Saying it, Doesn't Make It So!

 I can say, “I’m a duck!” and I can honestly believe it. But featherless I remain and the Oregon rain hasn’t yet significantly webbed my feet. …A duck I am not, and it wouldn’t be wise of me to step off a roof and attempt to migrate.

I think it’s like that with most things. Saying something, even marketing ones self as something, doesn't make it so.

Take Integrity, for instance. It’s a word freely used in the marketplace.

“Trust your motorcoach to X-Y-Z, a business founded on integrity. Or join a club that claims the same thing." Some organizations are simply basing their claim of “integrity” on their longevity.  Although noteworthy to state "...established in 1985" (or whatever), we all know It takes more than years on a calendar to earn repeat business or admiration within an industry. It's who you are today, right now, under current management, and how you take care of your customers that will decide who you will be tomorrow.

My dad always said, Let your Walk be your witness, not your Talk. I have found a few organizations that stand head and shoulders above the masses when it comes to integrity in business practices.

Junction City Local Aid is one of those. The community service organization has a strong infrastructure, a diverse Board of Directors, a business plan based on sound practices and have implemented processes to ensure that they are good stewards of the resources they are able to accrue and share with those in need. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Junction City Local Aid, but a few years ago they did something that really made a lasting imression on me.

I was working with Country Coach, LLC at the time (Christmas 2008 I believe it was). For several years, at that time, Country Coach had held an employee food drive/fundraising event around the holiday season to benefit this worthy cause. Country Coach employees were proud of the hefty injection those food drives brought to the Junction City Local Aid’s annual budget! Well in 2008, as talk began about preparing for the Food Drive/Fundraiser, the top management at CC decided to forego the fund-raising/company monetary match funds donation and instead, they offered the opportunity for JC Local Aid to choose one particularly needy family and the Company would shower them with a special holiday. The organization declined. JCLA said, how could they fairly choose? What makes one of their client families’ needs greater than another’s? Although they appreciated the thought, they couldn’t in all fairness choose one client over all the others who also had great needs in their lives. I was duly impressed. Yes, CC did go on to bless a community family in need with a gifting of items and money that year (found the family through the local school as I recall), but I so respected Junction City Local Aid’s display of Integrity in not choosing one client over another. 

Last year when it was time to choose a charitable cause for the upcoming motorcoach rally I was helping coordinate, and food banks were suggested, I was so glad to see Junction City Local Aid benefit from that rally. Country Coach Friends Inc raised over $4,000 for Junction City Local Aid at their 60-coach Friendship Rally, in fact, and another $4,000 for God’s Storehouse too! What a worthwhile investment for all who have given charitable contributions to this organization. http://www.jclocalaid.org/

Speaking of Country Coach Friends Incorporated, it's another organization that is earning a reputation for its integrity and transparency in business practices, and its dedication to being the best they can be at what they are—a motorcoach social club founded on friendship and dedicated to providing world class motorcoach experiences and benefits for their members!

What a pleasure it has been to watch them grow over the past year as they’ve tripled in membership!  With founding bylaws based upon a tried and true template provided by Family Motor Coach Association (another stellar RV club which I've personally thoroughly enjoyed working with in my various industry related professional positions), they formed a club with a strong infrastructure, led by a board of directors with representation from across the nation, and have implemented fiduciary transparency and business practices that ensure all who join this motorcoachers social club will be proud of their affiliation with CCFI for decades to come. And they’re one of the Friendliest Motorcoach Clubs in America, without doubt!  Learn more at www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated.com

These are just two organizations I admire.  We all know one when we see one, an organization based on integrity…and it’s who we want to invest our time and our discretionary monies in, too, isn’t it?

Nope I’m not a duck (nor a beaver;), and that’s OK…However I am committed to being a woman of integrity. My words, my actions and those footprints walked out every day in my professional life are what I hope will mirror the attributes of my most admired organizations like the two listed here, as well as the attributes I most admire in my peers and associates.

So today I am reminded that when it comes to service businesses or RV clubs or any type of organization really…Take the high road and people will come!

Nope I'm not a Duck......but thanks to Oregon's liquid sunshine  I sometimes feel like I must be growing webbed feet!