Monday Morning Staff Meetings

Monday morning staff meetings at Warm Heart consist of about 15 people and are held on the front porch of their office space—the porch doubles as their large gathering space, board room and staff meeting space.  The meetings are usually directed by Evelind and translated into Thai by PJ.  PJ is half American, served for the US army years ago and speaks fluent Thai and English.  The people present range from micro business managers, farm manager (and his assistants), children’s home managers, and office staff.  Little is lost in translation but the meeting is often complicated even for veterans like Evelind and Schafer because of the language barrier.

At the meeting schedules are set, priorities are discussed and the projects that need to be worked on talked through.  With a 15 person staff and multiple projects going on at any given time there is a surprising amount to be worked out and discussed between the staff members.  Supplies need to be bought, children have to be taken to the doctor, holidays and funeral observance need to be addressed (especially by such a community organization that depends on the community for support), and reports need to be written and translated.  The amount of work to be done is awesome.  The Schafer’s remind me of me working on my projects at school last year—except they make my work seem minute in comparison.  They are tireless.

By the meeting’s end the projects and reports have been discussed.  The needs and budgets have been updated and paperwork has been dished out.  People are ready for the work week and within minutes the staff is off to the races.