January 16, 2012: Honor Dr. King with Service

 

Join Projectline for a Day On, Not Off

Those of you who know Projectline may be aware that we volunteer as a group once per month with local non-profit organizations chosen by employees. People sometimes seem perplexed by this volunteering habit—they can’t believe that folks who work together all week would want to spend evenings or weekends working even more. They can’t imagine committing to spend hours doing things that make their hands dirty or their backs hurt, all for an unknown recipient whom they may never meet. I suspect their confusion comes from a lack of experience, not from differing values. Until you habitually give up your spare time and direct your energy toward a shared goal, it can be difficult to see that the benefits of service outweigh the inconvenience (by tons).

This year, we are raising the stakes and participating in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on January 16, 2012. On this federal holiday honoring Dr. King, we hope that every single Projectliner will spend the day with their community, either volunteering with us or their own group instead of working. We also hope to sweet-talk our clients into getting away from work on this day to spend time with us too. As well, we are inviting vendors and subcontractors, employment candidates, past employees, future clients, Projectline Book Club members, and anyone else in the Projectline network who is interested in making January 16th a day on, not a day off.

• When: January 16, 2011, 9:00am to 4:00pm
• Where: Seattle, Philadelphia, Toronto, London and Bay areas or wherever you are
• Who: You, me, and everyone we know
• How: RSVP on this Facebook event page or email Carole Magouryk

Trust me, volunteering with Projectliners is one of the most rewarding, contemplative, and merry days of my month. Whether we are delousing sleeping mats, building fences, staffing a fund-raiser, serving or sorting food, or anything else we are asked to do, the time spent together as a team working for our community is worth every single second. I hope you’ll join us.

Follow @MLKDay and @projectline to learn more about the MLK Day of Service or just to discuss this important day. We want to hear what you are planning. If you want to talk to me about integrating volunteering and giving into your work community, find me @AnikaMarketer.