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Recently, I shared with my team an exercise on gratitude. Each team member shared at least three things for which they are grateful. A list of more than 40 "grateful attitudes," as I like to call them, adorns our corridor, ranging from kudos for individual team members, to flexibility and collaboration in the workplace.
Reading my team's public expressions of gratitude for their co-workers' influence and motivation was inspiring in itself. Gratitude reminds us that we do not work in a vacuum. Results are not reached and projects are not completed without the focused, intentional participation of many individuals with a common goal.
In Gratitude: A Way of Life by Louise L. Hay, author Lee Coit states, "the most marvelous gift that unconditional gratitude gives us is clarity and vision." In the workplace, expressions of gratitude invite us to focus on and celebrate successes and move us from a place of isolation into community.
In August, the 2005 National Conference on Volunteering and Service will unite thousands of volunteering and national service leaders under the theme "Serve Communities, Solve Problems, Strengthen America." What an ideal opportunity to collectively convey our gratitude to the community of people working beside us, facing similar challenges, advocating for the same cause.
In this issue of To the Point you'll get a sneak peek at the 2005 National Conference in August and all it has to offer. The Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service are partners in this unique, once-a-year opportunity to inspire and fortify community and volunteer leaders. I'm especially grateful for this partnership because of its reciprocal nature; we are inspired in return by the energy, passion, and dedication of the people who are the heart of the national volunteer movement.
Pam Warwick Feldmann
Senior Vice President, Knowledge Leadership & Public Awareness
Points of Light Foundation
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