Have you ever thought about what it takes to make an organization like UpDoNA effective? I’m not asking how much it takes for the organization to just exist in some basic form, because that doesn’t really take much. Rather, I’m asking what it takes to be truly effective, to be a force for change, to do the things to really make a difference, and to fulfill the hopes that its members have when they first join.
In UpDoNA, we have a Safety & Quality of Life Committee that meets regularly with officials from the City of Denver, the State Government, and various other organizations in order to work on the homelessness, illegal encampments, drugs and crime issues plaguing our city. We have a Clean Sustainable Denver Committee that organizes community cleanups. We have an UpDoNA Cares Committee that is currently surveying various charities with which we may want to align. We have a Membership Committee that works to expand our membership so that politicians pay more attention to the needs we collectively have as residents of downtown. We have a Newsletter and Website Committee that maintains our communications with our members. We have a Social Committee that will be organizing events to promote community building. We have a Board of Directors. Then too, we have all the normal functions for any organization, such as tracking finances, answering emails, picking up mail – the list goes on and on.
Do you know what is common to all of these activities? Volunteers. It takes people to perform all these tasks. It takes lots of people; lots of volunteers. There isn’t a single person on the board, in a committee or anywhere else that receives any kind of compensation whatsoever. We all joined UpDoNA because we saw problems in downtown Denver that we want to get fixed. To be effective, we need everyone to be involved.
One way that you can really help UpDoNA, your community and yourself is by running for the Board of Directors. We will have our annual meeting on June 6, 2022, and we will elect the next Board of Directors at that meeting. Your community needs you. Please consider running for a board position. Directors will have two-year terms, which is enough time to become really effective, and still not too long from a personal standpoint. Personally, I find this work interesting, educational and challenging. We are sending out instructions on how to write your bio and where to send it. Please help UpDoNA be a force for change. Be a part of that force.
Thank you for being an active part of your community.
