2012 KICK-OFF MEETING IN COLUMBUS

Top Row from left to right: Annette Yamakawa, Margaret Kim, Homare, Sokkhak Thongsavanh, Su Young, Caryn Olsson, Rachel Olsson. Bottom row from left to right: Rev. Jim Herndon, Janice Miller, Susan Nishio, Marcia Schlichting, Leanne Kim, and Mr. Nishio. Not pictured are Liz Kheng, Lillian Chindavong, and Patrick Olsson.

On the evening of April 30th, WFWP Columbus, held its Kick-Off meeting for 2012 at the Lovin' Life Learning Center. From the start, the coordinators and guests rolled up their sleeves together to create a nice atmosphere with decorations, food preparation and table set-up. This created a nice beginning for our meeting.

Su Young opened the floor with a dynamic power-point using Mother Moon’s speeches as a guide. She explained WFWP mission, goals and education, briefly discussed local WFWP events, and concluded with The Turning Point Conference that will take place in October.

Our new board member, Sokkhak Thongsavanh, is at the forefront of inviting, fundraising and having an all-around "can do" attitude. At the meeting she introduced her business, and all her profits will help people to attend the our national WFWP Turning Point conference. We really enjoyed a 'Blind eye' drawing game which she used to further her work. Sokkhak, our secretary, took care of the all the printing for the evening.

Susan Nishio further explained the purpose of WFWP with a stimulating poetry reading about the power of mother's heart. There was a skit contest that included everyone in attendance; the story was Red Riding Hood and participants used items around them for props, creating their own narration, and acted out a scene. One team had 10 yr. old Rachel Olsson as a cute Red Hood with Liz Kheng as the extremely creative narrator. On the other team Pastor Jim was Little Red Hood with a red turban. (He spent a lot of time in India) It was a riot. The contest ended in a tie.

Caryn Olsson gave a financial report of WFWP and discussed membership, donation, and fundraising.

We were pleased to have Rev. Jim Herndon from Lovin' Life come to our meeting and grace WFWP with his humble loving presence by being part of our kick off.

The food was abundant and delicious with Mr. Nishio providing a large plate of sushi and with other contributions of fruit and cake lovingly prepared by members.

We concluded the evening with a group picture and thanking all volunteers and guests who truly helped make this a successful and fun event. Thank you letters are being sent out to guests. A fun time was had by all!

Overall all, staff members truly practiced living for the sake of others from start to finish, I felt honored to work with our sisters who had the hearts to support one another throughout this event—Su

I liked Susan's idea of "how long does it take" approach. I got a chance to honestly report the time invested in simple decorations alone and it was fun to see people's astonishment, as did mine, when they also reported how many hours they had invested. This really brought a "team" spirit and helped us all understand that no job is too small, especially if we are truly invested, which we were. So I felt very, proud of WFWP. – Annette

I would like more visuals, photos and videos which would be really helpful. – Homare