Chair: IAM Ethics Council

Let down your guard,

It’s no so hard,

To be a volunteer!

These are lines I wrote many moons ago that are not quite true. It takes some time and commitment to be a volunteer, be it helping out at a food kitchen or animal shelter, manning a charity booth, or sitting on a committee. As anyone who has taken the step will tell you, it is also a very rewarding experience.

My volunteer journey started when I was in my twenties and I was drafted onto an Industrial Development sub-committee in Ireland. I was pretty much out of my depth given that the other members were older and (much) wiser than I, but I learned a lot. The best lesson was that every volunteer member of the committee gave as much effort as they would give to their regular job.

I had several other volunteer assignments after I came to the USA but before I became involved with IAM. Most were connected to the moving or freight industry, so I was more comfortable than I was on my first committee and it felt good to contribute positively.

I am of an age when years go by way too fast, so I won’t try to apply a time frame to when I first got involved with the IAM Ethics Council. If I say seven years ago, I will doubtless find that it was 10 or 11. The late, and sadly missed, Rick Curry enlisted me during a weak moment after a golf game. Even at that stage of my life, I found that I could still learn, and Rick was quite the educator. His calm and gentle demeanor masked a determined advocate—not just for the Council, but for all that IAM represented. If he pressed an issue, no one was really aware he was pressing, one just realized after the event.

Rick encouraged me to run for a seat on the IAM Executive Committee and, when I lost, he used his power of gentle persuasion to have me volunteer for one of the sub-committees. That, in turn, led me to successfully join the Executive Committee.

There I had the honor of watching how the staff and volunteer committee worked to reshape the organization, led by Terry Head. There were so many initiatives on the slate that it seemed impossible to drive all of them forward. The dedication of the IAM staff and the thoughtful insights of the long-term Executive Committee members were an inspiration. The Receivables Protection Program, the online IAMX Directory, IAM learning and now the IAM Trusted Moving Company initiative, were all conceived around the Executive Committee table and brought to fruition by the staff.

I now Chair the Ethics Council and we were part of the IAM Trusted Moving Company process as well as reviewing potential ethics violation cases and preparing for some new programs. Once again, I must praise the IAM staff for their tireless efforts and their positive interaction with the Council. It truly is a memorable experience to see ideas become programs that provide IAM membership with real, tangible benefits.

If you think you can assist IAM by volunteering, then do not hesitate. Go for it. You will not regret it.