|
BfW Wins Donated Professional Organizing Services to Help With Paperwork |
|
Bikes for the World sometimes gets buried in bicycles, which is a good thing. But for too long, it was buried in paper (which is not so good). That’s where the National Association of Professional Organizers Washington DC Chapter (NAPO-WDC) stepped in. In late 2007, BfW applied for and won donated organizing services from a team of volunteer organizers through NAPO-WDC’s “GO Month” competition.
by Jane A. Campbell, CPO®
[This article appeared earlier in the February 2008 newsletter of the Washington DC Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers and has been reproduced here with minor modifications.]
For six hours on January 28, a team of three professional organizers worked to steer Keith Oberg, director of Arlington VA-based non-profit Bikes for the World (http://bikesfortheworld.org), through an office makeover. “I feel that I can now easily bring in an intern, explain the office, and no longer be embarrassed by the state of the office," he commented at the end of the makeover.
Struck with the untimely death of its bookkeeper in December, Bikes for the World was struggling with its mission of bringing much-needed bikes to impoverished areas all over the world. The timing could not be better for BfW to add the needed intern.
From 2005 through 2007, Oberg, together with hundreds of BfW volunteers, collected over 20,000 used bikes and sent them to 10 countries. BfW, a project sponsored by the 501(c)(3) non-profit Washington Area Bicyclist Association, collects repairable bicycles, bike parts, accessories and tools, and also portable electric sewing machines in operating condition, asking for a $10 donation with each bike accepted to help defray the costs of shipping the items overseas. Overseas groups that have benefited from BfW's efforts: Bicycle Empowerment Network Namibia, the Panama Association of Goodwill Industries, Fundacion Integral Campesina (FINCA Costa Rica), and the Village Bicycle Project in Ghana, among others.
However, those most in need of functional transportation were in danger of being forced to do without unless BfW could reorganize and regroup on the fly. NAPO-WDC selected Bikes for the World to receive its GO Month attentions due to BfW’s tenacity, its need, and the powerful simplicity of its mission. Said CPO® Karen Swain after a pre-event visit to the office, “Keith’s number one problem is paper, pure and simple. He’s buried in paperwork.”
The organizing, by CPO®’s Jane Campbell and Karen Swain and newcomer Judy Tiger, began with a blitz to get all the piles of papers off the floor. The PO’s then worked closely with Oberg to re-organize and prioritize office files, find and rearrange all the stray office supplies, straighten up several walls of books, and clear off the top of the desk.
Said Oberg about this invasion of his 8x12-foot office, "I found it to be a relaxing experience, I felt at ease, and all of the participants worked well independently and complemented as a group." |
