News 4-09-10

FROM MINNESOTA PRESIDENT: JEANIE KUSIE

Hello WAABI members ‐ Welcome to spring!

We have a lot of things going on this spring to include our annual White Elephant Auction, Adopt a Highway clean up, Susan G. Komen Mother’s Day Walk and our May General Membership meeting…

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WAABI Wednesday - 3-31-10

Good morning WAABI Leaders,

There is new excitement in the air and we can feel the change that is developing. Spring is arriving and this creates energy. In some communities the flowers are beginning to bloom and buds are coming out on the trees. People seem to have more energy and enthusiasm. Hopefully this new enthusiasm will carry over to the projects and membership drives that we are working on in our WAABI chapters.

We rely on volunteers for the chapters and for all of the projects that we develop. In the United States volunteerism is at a record high. Of the volunteers 58% are women and 42% are male. The educational background of the volunteer is:

8.7% of the average volunteer dos not have a high school degree. 21.2% have a high school degree. 29.4% have some college work. 40.7% are college graduates.

You could see that volunteering reaches into all educational levels.

How does the average volunteer like to spend his time? The average volunteer’s time is broken down into the following categories:

civic and political time 5.1%. educational and youth services 26.2%. environmental and animal care 1.9%. Hospital and healthcare 7.8%. public safety 1.3%. religious organizations 35.6%. social and community service 13.1%. sports and cultural activities 3.5%. other types 5.4 percent.

I mentioned all of this to give you food for thought. How do we make our chapters and projects more interesting? What will bring together the people of the beverage industry to volunteer for your chapter projects? Some chapters are looking to bring younger people into our activities and some chapters are asking the retirees to join.

On the college level each school has a service learning program where students get credit for participating in activities in the community and where it can be documented. With this new energy that spring gives us, perhaps we can channel some of our enthusiasm into inviting new guests to our projects and our chapters.

In South Florida we are reaching out to the hospitality field and to the local colleges to participate in some of our projects. Our American lifestyle is very busy but still there is time for volunteerism in all industries. I have attached a flyer that we will be posting in a membership report and on bulletin boards and some of the hospitality companies. The beverage industry serves the community and we should give the community an opportunity to serve with us.

David Countin