An Important Reminder (And A Thank You)

Hello friends,

I had an unexpected reminder this morning as I was driving to my office of just how important your support of ALAN is to those we serve.

As I think most of you know, I live in Southern California – the land of freeways, masses of people always on the move, traffic, and thankfully beaches. It’s an environment where there is so much coming at you all of the time that most people try to filter out the noise and to use every second to be productive in an effort to keep up. Unfortunately, I am one of those people – which has resulted in what my wife, Beth, thinks is a dangerous habit: picking up my phone at every red light so I can delete a few meaningless email messages and get further distracted by the new emails flooding into my inbox.

So, what does this have to do with me being reminded of how important your support of ALAN is for those we serve? Well, this morning for whatever reason I came to a red light and, instead of reaching for my phone, I looked up and noticed three groups of geese flying over me in their familiar “V shape” formation. Seeing this for what felt like the first time, I was immediately struck with the thought of how awesome it is to see the intelligence of nature played out by a few geese and knowing that by collaborating as they fly in formation all these geese can fly further than if they flew solo.

Just like the groups of geese that flew over me this morning, our willingness to work together in support of ALAN enables all of us to fly further and provide more relief than any of us could on our own.

The other reminder my new geese friends provided was that just like their migration from Canada to California, the recovery phase following Ian and virtually all natural disasters ALAN responds to are very long journeys. I’m constantly amazed at how you and your members step up to help. The response to Ian has been yet another example of so many stepping up and just like the geese who year after year make their 2,000 to 3,000 mile migration journey, I’m confident each of you and your members will happily join ALAN on another long journey of support and response.

Thank you for all you do and for being part of the amazing flock we call ALAN.

Mark Richards

AWI | Associated Warehouses Inc.