People often don’t realize how much work goes into the roles of our executive team. Often, people ask me how much I get paid to do this job; they are shocked when I tell them that the positions are unpaid and are done out of our sheer passion for beer and love for the community. Not that I am complaining – not at all; but it is important to keep this stuff in perspective. The reality is, balancing full time volunteer roles like this along with full time professional careers, family, social life, personal time, can become a lot of work. It can sometimes become unsustainable and members of our team need to make difficult decisions.
It is my unfortunate duty to report these decisions when they are made to ensure that our membership knows the happenings of our board. Last week, I received notice from Ksenia Dempster, our events coordinator that she would be stepping down from her role. Ksenia has fallen into a great job with the fantastic folks at Postmark Brewing and needed to make the difficult (but right) decision to take care of herself and focus on her growth, development and career. Ksenia brought a great energy and enthusiasm to the team and will be missed. She has already expressed her desire to be involved in a support capacity as the year moves on – so I am certain we will see her sooner rather than later.
Secondly, it is my duty to inform you that our Secretary, Adam Dewji, will be stepping down from his role as well. For Adam, the reason is personal. Adam got married in the past few weeks and will be moving to Ireland very soon with his wife (who is an Irish citizen.) Adam has been very open about his ongoing battle with Crohn’s disease. He has managed to contribute his love and passion for beer despite an inability to ingest large amounts of it. His determination to persevere through it and keep striving to be the best he can be is truly inspirational. I know he has an exciting life ahead of him in Ireland and I look forward to hearing all about it in due time.
Both Ksenia and Adam will be missed. But with their departures come opportunity. I already have had a community member express interest in stepping into the Secretary role for the remainder of the year, but have yet to have anyone wanting to step up to the plate to fill the shoes of an Events Coordinator. I won’t sugar coat it, this is one of (if not the biggest) jobs on the CAMRA board. It requires good organizational skills, an ability to build (or have pre-built) professional connections in the beer community, and have a large amount of time to dedicate to the cause. Now, of course, we won’t leave you hanging. I have already spoken with our team members and they know how this can be a difficult job to jump into with both feet. We will be there to help shoulder the load and work with you to get through the rest of the year. I do want to be clear that it is a commitment – but we would help you as best we can.
If you are interested in stepping into the role of Events Coordinator, please email pres@camravancouver.ca.
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