Once a year the Lund staff comes together as a team to learn, celebrate, reflect and enjoy time together as a team. It cannot, however, ever be a meeting of every single staff member since Lund’s residential program does not close. Some staff members split the day and spend half at the retreat, and half holding down the residential program. It is a big undertaking to get everyone together and is a day that many people look forward to all year.
The theme of the day is staff appreciation. The Employee of the Year and Jeff Small Pioneer Awards are awarded (stay tuned for those winners to be announced) and staff members are appreciated for 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service to the agency. There is a lot of fun as well with afternoon activities from flower arranging to Bal-A-Vis-X, cornhole and coloring. The Board of Trustees donate prizes for a raffle, drawings of which punctuate the day. This year over 90 staff members won prizes in the raffle!
The retreat presents a needed opportunity to pause and take a moment to think about the work that happens at Lund – how amazing it is, yet how challenging it sometimes can be. “Overall Lund’s programs and when we say Lund’s programs, we mean you, helped bring hope, opportunity and family to over 5,400 individuals last year,” said Director of Operations, Katie Forleo. “Truly amazing. I hope today provides a day of celebration for each of us. Thank you, thank you for all the work each of you do.”
