from the President’s desk….

Francis NdiFellow Camlev brethren, greetings and hope this meets you and yours well. Being more than halfway through the year we can report a successful execution of two of the four main activities that we set for ourselves this year – Our first-ever field excursion to Hershey PA and by now the third annual picnic. All thanks to Mrs. G and Uncle Eric and the teams that they led. Our gratitude goes to them for their efforts and sacrifices in accomplishing these tasks. Coming up is the third limb of our 4-post plan, our OUTREACH. You may recall that last year this activity was directed towards the Mollard Hospitality Center in south Bethlehem.

The Mollard center still remains a viable option this year as well and plans for this will be confirmed. As we march up to the event proper, I have had occasion to wonder whether there could be more to our outreach effort in the future. In these wonderings, I sought to consult some of the best practices of some other reputable organizations in the general area of charitable giving. I was inspired by the Rotarians’ commitment to service above self; by the Lions Club’s mission of empowering communities and volunteerism.

These and other organizations may vary on the projects they undertake but the general consensus seems to be that one should “Be targeted and direct one’s efforts and resources to such areas and activities as to derive a maximum impact”

The keywords in this description to me are targeted and maximum impact. A visual analogy that I could relate to this description is that of felling a mighty Oak tree with an axe. Continuing with this analogy, the aspect of being targeted realizes and acknowledges that a large tree is often not felled by a single blow, and repeated strikes of the axe all over the place will not do the job either. However, a careful choice of striking position (so as to deliver a maximum impact) and repeated strikes at that spot offers the greatest chances of felling the tree.

In extending the above tree-felling analogy to our Camlev Outreach effort, I wonder what area of activity makes us as Camlev members uniquely qualified to deliver a maximum impact. What area of activity is large enough to challenge us and important enough to be worth the effort so that our small but repeated strikes will eventually fell the mighty oak?
Francis Ndi