Dear SIBF Fellows and Friends,
When I was in elementary school, my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Haynes, had our class memorize numerous poems and then, gulp, recite them in front of the class. In hindsight, I’m glad she did. She was teaching us about leadership, beauty, values, and courage at an early age.
Among the poems assigned were Trees by Joyce Kilmer, Sea Fever by John Masefield, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (Daffodils) by William Wordsworth, and IF by Rudyard Kipling. Today, the first two lines of IF came to mind -
If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs...
These are very challenging times for us all...personally, professionally and financially. This global pandemic will certainly test us, but also highlight our strengths. Isolation, social distancing, travel bans, the cancellation of events, shortages of basic staples, the unknown...all create stress and in some cases, fear. Let us model the way. Let us lead in these times of uncertainty.
David, Mark, Nancy and I are in constant contact. We’ve had many hours of discussion about how we keep our members connected during this period of social distancing. SIBF is proud of the fact that after the attack on 9/11, the October Summit in Newport had more members attend than had originally signed up. True, this virus is a different animal but let’s remain optimistic. Possibilities and opportunities abound. The number of members offering ideas and helping plan our course forward is gratifying and humbling.
Many decisions have been and will have to be made concerning the cancellation and/or rescheduling of events and programs. Our SIBF staff is working tirelessly to stay on top of every aspect of SIBF’s planned calendar and provide us all with up to date information so that we might better plan our own personal calendars. Please be as patient and understanding as possible as we go through these uncharted waters.
We are re-forecasting our 2020 budget to reflect the changes we know of and questioning original assumptions. We have risk for sure, however thanks to the wisdom of former chairs and leadership, we do have a healthy reserve fund. We do not want to rely on it but it’s a nice cushion to have.
SIBF is an amazing global organization of tremendous thought leaders, accomplished educators, caring, passionate men and women. Within the CDC/WHO guidelines, reach out to other members, your family, friends, and neighbors and think how you might help those less fortunate. Be thoughtful, be wise, be kind, be safe.
As always, warmly,
Vickie
