As I pen this message to you, I can’t help but reflect on the aspects of what really makes each of us so successful. It is that unseen, but totally innate, part of each of us that makes us give our best, to be the best and succeed in what we set out to do? Like those who sat around a table one evening who had a vision and created the Log A Load For Kids program to help the kids.
As most of you know, Log A Load For Kids has no real corporate backing, offices, or paid staff; yet the program will have raised over $35 million dollars for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by our 25th anniversary. What we’ve raised for the kids across the United States, and how we’ve raised it, still impresses me every time I share what we’ve done (and what we continue to do) with others.
Unfortunately, one of Log A Load For Kids’ long time supporters, dedicated Virginia State Chairperson, Robbie Robertson, part of a husband and wife team, will no longer see the benefits of his efforts. After 13 years of surviving pancreatic cancer, Robbie finally succumbed to this disease–but not before becoming one of the very “miracles” we all try to provide to the kids through the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. His complete and dedicated support of almost every event held in Virginia, and in other neighboring states, helped to bring Log A Load and everybody’s real dedication to the forefront. I will miss him sorely, and so will everybody else, but none so much as his wife, Nikki, who remains our Virignia State Chairwoman.
It is the integrity, the energy, the fervor, the belief in what we do, and the successes which we see around us that keep us all continuing to do our best to influence others to join us, however they can. We can help our organization grow and become more productive, not for ourselves, but for the kids we all want to help and their families, who so desperately need our support. Let’s all try to inspire new voluneers and also raise the consciousness of the rest of our forest industry so that every organization will strive to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in the United States. We’ve already shown what we can do for the past 24 years, so let’s see if we can rise to the challenge of growing our Log A Load volunteers, events, and successes as we move into our 25th year.
More than anything, please be safe, whether logging, papermaking, sawmilling, driving, cruising timber or whatever you do in your everyday life. It’s all of us collectively, that inside energy, spirt, and dedication that goes a long way to “making us so successful.”
Thank you for what you do best.
Rich Palermo
Chiar
Log A Load For Kids Foundation
