While I volunteered at this past weekend's "Million Meals For Haiti" event in Kansas City, I was reminded of the importance and power of leaders outside the workplace. Here's what inspired me:
- It took 10,000 volunteers to pack up 1,091,228 meals for earthquake victims in Haiti at this past weekend's event, organized by Numana and the Salvation Army.
- It also took hundreds of leaders throughout the community to organize the volunteers and to encourage participation among the groups of two to 20-plus volunteers who came to help.
- Those leaders included:
- Leaders within churches
- Leaders of Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops
- Leaders within neighborhoods
- Leaders among groups of high school students
- Leaders within family units
- Leaders from other nonprofit organizations
And, it was these leaders who used their leadership skills and persuasion to influence volunteers to accomplish good things --one of the most important attributes of being an effective leader.
And what a powerful reminder of how many different places outside the workplace where one can be a leader!
Equally impressive, during the two-day event, the 10,000 volunteers, wearing hair nets, aprons and gloves, worked one-hour shifts in an assembly-line style to box up meals, sometimes preparing as many as 1,000 meals a minute. The meals consisted of rice, soy protein, freeze-dried vegetables, and a blend of 21 vitamins. The meals will be Haiti before the end of this week.
Numana is organizing similar events throughout the U.S., and to date, more than 6 million meals have been sent to Haiti as part of the program.
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