemade cookies on trays, cut up cakes and placed them on the serving tables.

While all this was going on, other volunteers were shopping for things like fresh bread and eggs. Some were preparing portions of groceries bought in bulk. Others arranged baby food, bread, rolls and a variety of canned goods, and some fresh vegetables on tables.

We served lunch to about 75 people at a time until everyone was fed. After each sitting we invited clients to go upstairs where there was a supervised activity room for small children. Parents then collected their week’s food, a gift for a child and their Christmas dinner fixings. This week in addition to their meager bag of groceries, we also gave a ham or a turkey and a roasting pan to each family. When their bags were full we had prepared a waiting room for clients who needed a ride home.

The volunteers included teenagers and teachers who are off from school this week, shift workers who regularly arrange their schedules to be available on Food Cupboard day, many retired people and seniors from our own congregation and others from local churches. Thanks to the experience of several veteran volunteers things went smoothly. I knew some of the volunteers and met others for the first time today. The spirit of cooperation and helpfulness warmed our hearts and souls. We had fun working together knowing that what were doing a worthwhile task.

All that I have is a gift from God – my life and my family, my ability to live and learn. I have ears to listen; I have food to share; I have time and money to give. When I see how blessed I am, I am thankful that I can help in this small way. I am thankful for God’s gift of his Son on that first Christmas Day. Merry Christmas.

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Do you have pet peeves about email?

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Email is great. I love it. We all do. We can keep in touch with clients, business associates and groups of people. It’s a convenient and efficient to email clients during the day without interrupting their work with a needless phone call. I especially like being able to keep in touch with my intrepid, itinerant adult sons. However, there are frustrations with some email correspondents and the missed opportunities to communicate effectively.

Use the proper tool to communicate: Recently a supplier asked me a question in an email. I answered to the best of my ability. On Day Two I received a follow-up question that was really a clarification of the first question, which I had apparently misunderstand. As a result, I had to do some research and responded on Day Three, with partial information. After business hours on Day Three the supplier sent a follow-up on the follow-up question. I read this email late in the morning on Day Four. The light dawned! Now I knew what the supplier wanted and I was able to provide the answer to what was essentially the question I had misunderstood on Day One.

All this confusion could have been resolved very simply by a telephone conversation. If we had discussed what information she needed I could have clarified the question and given the information immediately – without research and without a four-day delay. Remember email is not the only tool we have. Sometimes the telephone is still the best option.

Use communication tools properly: My other pet peeve about email correspondents is failure to use Subject Lines. Some people just never learn. When a subject line is left blank does that mean the message has no value, importance or interest? That is what it means to me. I rarely open an email with a blank subject line. If it is from a known sender, maybe he’ll get lucky. I scan subject lines for interesting information. I base my open or delete choices on sender line first and subject line second.

Sometimes people reply to a message on a particular subject but introduce a completely new subject. They fail to change the subject line. This gets my sorting system messed up when I try to sort on subject to follow a specific discussion thread.

Maximize the tools: Signature files provide an opportunity to give your reader valuable and helpful information. You can remind people of your full name, company name, phone number, web site address and a tag line about your company or about an upcoming event. When reading email remotely, your correspondent may not have easy access to your phone number. Make it as easy as possible for your clients to communicate by providing your complete contact information on every email, every time.

Do you have pet peeves about how people use email? Now voice mail that is another topic altogether.

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Blogs and crows send messages

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Every evening at my cottage the crows gather in a nearby ravine and create a terrific noise with their cawing, crowing and cackling. I guess you have to be a crow to understand the significance of this ritual. They are communicating with each other, I presume, but to the general annoyance of their human neighbours. Does the trend to blog, email, chatter, tweet, discuss, comment, friend, unfriend, linkin create a similar annoyance to those who don’t understand social media?

Not far from that crow’s ravine, a long steep trail leads to a secluded beach. As children, we sometimes talked, other times raced each other down the path but at the same turn in the road, we would always be startled by the sudden flutter of large wings and very loud “caw” to announce our descent through private crow territory. It always fascinated me that a crow was watching us and thought it important to tell other crows. We, of course, responded with loud “caws” of our own. Shortly, we would hear other crows along the shore, cawing and we would see them flying away.

I feel somewhat the same about blogging. Am I the crow that caws about something that is important to me and no one else? If I caw loudly enough will the other crows hear me and respond? Why would they be interested?

In my previous writing endeavors there were few opportunities for readers to respond to my prose. Columns in business papers, articles in magazines or newspapers, media releases, business profiles seldom generated any feedback. Admittedly, they were not controversial articles, either!

I readily admit, it has taken me some time to get my mind around the concept of blogging. Rob Clark of the Elusive Fish says “these networked conversation are enabling powerful forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.

Sharing information, it seems to me, is one of the great values of blogging. Over the past several months, I have followed these new trends and watched how they benefit businesses and individuals. In some work environments, social media still plays no role in daily work activities and it may never be appropriate in some workplaces. Many blogs reinforce similar messages. Tweeters, re-tweet information from one site to another group of people – just like to crows relaying the message to other crows. Others respond with comments and further insights, so that topics are discussed in greater depth. It is the participation of others that provides the value to the readers.

When we took long family trips in the car, my father took delight in spotting three crows sitting in a tree and he would launch into song “there were three crows sat on a tree.” We would all join in with a resounding “caw, caw, caw” at the end and he would produce a very realistic “caw” sound – to our great delight. As a result, I was always on the look out for crows so that we could sing together.

As a corporate communications specialist I create success for my clients using the written word. In the course of operating my business, I attend networking events, seminars, association meetings and trade shows where people gather and discuss issues face-to-face. Perhaps I will be the crow that announces some news, or maybe I’ll just be one of the crows in the tree repeating interesting news about the issues of the day.

This blog will contribute to that phenomenon of interactive electronic conversations.

“A mile as the crow flies, but three miles by this mountain road” is a term from the 1700s that refers to the most direct route. It looks to me as if blogging is the new most direct route to clients, colleagues and potential clients.

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