As today is the day that our friends south of the 49th spend giving thanks, it's only fitting that I can post a link to one of our Canadian independent business owner's Web sites as his efforts and dedication to supporting Easter Seals is something that we're truly inspired by and thankful for.
Edmonton-based IBO Shaun Guthrie posted his Easter Seals' Drop Zone video today. I encourage all of you to go check it out and see what's involved. Then, like Shaun, I hope you'll look into participating in this year's event.
Earlier this year, I interviewed both Ottawa-based IBO Gregory Anthoine and Winnipeg-based IBO Diane Fedak about their participation in their local Drop Zone events. I hope that reading these stories and seeing Shaun's video helps motivate people to take that extra step and go over the edge in support of such a worthwhile charity.
As you can see, Shaun has set some aggressive fund-raising goals for the 2011 campaign, and he's looking to other IBOs to join in and support him. And we'll do our best to help all of you here at Canuck Central. Each year we try to co-ordinate your efforts as much as possible and I'm going to make a commitment to better use our social media applications to help you guys out. We'll be launching new Amway Canada and Nutrilite Facebook pages shortly, so I can use those to help share your stories, encourage support, and make people aware of what a great opportunity we have to support kids and families with disabilities.
Again, thanks to Shaun, Gregory, Diane, and all of you who have given of your time, effort, and money to support this great cause. Feel free to visit the Drop Zone Web site. This year we raised over $1 million for Easter Seals — next year, with your support, let's shoot for much more!
As always, the comments are open. We'd love to hear from you. What can we do to help you if you're interested in participating? What does the Drop Zone mean to you? And what do you think of stories like Shaun's, Gregory's, or Diane's?
A promise to lose weight led to another type of weight being lifted off of Diane Fedak’s shoulders – and a conquered fear has been replaced by an empowering confidence in her ability to meet any challenge she faces head-on.
Fedak, a Winnipeg IBO, participated in her second consecutive Easter Seals Drop Zone event on Aug. 19, 2010. She, along with the other rappellers, raised $137,000 which will support the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities’ programs. Her efforts help to change the lives of people living with disabilities – and it’s changed her life too, both personally and as an independent business owner.
“First of all, to me, it was a life-changing event. I overcame my fear of heights and I realized I could do something that I thought I couldn’t,” Fedak explained. “It absolutely relates back to my business – there’s that heavy phone I have to pick up and call [customers and IBOs]. If I can rappel down a building, then I can pick up a phone.
“I know now that I can do what I put my mind to do.”
Fedak, who is a secretary at her Church and works as a legal assistant, watched the event from the comfort of her law office which is conveniently located right across the road from the Drop Zone site. Interest, combined with a promise she made to herself, led her to take the plunge for the first time last year.
“I work right across the street from where they do the event. I watched it for four years and I thought that I could do it,” she explained. “After the third year, I said, ‘I will do that if I lose 40 pounds.’
“I lost the 40 pounds and so I had to stick by my word.”
Beyond the aforementioned benefits of participating, Fedak added that having the opportunity to interact with representatives from Easter Seals and the SMD has changed her on a personal level.
“In my personal life, I think that I’m a more confident person. Having met some of the people from the Society of Manitobans with Disabilities and learning from them, I think I’m more accepting and more forgiving of people,” she said. “I think in some ways, I’ve become someone who is more willing to step back and think first – lots of times, I’ll just blurt something out and now I’m more gentle and accepting of people for who they are.
While one would think taking that first step over the edge of a building would be the biggest challenge, Fedak admitted that was secondary to raising the funds required to participate in the event. “The hardest part is raising the $1,500 – especially if you’re doing this for the second time,” she said. “You can’t keep going back to the well – it’s a lot of money and you don’t want to keep going to the same people over and over. This year I raised $1,688 through family, people at the Church, people at work, and fellow IBOs. “The IBOs who did help me were very enthusiastic about the event.”
She added that people are generally shocked when she approaches them with this fund-raising concept. However, thanks to the safety measures taken prior to and during the event make rappelling down a building less stressful than her daily commute.
“I’m no spring chicken – I’m 56 years old and I’m not afraid to admit it,” Fedak explained. “People would say, ‘Are you crazy? You’re really going to do that – jump off of the building?’ But it’s really not that dangerous.
“I ride a bike to and from work through downtown Winnipeg – that’s more dangerous. You have to go for training and there are five points of safety that have to fail before you fall. It’s much safer than riding my bike to work.”
Fedak said that despite her assurances, people were offering alternative fund-raising methods. “I’ve even had people say, ‘I’ll give you $50 not to do it!’”
This being her second year participating in the event didn’t make it any easier for Fedak. In fact, a delay at the top of the building added to the tension.
“I found it harder this year, for one thing I’ve had some health issues,” she said. “I also had to wait up there for 15 minutes. Even though I work on the 22nd floor on a daily basis, this is a little different. The waiting kind of played little games with my head.
“Last year was a real adrenaline rush. I had a terrible fear of heights and I had to conquer that.”
Fedak also wanted to clear up the idea that you’re jumping off into the unknown. In fact, rappelling down the building is no harder than walking, she explained.
“You stand on the balls of your feet, lean back, and as soon as your heels hit the wall you start walking backwards. If you want to push yourself away, you could do that,” she said. “There are always people in windows, looking at you and waving.”
And while some take the time to take in the scenery, Fedak admitted that she’s been able to appreciate a similar view for years. “I looked around a little bit, but I do work on the 22nd floor across the street and have since 1990,” she explained. “The view is something I see every day – it’s old hat.”
Fedak said she is pleased with Amway’s support of the Drop Zone and was delighted to see NUTRILITE®-branded products at the event site.
“I was absolutely proud that [Amway] had a presence. [The event planners] really took care of me,” she said. “There was an A+ breakfast – they had croissants, cinnamon buns and doughnuts, and they had a big huge bowl of our [NUTRILITE] food bars.
“I’d see people going after the muffins and I was saying, ‘You have no idea what you have there with the NUTRILITE bars.’”
Fedak says there's still room for improvement. She said the opportunity is there for people to learn about our products and that IBOs could benefit both from an exposure and a team-building perspective.
“Even if there are only 100 people there, that is 100 people who can learn about the products,” she said. “I also think it could be a great team-building thing. But it’s something that you have to be ready to do.
“I would absolutely recommend it to people – if they’re ready.”
Which begs the question — how do you know you’re ready? “Your mind has to be ready. I knew I was ready,” she explained. “I just knew – it’s a feeling. How do you know when you’re in love? You just know.”
Will the third time be the charm for Fedak? She admitted that she’s not entirely sure whether she’ll rappel again – but her niece has expressed an interest in participating and if it takes Fedak strapping on the harness again to get her niece to take the plunge for Easter Seals, then she’ll strongly consider it. Regardless, Fedak said she’s planning to stay involved. “I’ll do it again in 2011 if my niece does it,” she confirmed. “Otherwise I’ll volunteer to help support the event.”
Whether you’re an IBO or not, or whether you’ve supported Easter Seals in the past or not, Fedak concluded by saying that participants receive an incredible reward for participating, beyond supporting a wonderful cause and helping people live better lives.
“I now will do things that I wouldn’t do before,” she explained. “The greatest reward you get, as a participant, is the confidence you gain and the knowledge that you can do anything that you put your mind to.”
Visit the Drop Zone Web site for videos and other updates from the various events this summer. There are two more events this year — Sept. 22nd in Montreal and Sept. 27th in Ottawa. And if you’re interested in participating next year and joining NUTRILITE in its support of Easter Seals charities, please feel free to e-mail public.relations.ca@amway.com.