A year of silver linings

As I sit in front of my cozy fire surrounded by snow I hear another discussion starting with "What a crazy year it's been..."  And do you know what?  I'm sick of it.  Instead, I want to hear about the positive things we have taken from it!

We all know that Mother Nature has thrown her weight around this year and that all around the world communities have been forced to face terrible tragedy.  But nearly a year on from the start of Mother Nature's tantrums (in NZ at least) I feel we need to look to the positive.  We need to find those silver linings.

I found one just the other day in Blenheim.  I was chatting to a volunteer who was passionately talking about how the Christchurch earthquakes forced her organisation to put in place structures and processes for dealing with unexpected events.  Recently one of the group's key members was going on holiday, and for once she could go away reassured by the fact that all the systems, people and processes were now in place that if they had to step up to help in the event of an emergency, they were more than prepared.

That made me think that we should be sharing these stories and learnings.

So what are your silver linings?  What lessons has your organisation or community learnt as a result of unexpected events?  How have you and your volunteers made a positive change in your lives or organisations?

I'm looking forward to being inspired by your stories.

- Pip (and our snowman!)

PS - I am thinking the next discussion will be around how the Rugby World Cup is impacting on the voluntary sector.  With only a month or so to go until kick off it's going to be what everyone's talking about...so we might as well join in the discussion!  Let me know if you have any specific questions to ask the Community Connect community - contact us by clicking here.

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