2013 Nov. Pender Post
Success in business requires first-rate personnel. Good people are important but the trick is to develop the right mix of skills. No book has presented the magic formula, but the evolution of our Recycling depot has resulted in a formula for other organizations to emulate. Clearly, a winning staff must include a pole dancer, an artist, a first responder, a guitarist, an accountant, an organ donor, at least one founder of the B.C. Coastal Cleanup Campaign, and a chicken raiser. For best results, several of the staff members should also be mothers.
Our Recycling depot discovered the staffing formula, and it works. Our staff works in cold, wet weather that would make a letter carrier wince. In the hot days of summer, they work just as hard and still manage to avoid the ever-present wasps. As they work, the staff helps clients, and exchanges tips and quips with everyone on site. There are better paying jobs on the island but our staff members are also motivated by the fact that they are helping to make a difference to their island and, by example, the staff helps neighbors and friends realize the importance of something as simple as recycling.
Our staff and our customers are convinced that recycling makes a difference - now, and in the future. If any of your friends do not already recycle, bring them along next time you visit the depot. Let’s make November, Introduce-a-Friend-to-Recycling month. Where else can they meet a pole dancer, a first responder, a guitarist and an accountant all working together as a team, doing a job that has nothing to do with any of their other exotic and interesting skills and careers?
November 24 is Grey Cup Day. The Grey Cup is one of Canada’s great party days. If you are hosting a Grey Cup party this year, please remember that your party can happen without making a major donation to a landfill site. Cloth napkins can be re-washed and re-used. Plates, glasses and cutlery need not be made of plastic or paper. If your party exceeds your own plate, glass and cutlery inventory, you can always rent them from the recycling depot for the cost of a donation. Next time you visit the depot, ask any staff member, and make arrangements to reserve whatever you need. If your party happens to generate any empty bottles or cans, you can always drop them off at the depot. Your bottle/can returns represent a crucial portion of the depot’s funding.
Finally, don’t forget November 11, Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day reminds us that there is a bigger world out there, and that people from our little island have travelled half way around the world to stand shoulder to shoulder with others when the chips were down and the risk was high. The service at the Legion is very Pender and involves all aspects of Pender life. Veterans, mothers, the pipe band, and students from our own Pender Island School . . . for me, a cross section of Pender that exemplifies why they’re all good days on Pender.