I recently had the pleasure of (wo)manning the Take Pride in America® exhibit booth at the 2008 Conference on Volunteering and Service held in Atlanta, GA. The event had over 4,000 registered attendees and I think I saw about half of them during my time at our booth.
I had numerous people come by the booth and I told whoever would listen, and even some who probably didn't want to listen, about the Take Pride in America program. There were many who had never heard of us, some of had heard of us but they weren't quite sure what we did, and then there were some who knew all about us. I was thrilled that people were interested in what I had to say until I found out that most of them stopped because they saw the picture of our national spokesperson, Clint Eastwood! That's okay; I don't care what made them stop - I took advantage of every opportunity presented to talk about Take Pride and to make sure everyone knew to check out website at www.TakePride.gov for more comprehensive information.
I did meet some very special people that I would like to give a "shout out" to:
- Mr. Bert Smith, of the Center for Constitutional Studies: Mr. Smith stopped by my booth first thing Monday morning and introduced himself. He and I started talking about my son, Billy (he is 11 and smart as a whip and I could talk about him all day long!) and he went to his booth and brought back a pocket sized copy of the US Constitution as well as a folder with a poster size copy of the Constitution and several other pieces of material on the Constitution. He told me that this was material that the Center had sent to all of the schools in the US that teachers could use to help them teach their students about the US Constitution. My son and I have been been checking it out; although we haven't had an opportunity to check out the DVD that was included. That is next on our agenda. So a great big thank you to Mr. Smith from me and my son.
- Ms. Geneva Dorsey, a Special Education Teacher and Change Agent for Service Nation: It seemed like I ran into Geneva every time I left my booth to wander around the Exhibits. I finally got her to come to our booth and we had a nice chat about some of the things that we can do with the schools in Minnesota. So, Ms. Geneva, I'll be in touch so we can discuss getting some of the schools in your area signed up as Take Pride Schools. As you can see I am still "working it."
-Mr. John Parsons, Director Eastern Idaho RSVP: John came by the booth and asked questions about our website and registering events. He would then go to the Cyber Cafe and check it out. Once he did that then he would come back to us. I got to see John several times and hear some of his great volunteer stories. Take Pride Director Katie Loovis was at the booth during one of his visits and spent a great deal of time "picking" his brains for some ideas. Thanks for stopping by John and for your great ideas!
Many people dropped their business card in our basket to receive our newsletter and to try and win a Take Pride Prize Pack. Since we had so many cards to choose from we selected 2 winners and they are: Mani Hull, Interim Executive Director Tennessee Campus Compact and Lydia Ramirez, RSVP Manager Northern Santa Clara County. Congratulations to both of you and your prize pack is on its way.
I want to thank everyone who stopped by our booth. I really enjoyed the interaction with each and every one of you. I hope to be able to see some of you again sometime! Take care and keep doing what you're doing - you folks are awesome!
Pat Kennedy
Program Assistant
Take Pride in America
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