Woman of Distinction

I am a volunteer for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure Committee. I have been a part of the committee for 5 years now. I was on maternity leave with my son when I decided that if I am going to be home, I might as well be doing something worth while and worth my time. I have been a participant of the CIBC Run for the Cure for a few years and figured I would just volunteer for that instead. The first year, everyone lined up at the start/finish line, we counted down, they fired the gun and everyone took off. Realizing that we did it, we pulled it off, was pretty amazing. We got everything in order for the closing ceremonies, then grabbed the flowers and headed down to the finish line to cheer participants on as they crossed. Watching other people stick around to cheer everyone else on, and mostly the survivors, brought a tear to my eye. That one day had such a big impact on me that I decided all the work was worth it. I was in for another year. I figured I have a good idea of what’s going on, it’s just going to get easier from here on in. If everyone stays on and does their job it should be smooth sailing. That same mentality sucked me in for 4 more years. I was nervous last year, thinking I’d get that same feeling and no matter how much I hated it throughout the year I’d be in again. But it didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the survivor share her story, and seeing everyone cross the finish line and survivors cheering on and supporting other survivors was amazing. But it was a bittersweet feeling. I knew that I was done and my time was up. A couple months later I got an email from one of the Run Directors, they decided to nominate the committee for a Woman of Distinction award, Circle of Friends. An amazing accomplishment just to be nominated. So I went to the lunch, I went to the awards, and sitting there reading everyone’s stories I kind of wanted to sink down into my chair. Most of the committee this year were returning volunteers, some day of volunteers turned committee, everyone worked very hard to pull off our event but I felt as though we, specifically me, didn’t deserve to be there. The other groups that we were up against made a real difference in our community. We did not win the award, which I was perfectly fine with. The group that did is incredible. But hearing everyone else’s accomplishments was inspiring and it really got me thinking. I want to make a difference. I’m back in that place I was five years ago with my baby at home thinking I had all this extra time on my hands and this was my opportunity. My goal now is to really make a difference. I know this event is so important to so many women and I will continue to support and participate, but I want something else. Something more personal. So at the end of the day, and at the end of my life, I can put myself back in that chair at that table and say I did something. I deserve to be here. As a student and young adult it’s important to volunteer. To gain experience and it looks good on your resume, potentially help you get into your chosen career field. As someone who already has a full time job and two young children, volunteering for me is to feel better. To make someone else feel better. Not just because it makes me look good. So while my goal is to do something worthy of a woman of distinction award, that is not why I’m doing it. Hopefully one day when my children are older, or even now, they can see that Mom is doing another job. For free. They can ask why and see the change it’s making. Hopefully it inspires them to do the same. Even if they don’t see the change, maybe they’ll just see Mom doing all this work and it will just come second nature to them. So I guess that just as my goal is to be deserving of a woman of distinction award, it’s just as much wanting to be an inspiration to my children. BAM.