|
|
|
|
|
Explore, enjoy and protect the planet |
 
|
Chair's Letter What You Think of Us The Dallas Sierra Club recently conducted an online survey to help us make some decisions. It yielded some interesting comments about how well you think we're doing our job, and it points to some opportunities for you to help us expand the areas in which we work. Based on the information you provided, the ExCom has decided to further reduce the number of issues of The Compass we publish each year. As you know, we've been slowly moving away from reliance on paper communications toward greater reliance on electronic communications. We'll soon be moving to a bi-monthly publication schedule for The Compass (six issues a year). Among potential volunteer activities, the greatest interest was expressed in educating children on conservation issues. That is an area where we have very little to offer right now. We don't currently work in schools, but we could if a group of interested volunteers would put together a curriculum and make it happen. Energy efficiency, water conservation, and recycling are obvious topics that we could help educate kids about. So if this is something that appeals to you, bring a proposal to our Conservation Committee and let's see what kind of program we can build in this area. Most respondents expressed interest in "seminars on green living", and our general meeting programs on that topic have been well-received. How can we get the message out to more people? Respondents were also interested in the idea of specific topic discussions at a local restaurant. Both of these ideas merit further discussion at a Conservation Committee meeting. Many people express interest in the club's work but profess a lack of time to get involved personally. I think people avoid getting involved in volunteer organizations because they fear being drawn into a bigger commitment than they reasonably can handle. Our response should be to create meaningful opportunities that don't require a large investment of time and to be respectful of limits on peoples' time. But we can't just ask current club leaders to create more programs. We need your participation if we are to expand our volunteer offerings. The praise we received from survey respondents was gratifying. We're glad you think we're doing a good job. And to the handful who think we're not, my response is: come help us do better. Don't just sit on the sidelines and criticize. Here's what I ask of you:
Your participation will redefine our relationship from one of "you and me" to "us", which is the only pronoun that really matters. Ann Drumm |