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The President’s Pen Aloha all. I would like to take this time to thank all of the Board Members for their dedication and commitment to our profession. Our first board meeting was held on July 31st. We welcomed new Board members Pi’ilani Kai (Secretary), Warren Aoki (Treasurer), Bernadette Ramos, Anne Tamashiro, Elaine Wilson (Members at large), Brooke Evans (MSW Student Rep), Jann Cabacungan (BSW Student Rep), Tali McCall (Kauai Branch Rep), Lydia Hockridge Terry (Maui Branch Rep) and Mark Ansel (interim West Hawaii Branch Rep). One of the items discussed is our new website. I suggest members check it out– www.naswhi.org We are really grateful to Bob Souza (husband of Chapter member Lina Souza) for volunteering his time to be our Webmaster. This will surely enhance our ability to outreach to our members and educate the public on what Social Workers do. The Board also discussed the Chapter’s priorities and possible activities for the upcoming program year. We will be finalizing our work plan at the next meeting. When I was elected as President, the question of what I was going to do to bring our profession together was raised. People mentioned annual membership meetings and others discussed bringing groups together. As one of my hero’s John F. Kennedy stated, it is “not what your country can do for you but, what you can do for your country”. Similarly, the question is not what NASW can do for you but what can you contribute to NASW? NASW is a membership organization and is only as strong as our members’ participation and contributions. I am grateful to our Board members who have volunteered to take a leadership role, however, I would like to also ask our membership to be more active members. I would like to restart an annual membership meeting however, in the past, attendance was poor so it was discontinued. I am asking all of you for your help. Please e-mail me at [email protected] for any suggestions in brining our profession together. Secondly, how we treat ourselves and interact with each other determines how close our profession can become. We must accept differences of ideas and opinions. It is with only open eyes, ears and minds can we achieve unity. We must treat each other with the respect and professionalism, which our very own Code of Ethics demands of us. As the President, my message to the board was for openness and the willingness for us to accept different ideas. We need to trust each other when we put issues on the table for everyone to discuss in a safe manner. If each member can do this, this would be a great step to bringing our profession together. The board and other leaders within our profession can only give the message and try and create the atmosphere. Then it is up to the membership. My challenge to all of you is to become more active. Everyone talks about recruiting new members. I welcome new membership, however, I also want our current members to become active in our professional organization. A membership with 1,000 active members is a stronger organization than one with a million non-active members. How can you become active? We have many committees to serve on. If you are like myself and time is an issue, there are many other programs and ideas which you maybe able to contribute either through financial support, contacts in the community and or assisting by attending our CE workshops to name a few. We are also looking for mentors for our mentorship program. We have a responsibility to ensure the future of our profession. To teach and mentor the future Social Workers. Thanks to NASW Board member Lana Kaopua, the UH School of Social Work Alumni and Friends, the numerous speakers and the students for starting a mentorship program. We are currently looking for individuals who would be interested in becoming mentors. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a mentor. I know these times are stressful for all of us. The most important responsibility is to ourselves. We have stressful jobs which sometimes gives us no immediate rewards. Just remember, there are many of us who support the profession and responsibilities each and every Social Worker has. I hope to see or hear from many of you soon. I look forward to new ideas and new active members to give us the energy and momentum to push us into our future. Till next month Darrin Sato, LSW President |
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