What a whirlwind couple of days. From start to finish you were incredible volunteers and because of your hard work and dedication, the Family Conference in Portland, Ore. was a great success.
Our conference committee consisting of volunteers definitely outdid themselves again from arranging awesome teen trips and Kids Camp activities to logistics and many more tasks. They welcomed everyone to their home state of Oregon and were excellent hosts. Thank you so much Derek and Carrie Conklin, Jack and Paula Kriz, and Matt amd Vanessa Nehrkorn, for your commitment of time and energy. You’re amazing.
Lend a Helping Hand
As many of you know, unpaid volunteers help our staff run the Family Conferences. They lend a helping hand wherever needed for the many tasks.
In Portland, we needed 104 slots to be filled. Our volunteers stepped up to the plate. They manned the registration, sales, volunteer and Boost the Cure tables. They helped set up and take down each day.
Volunteers facilitated and monitored sessions. They helped with the special activities at the Friday Fun Night at Holladay Park. We had two professional photographers who took amazing pictures and donated their time and photos to the NFED and the families.
Volunteers chaperoned the daily teen field trips. How about those who came forward when asked to be on the Family Panel and shared their experiences and stories! Thanks to the care providers who helped with the dental evaluations and spoke to families one-on-one at ask the experts session. Professional speakers gave the presentations and tendered their precious time to give you the valuable information you might have been looking for.
Special Thank Yous
Let’s not forget a special thank you to our wonderful ladies from three chapters of Delta Theta Tau Sorority who volunteered so many of you could enjoy the sessions. They not only signed up to work but also donated the snacks and drinks for Kays’ Kids Camp and the daily teen trips. We were so humbled by their generosity and will treasure their long-lasting friendship forever. Thank you! You’re awesome, Delts.
Another special thank you to the many friends of Jack and Paula Kriz who showed up to help. They blew us away and brought 100 handmade Chinese Lucky Knots made by the Chinese American International School students and faculty to be given away at the conference. Such a beautiful gesture!
Unsung Heros
We were extremely thankful to have some helping hands to take food to the workers at the park on Friday so they had some supper. Others helped with the heavy lifting of boxes and pushing the loaded cart each day and at the end so we could go to the UPS store to ship the boxes back to the office.
And, to the unsung heroes behind the scenes (you know who you are), we appreciate all you did to make this conference run smoothly. You met our challenges and we are extremely thankful for all your help. We couldn’t have done it without you!
We hope you made new friends or visited with old friends, expanded your network, and boosted your social skills. We hope that you saw that you are not alone. You gave of your time, effort and talents to help make this conference a success. You rock!
See you in 2019
Our next Family Conference will be near Chicago, July 11-13, 2019. More info to follow in 2019.
If you would like to fundraise or volunteer, please contact me at 618-566-6871 or email me.
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