So yesterday I sent out an email to my neighborhood Wine Club mailing list titled "It's a Wrap!" There are 150 addresses on my mailing list. In that mail I thanked the 35 volunteers who helped me put on this year's holiday dinner for 80. Two appetizers and champagne during a mixer on arrival, then four courses sit-down with assigned seating.
As I said in that email, "They unpacked, they washed, they set tables, they decorated, they greeted, they cooked, they served, they uncorked, they poured, and they cleaned up". I want them to feel appreciated, and I want them and others to volunteer next year so I did not speak to my own contributions. But this was a full time job for close to two months, and there's no one else here with the trio of administrative, managerial and kitchen skills who could pull this kind of thing off.
So I want to share one of the first responses I got to that email (on a Reply All):
I agree that this holiday dinner was one of our best ever, and the team listed below worked so darn hard to make it happen. It really took a village of volunteers, who worked hours and hours to make it a special evening.
But it never would have happened without Jenise. She was the conductor of this amazing orchestra, working with all the teams, keeping spreadsheets, visiting volunteers to see how they were doing, writing tons of emails, making lots of phone calls, and on top of all that, cooking.
Jenise would be the first to say credit goes to the entire team, and indeed it does. But it also goes to her. Applause!
Feeling pretty proud!