My heart is touched by the amount of support, the number of prayers, and the unconditional comfort that is offered by each and everyone of you to those who are suffering.  I just moved from Saskatchewan, Canada - what I considered a "safe haven" - to the big U.S.  Despite the mass devastation of yesterday, I am proud to be here and witness such a wealth of support from those world wide.  My eyes fill with tears as I read your posts because in them, there is genuine sincerity and care.  I am honored to "know" each of you and would like you to know that I am Sheryl Kashani from San Diego, CA.

Andrea...thank you very much for your insight as well as everyone else's.  Collaboration truly works!!

I am looking for any recommendations anyone might have.  I am needing software I believe of some sort that will have the ability to consolidate annual events/meetings, periodic work schedules of units, peak times of units and whom it affects, be web friendly and have the ability to "read only" and with specified users "edit".  Does anyone know of anything that might work?  I am networked so will need to put it on a server and have it accessible to everyone's computers at different locations around the City.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I am from Canada...visited Quebec....never heard of Beloiel lol!!  However, do not lose hope.  I would try contacting via website two of our major travel agencies in this country.  One is Carlson Wagonlit and the other is Uniglobe Travel.  I believe they have websites and would be able to find out everything you should need to know if you were to contact them.  I have Uniglobe's toll free # on me...it is 1-800-565-6562.  Hope this helps.

I am working for a supervisor that is sooo busy but needs major renovation with his filing system.  I am lost and have no idea where even to begin.  I have sat down with him once to go through some files and see if they held importance.  However, that is as far as I have gotten.  I would love to tackle this job on my own.  I have read some posts submitted a while back and really like the idea of doing a numbering system (eg: 100's fiscal, 200's subcontracts, etc) but I have no idea what my main items should be.  He is an Executive Director and our Organization is already divided into Departments so fiscal, development, etc wouldn't apply.  Generally speaking...we are a non profit Organization that receives grants from private, State, County and Government.  In addition, subcontract to people and have a lot of incoming and outgoing correspondence about programs that we currently have up and running.  I apologize for the lengthy post but any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Hello Everyone!! I am searching everyone on the internet for a communication training seminar that would be hosted in San Diego.  I am unable to even find communication seminars of any sort.  The Senior Management Team of my Agency are trying to increase their communication efforts and thought it would be helpful to attend a seminar to find out how this can be achieved.  Here I am turning to you...does anyone have any tips or suggestions or names of Companies that might offer this type of service?  Thanks very much!

I have read often of the Secretarial handbooks many of you could not live without...and now I realize why!!  I was asked today by a top executive for a thank you letter format that will be sent to different faith organizations thanking them for their continued support, etc.  I am hoping this is my moment to shine but I am depending on you all to make it happen for me...I will be forever indebted!    Does anyone know of a website or specifically a formatted letter on the Web I could email him that he could tailor??  I am sure one of those highly recommended Secretarial handbooks would have the answer to this question...if only it were by my side in my time of need!!  Your help is greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you Countrigal...specifically what I am looking for is something an AA is already using in order to achieve the cross communication between units.  I came up with those headings mentioned in my first post but maybe there are others that are more effective in triggering communication.  Also, it most likely will be something that can be merged into the master sheet.  But you have given me something else to look into as I didn't think of that avenue.  That would be a good idea but like you said...the "how" of it with Excel could be challenging.  

Once again, I am turning to you for help. I am hoping that some of you have already had to do this and can give me a base to work from.  What I am looking for is a basic form that  would trigger Senior Managers to report out on activities that are going on in their unit.  What we want to essentially achieve is increased communication so that one Manager is not duplicating the efforts of another.  We are working from sections within our Strategic Plan and the headings I have come up with are:  Statement of Work Section, Action Item, Responsible Party, Target Date, Completion Date.

I used Excel to format it but has anyone done something similar to this?  I have been delegated to come up with an effective reporting out tool but would love to have something that has proven true.  If you have a report in place and can email the outline to me, that would be helpful as well.  Email address is sheryl@saysandiego.org.  Thank you so much!!!

The non-profit organization I work is celebrating their 30th Anniversary.  The Anniversary is going to be held in the San Diego Auto Museum with the theme surrounding automobiles.  There is going to be a lot of fundraising efforts in order to reach our goals.  But I have offered to chair the decorations and food committee.  However, I am stumped as to what food we could order that would circumference the auto theme.  Dependent on the price, we would like to do a sit down meal as we would like the event to be black tie.  I was thinking of having an ice sculpture of a car as the centerpiece but I think that may be out of our financial range.  I would LOVE any and all suggestions.

I am very interested in talking to you further about your food ideas for our 30th Ann Event.    With your husband owning the restaurant that encompassed cars and planning events surrounding that theme, I think you would be a very valuable source of information.  Possibly you have a sample program, etc.  You can email me at sheryl@saysandiego.org.  Thank you so much.

I'm from Canada and forgive my ignorance...but what does CAP stand for?

I am a Notary Public and if you repeated the answer that was already reiterated on the back, that will be sufficient (in my opinion of course).  As far as the signatures go, they are fairly important.  I did not know any lawyers either; however, I knew of someone who knew a lawyer.  Although the attorney didn't know me personally, he was comfortable in signing the document.  If you don't know of anyone who knows an attorney, you can call any attorney's office and for a minimal fee, a lawyer will sign the paperwork.  Hope this helps!!  Good luck!

To make this brief but of an urgent nature....



Our non-profit organization is hosting an annual event this Tuesday.  And the bottom line is that myself and the Development Director are stumped on what to do for table covers.  We didn't want to go with the tacky plastic tablecloths but to rent linens is too expensive.  Any wonderful Martha Stewart-ish ideas floating around out there??  A decision has to be made by this afternoon...as Event is on Monday!!  AGH!!!!