Open letter to Little Wings Connection Luncheon, and the leaders of this monthly business networking gathering, Christina Baird, Joceylyne von Strong, and Cortina Urtiaga:
It’s been a while since I’ve attended the monthly meeting, but I know my business partner from Upward Trend, Ryan Stone has been in attendance. I’ve personally moved to other things, and I wanted to acknowledge and appreciate publically the work that you have done and what it has meant to me and our business as well.
From the very beginning, your theme was about how businesses give back to their own communities and how they can support institutions, causes and at the same time, each other’s business. Each meeting we introduced ourselves and spoke of people and organizations that we support in various ways as part of giving back. It is more about giving than getting, and I want to call that generosity and having a generous spirit.
Many businesses that come to the luncheon may be fairly new, and may not have the cash flow to pay themselves very well, yet the theme remains to give and be a part of the community. Other businesses are well established and have been giving in many ways for a long time.
As a result of this influence and the connections made at the luncheons, Upward Trend has met, become familiar with, and helped a few wonderful local organizations. For the last several years, we have provided services at no charge for Connections For Life in Vacaville, saving them $10,000 annually they were paying others to do only part of what we do for them. The Yippie Foundation and what has become Yippie Yogurt is another that we provide much for to help them grow and become more. I am personally pleased that we connected with both of the leaders of these organizations and came to do work for them and learn more about their value to the community.
As I was thinking about this idea of how you cultivate the idea of generosity and a generous spirit in your luncheon, I find that I have become ever more generous as a result. I’ve always felt that I was generous, but you helped me spread more of it around and be accountable to my own community and pay attention to the value these organizations hold in the community and how I may, or my company may be of service to them. We have responded and we are far better for the opportunity.
In addition, this impetus has caused me to think how generous I can be and my company can be and still grow our business. We have grown every year we have been in business since our beginning in January 2008. I am paying attention to what we are giving now and it is so much, and I want to thank Christina, Jocelyn, and Cortina for all the time and effort that you have put into this organization. Keep up the excellent work. You matter.
Terry Minion, Managing Partner, Upward Trend Management Services, LLC