March 2017 Newsletter
As we approach the mid-year mark of our NAWIC year, I hope everyone has had a chance to get involved and participate in some of the fabulous activities and meetings that we’ve been holding.
Block Kids and the Oregon Coast Retreat were awesome events, and the speakers, venue and quality of the chapter meetings has been great.
The committees organizing these events have done a wonderful job and the ladies stepping up to volunteer their time and participate have really made a difference. A huge thank you goes out to the following:
Block Kids Committee: Kelly Aust (c), Gloria Bruning, Charris Sonne-Phinney and Nicole Fronk and to our
Judges: Yasmine Branden, Kelly Niemala, Toni Pinkston, Jennifer Olszewski, Emily Miller, Liz Cowen, Bridget
Dooney, Jo Doherty, Linda Spongberg, Aja Devore, Michelle Derting, Maddy Stolowicz, Lisa Paul, Amber Lewey, Mel Jones, Gloria Bruning and Charris Sonne-Phinney and also a big thank you to our corporate sponsors.
Oregon Coast Retreat Committee: Charris Sonne-Phinney (c), Aryn Ferguson and Speaker: Yasmine Branden
PD&E (Chapter Meeting Speakers) Committee: Elizabeth Rhoads (c), Liz Cowen.
I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to these impressive women. The feedback I’ve received from those we’ve impacted has been remarkable and really very touching. Thank you so much for all of your hard work.
If you haven’t found time to join us this year, it is definitely not too late! And I’d like to take this moment to encourage our members to make the most out of their membership and engage in the chapter this year. We have an exciting range of activities coming up in March; which I’m sure you’ve noticed with the emails that have been flying out from my computer! First among them is Women In Construction Week. WIC Week is coming up March 5th –11th with an exciting slate of events including our 5th annual clothing drive for Dress for Success. The WIC Week committee has done a great job of obtaining the governor’s proclamation for this event (Thank you, Marilyn Morrison!) and putting together events to promote and celebrate the women in our industry.
I encourage everyone to try and make the jobsite tour and networking event on Thursday, March 9th!
We also have our regular chapter meeting on March 16th with presenter Scott Chandler talking about Creative Conflict Solutions.
We all lead busy lives, and taking the time away from everything else we have going on to make room for a NAWIC event or meeting might seem like the easiest thing to cross off of our list. I promise you that we have a great group of women engaged in the chapter and we would love to expand our network and welcome new faces. Sometimes it’s hard to realize how much we need the interaction, communication and support of other women in our industry but I encourage you to make the effort – you won’t be disappointed.
I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events!
Kelly Aust – President, Portland Chapter 54
Skanska Construction