While I was back in Rochester for a heavenly two weeks encompassing both Christmas and New Year's, my first December in the city showed me just how well NYC does the holidays. The tree in Rockefeller Plaza, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (starring the Rockettes), and the decorations adourning Macy's at Herald Square... all showed me that Christmas is inextricably synonymous with the image and culture of NYC. But the holidays, with their festive bright lights, songs, and reunions with old friends and family, are now behind us.
Coming off the high of the holidays, we are in the midst of difficult times. Forgetting for a moment the recession that we all face, this is a difficult time of year in general. The decorations come down, and we are parted from our friends and family to once again face the world. This time, we don't face it with those reunions and festivities serving as a bright light at the end of the tunnel ahead of us- we face a long, challenging slog to spring amid cold days and long nights of winter.
What is a person, especially one out on his or her own, to do? One surprising side effect of living in the city, which I hadn't noticed until having gone back to Rochester, is that one feels better simply from having to walk everywhere. Moving around all the time, we here in the city get a lot more exercise than I realized. Only after returning to Rochester and starting to feel a certain... stationary slumpishness... did I notice this subtle feeling. I hadn't thought about it before, but I don't seem to see as many overweight or obese people around here. Brief though it is, walking up and down subway stairs almost every day is in and of itself exercise. I can recall having first moved here and being generally tired all the time. All the walking was new, but in all fairness, the city can get very hot in the summertime!
Okay, Chris... where are you going with all this? This month, the purpose of my post is twofold: First, and as usual, to talk about recent acts of volunteerism and corporate social responsibility in which I've participated (what is this blog if not a Chris Adams PR mouthpiece?). Second, and also as usual, to share what advice I can based on my experiences.
This month, I see a way to blend the two. The advice I would like to share is a great way to kick the winter blues while at the same time participating in a worthwhile, noteworthy event. Generally staying moving certainly helps, but advancing a worthwhile cause while you do it?! Yes! It was for that reason that, this past Fall, I participated in two walk-based charity events.
(Yes, I know most walks don't happen in the winter, but volunteerism in general is a great way to meet people and stay active)!
The first walk was my usual event, The Alzheimer's Association's annual Memory Walk. This was my first time participating in the walk in New York City, which presented some challenges, but did not prevent it from being a resounding success! The walk as a whole saw at least 392 teams raise over $935,000 for the local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. Yours truly lead his team, the Rochesterian Coalition (a collection of NYC-based Rochester expats and alumni) to raise $2,080 of that. This placed our rank at the 54th-highest fundraising team. For six people in a city this size, I was very impressed by my team's performance. Next year, I hope to make both the count of team members and dollars raised even higher!
While the first walk was organized around personal friends, the second one was a nationwide collaboration by MMC, the parent company of my employer, Mercer. All across the country, teams from MMC participated in the American Cancer Society's walk, "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer." For New York's Central Park walk, Team MMC boasted two impressive rankings for its first year participating in the walk: #2 ranking company team, and #2 team in general. It was a great way to see Central Park in Fall, as well as meet other employees from other Mercer departments and other MMC sister companies.
With over 200 team members, our Team MMC of New York personally raised over $47,000. Factoring in MMC teams from other offices, we raised over $80,000 nationally (including matching). In total, the walk raised over $2,700,000 for the American Cancer Society... incredibile. Yours truly was more than happy to be another face in the crowd amid such numerous volunteers!
So, my readers... kick the winter blues and meet new people by getting involved! Read to elementary students during your lunch break, build a house with Habitat for Humanity, or volunteer at a soup kitchen or shelter. You may just find that helping others helps you just as much as it does them! Until next time!
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