Dariel Bateman Speaks of Squares or Slices and Why at the April GM

Dariel Bateman, a former President of the Junior League of Calgary (JLC) and a current Sustainer, celebrated National Volunteer Week with JLC members at the April GM. Dariel captivated her audience with three topics: her volunteer history with the JLC, what she learned as a JLC member and her concerns for the JLC and other volunteer organizations.

Dariel joined the JLC after graduating from the University of Alberta because "my mother made me do it". She shared her husband’s memories of JLC phone calls at dinner that were mercifully brief and contained JLC code language, such as SOS, which meant squares or slices and related to the food to be brought to a meeting. During her volunteer life, the code took on other meanings too!

Dariel confessed that her Presidency was much more successful than her short tenure as Treasurer, where debits and credits were confounding, although she ultimately did learn to read a spreadsheet! As a JLC leader, she embraced the measured feminist perspective to assure that JLC meetings were held at venues where women were welcomed as full members.
Dariel learned key skills from the JLC that she has successfully used in her professional life as the Associate Director of Calgary Reads, as a member of the Board of Directors of Volunteer Calgary and of Calgary Family Services, and as a member of the National Advisory Committee Leadership Group for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. Dariel credits her involvement with the JLC for the following:

•  Her confidence to ask hard questions and to pose the questions in a manner that invites a response

•  Her knowledge of how to develop a collaborative partnership to problem solve

•  Her skill of building cases and presenting them succinctly to her target audience

•  Her appreciation of meeting etiquette

• Her ability to effectively run a meeting and to use consent agendas for committee reports

•  Her understanding of the value of networking

Dariel told attendees that voluntarism is as important now as it has ever been; volunteers put a human face on governmental policies and on communication in the digital age. But despite its importance, she presented her concerns about and for the JLC.

She has noted a decline in voluntarism within organizations and a failure of organizations to address community needs in multi-partisan and apolitical ways. Dariel encouraged the JLC to ask "Who are our competitors?" and "What does the JLC offer that others do not? Her biggest challenge to the JLC, however, is to ask "Why?" Without understanding the "why" and the ability to clearly articulate the "why", she advised that passion is limited.