Letter from the President - October 2015
COMMUNITY DAY
Over the years I have had the pleasure of working for companies that have a strong spirit of giving back to the community. They encourage such giving throughout the year and the last few companies have organized a special “Community Day” each year where many of the employees take a few hours or the entire day to meet at a location with a great need. I am always amazed at what can be accomplished over a short period of time when you have a lot of people working toward the same goal.
It makes up for the aches and pains I feel this morning after all the hard work I did yesterday <grin>.
My local Stantec office had close to 50 people working in two separate shifts at a local boy/girls club that needed some TLC. Yes, there were a lot of tasks that required some hard work to finish the job. But when you have a lot of people all working on that job it will get done faster than you believe possible. And there will be a lot of jokes and fun along the way. The appreciation expressed by the club staff was heartfelt and generous. I am sure that they will remember this day for quite a while to come.
Even better is how you feel as an individual after volunteering like that. You become closer with your fellow coworkers when you all labor together toward the same goal in a spirit of giving. It is a far different experience than working on a project back at the office with some of those same folks. Everyone left the club with a smile on their face.
The same thing can be said about volunteering for AUGI. There are many members who have volunteered for years on AUGI’s behalf. Why do they do this for so long? It’s certainly not because of the pay! If you ask any one of them, their answer will be along the lines of, “I wanted to give back to the community”
AUGI is a community of people that share common goals and needs. When you have an issue with an application or process you are almost assured that someone else in the AUGI community has had the same issue. You might be able to benefit from their experience if they have solved the issue, or you can work together toward finding a solution when alone you could not. The time you spend on the Forums, building the community, is a form of volunteering. The more active you are in the Forums, the stronger that sense of community becomes.
There are many other ways in which you can volunteer to help AUGI. Reach out at volunteering@augi.com to find out how you can help build the AUGI community.