We have to collect...cars?

That was my first reaction to the BLF challenge announcement on Thursday, September 20.

Growing up, I lived about a mile and a half away from a Goodwill retail store.  My family often donated miscellaneous items to our local Goodwill, and occasionally I would even peruse there for steals and cheap Halloween costumes.  When my dad's 1992 Honda Accord broke down, I recall that he actually donated it to Goodwill's auction.  However,  I never realized the true extent of Goodwill's heartless efforts and their contribution to communities internationally.  At the challenge, I was inspired and motivated by Goodwill's work and mission, and enjoyed hearing from Larry Shuman, Margie Pizzuti, and other Goodwill staff members.

When our challenged was announced at Goodwill's car auction, at first I thought that it wasn't complicated enough.  We have heard about these figurative "challenges" we would be assigned to, so I think in my mind I dramatized the steps these challenges would have.  However, after giving it more thought, I realized how ingenious this challenge is.  Collecting cars will require a diverse set of skills and connections to be successful.  Also, what we are doing has a very tangible outcome that we will be measured in cars and in revenue.

Since I was so inspired by the work Goodwill does, I am very excited to delve into this challenge.  My top strength is connectedness.  This means that I see the bigger picture and believe everything happens for a reason.  I think this strength will be very beneficial to my team because I have a lot of ideas for communities to reach out to about donating cars.  I am also very inclusive, and I think that this will help keep the peace in our team.  However, I struggle with "wooing"people, which I think will be one of my weaknesses when trying to persuade people to donate cars.

I am most excited to see how much money we raise for Goodwill.  While I am motivated by the competition aspect of the program, I am more driven (pun intended) to do this challenge more so for the benefits it provides for our Columbus community.  This includes our collective sum of cars and money that all of the groups collect.

So with that....let the games begin.