October 2007 monthly meeting

Larry brilliantly facilitated this meeting. We nailed down a lot of dates/agenda. We have so many things to add to our calendars. A fund-raiser at Books Inc in MountainView, our "Singles event at RAFT" and our Chevy's fund-raiser. Plus a host of other possible project dates!

Firstly, we have made a decent progress with fund-raising and recruitment of new volunteers. For HOBA day, our LIFT team was able to raise about $400 and we recruited 10 new volunteers.

We decided in our meeting to be more transparent to the world! And thanks to Google, we will share our information at the world's fingertips. Our target goals for volunteer recruitment, fund-raising, community-outreach will be available in the blog for all to see. Our success/otherwise will be very visible.

My personal impression so far - it is real hard work to build something as large an organization as HOBA. The non-profit world can be a difficult environment for raising capital and the efforts are often under-appreciated. Volunteers vary in size throughout the year. But yet, there is energy. There is hopefulness beyond belief. It is clear to me that the board and staff I have seen at HOBA are very committed, resourceful and motivated people. To them, and to the members of the larger "Hands On Network" in other local cities, I tip my hat.

Wasn't there a famous quote ? - "Do not doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has."