UIF/UI Advancement Team Operations - COVID-19 Weekly Update 05.22.20

Dear Colleagues:

Over the past several weeks, I have attempted to make these weekly messages informative and perhaps even a bit hopeful.  Since we are all being inundated with news reports, expert opinions, and projections about when the pandemic will end, I will avoid piling on that topic today. As it relates to our Advancement Team operations, I do encourage you to keep checking our updates on UIF Online. Additionally, don’t hesitate to reach out to your supervisor if you have questions or if you hear things that give you pause or concern. With so many reports, planning documents, and proposed timelines, I suspect it is easy to become overwhelmed, confused, and quite frankly, a bit frustrated.

On the hopeful side of the ledger, it’s a holiday weekend! For many, the Memorial Day holiday is the official start of summer.  We plant our gardens, relax outside with family and friends, and cap off the weekend with too much food.  Memorial Day is also a time to reflect on loved ones lost, and the sacrifices others have made on our behalf. Whatever you typically do in celebration of this time-honored tradition, I hope you are able to take and minute this weekend to say thank you to someone who has been instrumental to your health, safety, and well-being. I will start by saying thank you to all of you for the amazing commitment you have made to our collective social-distancing efforts throughout this stay at home order.  It hasn’t been easy, but it has saved lives. 

Personally, this is an extra-special weekend for me and my wife, Shelli. We are celebrating 29 years of marriage. Yes, that is a long-time, yet we both find ourselves wondering where the years went.  My point in sharing this is not to point out that I remembered my anniversary, it’s to remind all of us that days, weeks, and years come and go much more quickly than we realize. This pandemic will end, and when it does, hopefully, our memories include many positive reflections on time we spent with family and a sense of pride in what we were able to do as a community and an advancement team under very difficult circumstances. 

Enjoy the weekend, and thanks once more for all you do!

Cheers,
Jim