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Leadership Weekend Puts Renewed Focus on Volunteer Engagement, Energy and Passion
You could feel the energy and excitement in the air of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, BC & Yukon Branch’s annual Leadership
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Weekend on May 11 and 12. More than 50 volunteers and members journeyed from around BC and the Yukon to Richmond to participate in the two-day retreat.
The weekend opened with networking and dinner on Friday night, providing an important time for volunteers to connect with one and another and staff from the Branch. After dinner, it was down to business. A board orientation was led by outgoing BC & Yukon Branch President, Anne Schultz, who then chaired her final Board meeting. Senior staff provided operational updates, and opportunity for discussion. Departing Board members were honoured and thanked for their contributions, including: Dennis McCann, Paul Duperron, Ron Walker, Judith Thompson, Edna Humphreys, Maureen Hobbs, Aimee Morry, Cathy Wong, Sandeep Manak and Dr. Robin Lowry (appointed Medical Advisor)
Bright and early Saturday morning, incoming President, Teresa Atkinson, and Executive Director, Pia Schindler, welcomed volunteers and members and set the stage for the day. As a volunteer-driven organization, the focus for the leadership weekend centered around volunteer engagement to support volunteers today and into the future. The morning opened with Chapters providing updates from their respective communities, including highlights of their activities throughout the year. Among the many updates, volunteers shared their extraordinary fundraising achievements, their strategies to attract new volunteers and members, and their hard work promoting kidney health awareness and education.
Through this sharing of information, the group was able to learn from each other’s successes, innovations and challenges.
Volunteers then engaged in a discussion and round table group work about 2018 Branch strategies and Chapter activities and how they align with The Kidney Foundation’s mission, vision and public benefit statements: Hope, Support, Empowerment, and Engagement. The big takeaway for the group was the confirmation that their contributions and activities both align with and support the overall strategic vision of The Kidney Foundation, both provincially and nationally.
The group then broke for lunch, and following lunch, attended The Branch’s Annual General Meeting where the election of the 2018-2019 Board of Directors took place.
In the afternoon, National Executive Director, Elizabeth Myles, joined the group by video and provided an overview of The Kidney Foundation’s report “The Burden of Outof-Pocket Costs for Canadians with Kidney Failure”. This was followed by a Q & A session and lively discussion led by Director of Programs, Heather Johnson.
The final session of the day entitled “where’s your passion” challenged volunteers to think about how they want to contribute and what they need to succeed. To help get the conversation going, volunteers heard from their peers who shared their personal accounts and heartwarming stories about why they volunteer and what motivates them to stay involved. There were lots of laughs and some tears too during the discussion, and it inspired everyone to think about how they could best make a difference.
Participants then shared final thoughts and the leadership portion of the weekend concluded with new and innovative ideas on volunteer engagement paired with a renewed passion for giving back. ■
Newly Elected Board of Directors (Left to Right)
What volunteer participants had to say:
"Being a recent transplant recipient and a first time attendee to the leadership weekend I found all of the weekend very informative, interesting and beneficial. The one thing that really sticks in my mind is learning that people with limited financial resources often don't have the ability to get the required dental repairs to be approved for a kidney transplant. This is definitely an area that needs to be addressed by our health care. I applaud the work The Kidney Foundation is doing in this regards. "
Sid Adams, Volunteer
“My “ah ha” moment was how useful the Leadership Weekend is as a forum for communication to see what other chapters are doing to succeed, and how some of these events, and ideas can be used to help a chapter become more viable, and grow.”
Paul Ravelle, President of Prince George Chapter
Congratulations to the Newly Elected BC & Yukon Branch Board of Directors and Executive for 2018-2019
