Making Friends

From Friends of JCDS chairman, John Holt:

That's what we do at Friends of JCDS....we make new friends. I've always believed you introduce someone to what JCDS is and does, and they find it hard to resist.
How do I know? It happened to me. Probably ten years ago. A tour of the facility was all it took. I joined the Friends board weeks later for my first two terms.
On April 8, a tour was hopefully all it took for some new friends. The chambers of Overland Park, Olathe, and Northeast Johnson County brought their Leadership classes to visit the Lackman facility. Nearly a hundred of Johnson County's networkers, professionals, and future leaders had a chance to learn all about JCDS and its mission and its challenges. And most important, it’s fantastic people: staff and consumers.
I related my story to them of how I was hooked...and yes....they took tours of the facility, to see JCDS in action, making lives more meaningful.
Just as I had some ten or so years ago.
Now, as Friends of JCDS chairman, serving my second round on the Friend's board, it's a thrill to help tell our story. How Friends works to supplement the fine efforts of passionate staff, and how fundraising and "friendraising" go hand in hand.
Oh yes, the man who helped take me on that tour back then? Mark D. Elmore. I remember him walking me through the building that would one day bear his name in memory of his contributions, after he left us too soon.
Hopefully the tours given to these chamber leaders, and the Lenexa and Shawnee leaders to follow, will have the same impact on them that he had on me back then.
It's all about making new...Friends.