Service as Usual

Getting back into the swing of things here feels pretty good, also a little overwhelming. I have regional minutes that need to be mailed, I also have about 1000 issues of the newsletter to mail out to 3 different areas. The 26th Annual MARCNA is coming together and I am still doing the artwork and now ordering all the merchandise as well. I have never ordered merchandise from vendors the stuff we order is coffee mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, commuter mugs, pens and this year magnetic phone books for the registration bags. Well it is one thing to order this merchandise and look for deals, we are a non profit organization and all the money used is from donations, but to be in charge of the artwork and getting it on the merchandise is a whole different story. Let me tell you it is so hard when you are dealing with merchants who are unfamiliar with the software you use. And being on a time constraint I didn't know where else to look for a vendor. Luckily the place I found, well actually I was referred by the place where I got the shirt catalog from, they have done our convention before. So the girl that works in the office there is really great. The problem is I am not technically on the committee, I can't make the meetings. Except once every three months when they are at the region because I am always at the regional meetings and I told them this at the beginning of the committee year. I could not promise to be on the committee due to time constraints this year. Anyway, I recently learned how to work in photoshop. I have been blessed with the CS3 Master suite and I have been doing a lot of artwork and one thing you do to put together a portfolio is to volunteer your work for free so that is what I am doing, and I submitted 2 different peices of artwork to the convention committee. The problem is I let my ego get in the way and the committee members started asking if they could see something different, then something else different by the time I was done I have submitted over 30 different peices of artwork and I finally said I am done, I am not compromising my artwork any more. I was so eager to have them want my work that I was willing to bend with the wind. Well because nobody uses photoshop and I don't have corel draw I have ended up at the vendors on New Years Eve working with this girl for 2 hours trying to come up with what the committee wanted. That isn't even the best part, when I went to the vendor I didn't even know what mugs to order because I missed the convention committee meeting and they tried to make a decision without a catalog!!! They had no idea what they were ordering and they had no idea what artwork we ( the vendor and I) were working on in corel draw and they wanted something different!! I love being a part of this committee and I do not regret doing this work I have learned so much, I have made professional contacts in the graphic design industry and I am building my protfolio for free!! I will be signing up for a typing class this semester. I still hen peck!! Never took a class, pretty cool huh. If you are reading this and you are in a fellowship like I am and you think something is missing from your program try some service work. Do you know how much need there is for members to get involved!! What are you waiting for do you think your local meeting schedules are going to print themselves!! Do you think the next dance is going to put itself on!! All the events that happen in our fellowships happen by volunteers who give freely of their time and you know what I have learned so many life skills and relationship skills and I just can't say enough about service. I love it it keeps me out of my own head and focusing on the solution until I decide to actually work on me it is a healthy distraction that keeps me grounded and humble enough to ask for help. If I make a mistake I am forgiven and I learn from it. Now I better do some "steppin" for my daily thought; Never mind if you fall far short of the thing you want to do,—encourage your effort. If no one else will say it to you, say it to yourself. "Not so bad." It will make the next effort easier and better.- Josephine Demott Robinson