Happy New Year! If you are like me and many others you have made new years resolutions for 2008. I want to encourage you to add 3 "TIP Resolutions" to your resolutions list. These 3 resolutions are simple and I expect that to a great extent all of you are practicing these resolutions already. However, I think that it's important that once a year each of us takes inventory and asks ourselves: "Am I doing the things that make me an effective member of the TIP Organization?” "Am I doing those things that make me an excellent helper/leader and not just an average one?” "Am I taking care of myself so that I can continue serving the community while taking care of the many responsibilities in my own life?” The 3 resolutions I propose below, if adopted and practiced by each of us, will ensure that our organization is "firing on all cylinders" in 2008.

1.    Be Safe: We have never had a TIP Volunteer injured in the line of duty, but we need to keep Volunteer Safety as our top concern. Everyone in the organization is responsible for Volunteer Safety. Leaders must continually remind volunteers to take care of themselves, and leaders need to provide occasional “refresher trainings” on safety. TIP Volunteers can’t take their safety on TIP Calls for granted. They must Be Aware and Be Assertive on TIP Calls. Volunteers must stay aware of their surroundings, and they must be assertive with emergency responders . . ."I can't stay here officer if you leave. I don't feel safe."

2.    Be Humble: A major theme in the Volunteer Training Academy is “It's Not About You.” We need to continually remind ourselves that we are servants and that our clients are our bosses. TIP Volunteers walk into the middle of people's lives and should do so humbly and respectfully. We do very important work in TIP, but we can't take ourselves too seriously. TIP Leaders also must resolve to do an occasional "humility check." There is a temptation for leaders to begin thinking that we are pretty special and that the success of TIP is our doing. I believe the success of TIP depends on good leadership but not on any one leader. Like TIP Volunteers, TIP Leaders must be servants who are always asking themselves: "How can I serve the needs of the TIP Volunteers I lead?"

3.    Be Disciplined: For TIP to work, we need people not only with big hearts but with a willingness to work hard. We pride ourselves on being "a crack outfit" and an organization committed to excellence. To actually meet that goal requires that each individual in the organization . . .

• Continually evaluates his own performance and learns from it.

• Finds ways of continually improving as a person, TIP Volunteer or Leader.

• Complies with the high standards TIP has established (continuing education . . .) 

In short, each of us must be willing "to pay the price" that is required of all member of the TIP organization.

In summary, I hope that each of us goes into the new year not only "fired up" about the challenges ahead, but quietly and humbly reminding ourselves of the "sacred responsibility" we have when we enter the lives of people at the worst time in there lives. Let's resolve to enter those lives with great humility and with all of the skills and resources we need to be helpful.

Happy and Safe 2008!