Its Memorial Day, barbeques abound, yard work, playing with the kids….then it hits me…. I have to get this newsletter published by the end of the week!  Not only do I need to load the articles into our wonderful new content management system, but I also need to write an editorial.  And I thought to myself, I wish I could drop this PMI CIC newsletter stuff….

Such is life when you volunteer.  As I continued to cut the grass, thinking about what my editorial going to be about, I saw the American flag flying and started to think about Memorial Day and the reflecting on the family members and friends who have volunteered to serve my country.  And I specifically thought about those who have sacrificed their lives to give me the freedoms that I enjoy today.  I compared their sacrifice against my miniscule little problem of getting the newsletter published.

After a period of feeling very insignificant, I came to the conclusion that we need to spend this quarter’s newsletter editorial looking into volunteers and the project management community.  I volunteered to be the newsletter editor to help the PM community of Indianapolis.  But it wasn’t for pure altruistic reasons – being new to Indy, I wanted to also use this as a chance to meet others in the community.  Have I grown my network as wide as I would like?  No.  But I keep volunteering to do the newsletter because I know that it is a part of the larger PMI CIC services that help bring us all together.  And I know that I’ll continue to expand my network over time. 

So I ask you, the readers of the PMI CIC newsletter, to consider what are you doing to improve your professional community?  Do you have a few hours every now and then to contribute to make your professional community a better place for all of us?  Maybe you could contribute an article to the newsletter or speak at a future PMI CIC program?  Or perhaps you have other ideas, like helping students consider what life is like as a project manager by spending time with them in a class room setting.  Whatever your ideas are, I encourage you to take some time and consider volunteering.   It’s the one thing we can all do to give back to our communities. 

Feel free to contact me at newsletter@pmicic.org  if you’d like to discuss additional volunteer options.