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VANtage: January 2021

Galen Roth | Published on 1/21/2021
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Greetings Members,

Happy New Year! I think for first time in many years those three words mean a lot for all of us. COVID-19 changed the planet as we knew it, challenged us all to adapt. The amazing thing is, we did adapt, became stronger and more understanding. Like you, VAN learned new work arounds and was focused on responding to our current circumstances during the better part of 2020, but in December we took time to look forward. As part of the Board’s planning efforts, we seriously considered our post-pandemic future. We want to emerge stronger from this challenge. We looked at ways in which we can grow and ensure we are in an excellent position to continue to fulfill our mission to you, our members.

During the pandemic, we have been meeting virtually and we continued to offer our Professional Development sessions online. While meeting online can be a challenge, it has offered many of our members the opportunity to attend who might not have otherwise. However, we hope soon we can restart in person meetings.

We learned that our Professional Development sessions are a crucial part of our success and provides a vital service to our membership. Our 2021 goal is to be Ready, Relevant, and Responsive. READY to provide you with more RELEVANT services and Professional Development sessions. And, to be more RESPONSIVE to your requests and needs. We are stepping-up our efforts to bring you more appealing and engaging professional development series. We hope to increase our networking meetings so we can share our experiences, old and new; and just have some good old fashion, in-person fun. We also are looking at ways to be more informative on our website and social media sites.

Please join us for our first Professional Development meeting of 2021 on Thursday, January 21st at 9:00 am.  If you have ideas to help us improve our professional development sessions or network meetings, please share.  You can go to our website, Volunteer Administrators' Network of Central Ohio (vancentralohio.org). Click on Contact Us to send us a message. You can join us on January 21st and share your feedback and ideas at that time as well.

Gerlinde Higginbotham
VAN Central Ohio President


JANUARY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

VAN Professional Development Meeting
Topic: Team Care, Not Self-Care: Surviving in an Era of Burnout with Susan Comfort, Comfort Counseling and Nonprofit Wellness
Time: January 21st, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) over Zoom
Description: We'll examine our self-care strategies and turn them into "team-care" to support our allies and teammates. Utilizing audience challenges, humor, and brain science, Susan's webinar will help each participant understand how they can juice up their team's productivity as well as their collective joy and impact.

Since we must support each other through our stressful nonprofit work ... tools, tips and best practices will be demonstrated (and downloaded) on how to build connection and camaraderie within teams.

Join Zoom Meeting on Thursday, January 21st at 9:00am
See your VANtage email for Zoom information


MEMBERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS

Join the VAN Board!
Become a bigger part of your favorite group! We have openings available for Vice President, Professional Development Co-Chair, Membership Co-Chair, and Web Coordinator! Contact Gerlinde Higginbotham if you have interest in learning more about these opportunities at ghco@ghconsultingservices.com.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY OF SERVICE

Join or Host a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Event
Let the President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris know that you’re committed to serving your community by volunteering on January 18, 2021! Events may be virtual or in person and may be held any day the week of January 18th. Signing up provides the host with a toolkit included recruiting tips, health and safety guidance, and more. Sign up by clicking the link: Biden - Harris Inauguration (bideninaugural.org)