SECRETARY'S MESSAGE
Greetings Members and Member Organizations,
We’re all about to transition into a new year. I want to congratulate all of you for the year you’ve had. This isn’t easy, managing volunteers. Did you set goals for 2022? Did you have resolutions? Did you meet them? For me, personally and professionally, it was a mixed bag. And that’s okay!
We should be ambitious, but we should also keep in mind that the yearly goals we set for ourselves are 12 months in advance. Things change. Especially the past few years. A change of plans is not failure. Adaptation is an amazing quality to have. You’ve made it through another year. Your volunteer program has made it through another year. Maybe it doesn’t look like it did a few years ago. That’s okay, too.
I think there’s very few of us who have built our volunteer programs from the ground up. If you’re like me, you feel like you’re just standing on the shoulders of giants who came before. But you’ve steered your program through the cliched “unprecedented times.” And maybe they’re not quite over. But sometime soon people will ask how we all got through it. And you’ll be able to tell them. You know what it took, because you’re doing it. Be proud of the work you’ve done. We’re the giants now.
I want to thank our giant, Gerlinde. She has been president of the Volunteer Administrators’ Network of Central Ohio for two terms! VAN lives on thanks to Gerlinde's work. I hope you make it out to our end-of-year celebration on Thursday, December 15th and to the first meeting in January 2023. You can thank the outgoing board and welcome the new board members. You can even let us know what sorts of development sessions you'd like to see! We’re also collecting items for local families through Columbus Recreation and Parks. Please take note of the special times on December 15th. Details for everything are below!
Thank you for your work this year.
Galen Roth
VAN Central Ohio Co-Secretary
DECEMBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
VAN Professional Development Meeting
Topic: Less Holiday Stress and a More Mindful New Year
Holiday Breakfast and Networking: Thursday, December 15th 9:15 - 10:00 AM
Mindfulness Session: 10 AM-11 AM
Place: This month's meeting is in-person AND virtual! There will be a 45-minute breakfast and networking period to start for those joining in-person. Please be aware the virtual session will begin at 10 AM. Please sign up through this Google Form if you plan to come in person.
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Room 2B
96 S Grant Ave
Columbus, OH 43215
Less Holiday Stress and a More Mindful New Year
Learn ways to sneak a bit of mindfulness into the holiday season to savor the pleasant moments more and avoid making the unpleasant moments worse. Discover how small, doable mindful habits help equip you to navigate work pressures, family dramas, and the challenges of ordinary life—throughout the year.
Daron Larson is a Mindfulness Coach who has discovered from personal experience that consistent practice really can make ordinary moments better — including the uncomfortable ones. As a parent, social worker, and librarian, he has always found purpose in identifying resources to help people respond more effectively to the challenges of day-to-day life. Daron encourages people to go beyond breath awareness and relaxation to cultivate flexible focus, responsive composure, and robust resilience.
His TEDxColumbus Talk, Don't Try to Be Mindful has been viewed over half a million times: http://bit.ly/TEDxColumbusDaron
Again: This month's meeting is in-person AND virtual! There will be a 45-minute networking period to start for those joining in-person. Please be aware the virtual session will begin at 10 AM. Please sign up through this Google Form if you plan to come in person.
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Room 2B
96 S Grant Ave
Columbus, OH 43215
Join Zoom Meeting on Thursday, December 15th at 10:00-11:00 AM
See your VANtage newsletter for new Zoom information.
VAN NEW HAT AND GLOVE DRIVE
Help us support families through the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department Holiday Programs. We will collect on-site at our VAN Meeting on December 15th. Items to be collected:
- Brand New Winter Hats
- Brand New Winter Gloves
- Body Wash
- Shampoo
- Toothpaste
JOIN THE VAN BOARD FOR 2023
We are accepting applications for new board members for 2023! You'll notice that many positions are co-chairs, which means you'll have help! Open positions that will need to be filled are
Professional Development Co-Chair
Membership Co-Chair
Web Coordinator
Treasurer
Please email your resume to President Gerlinde Higginbotham, ghco@ghconsultingservices.com.