This article originally appeared in the CIA (e)Bulletin.
Volunteers are not only at the heart of what we do but how well we do it.
To mark this year’s National Volunteer Week, we celebrated by thanking volunteers in a new and unexpected way: a four-city, week-long “Communities in Action” tour.
The theme: raising the actuarial profession to new heights. The goal: recognizing some of the countless volunteer contributions to the Institute and the profession. The method: drop in, on sometimes unsuspecting volunteers, to surprise them with a thank-you and small token of our appreciation.
Sue Alcott, Manager of Volunteer Services, Marc Tardif, President-Elect, and Chris Fievoli, Staff Actuary, Communications and Public Affairs, kicked off the “Communities in Action” multi-city tour in Waterloo.
Thank you to our dedicated volunteers
“We wanted to find a way to get as many of our members as possible involved in saying thank you to our volunteers,” says Sue Alcott. “It’s because of the dedication of volunteers that our members have internationally recognized standards of practice, research, and education.”
From larger organizations like Sun Life Financial (which accounts for the highest percentage of our volunteer force), Oliver Wyman, Manulife, Western University, the University of Waterloo, and Canada Life to smaller boutique firms like Robertson Eadie & Associates, and Actuarial Solutions Inc., together we celebrated the importance of volunteerism and member excellence.
“The ‘Communities in Action’ tour was only the beginning of our appreciation activities this year,” adds Ms. Alcott. “We are excited for act19, the CIA annual conference, where we will host our first volunteer cocktail event and present our terms of service awards. We also have plenty more visits and deliveries planned over the coming months.”
Year after year, we are astounded by the commitment and impact of our volunteers. As an organization we are better because of these efforts.
To our 550+ volunteers: thank you for raising the actuarial profession to new heights 365 days a year – we truly are a community in action.
