Monday, November 9, 2009

The Dallas Business Journal CFO of the Year Awards Luncheon

I was honored to accompany our beloved CFO, Keith Thode, and several other Aidmatrix employees and friends at the Dallas Business Journal CFO of the Year event. Keith was nominated for the award in the non-profit category and was competing for the top spot against three other nominees. He came in at a close second (we like to think) to Carol Agronin from the Jewish Community Center of Dallas. Keith was awarded with a nomination plaque and we were awarded with a fabulous lunch, good coffee, and an opportunity to support the best of the best CFOs in DFW. Kudos to the Dallas Business Journal for throwing a great awards ceremony.

Daniel David
Aidmatrix Program Manager



Thursday, November 5, 2009

Aidmatrix Helps Communities Prepare for Disaster Seasons

Business Continuity Industry News
BCPNews.com

-by Gov. Scott McCallum-

Summer evokes fantasies of weekends at the beach, vacations with the family and the sun shining brightly through the office window. But for many people around the world, summer brings about images that are far less pleasant: the start of Hurricane Season. Everyone knows what happened to New Orleans in 2005, but what about in 2008? The destruction may not have been as massive or as publicized, but the effect the storm had on several communities was devastating. The state of Louisiana wanted to be better prepared …

Read the full story>>

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

National Association of Free Clinics Annual Summit

The National Association for Free Clinics held their 4th annual summit Oct. 25-27 in San Diego, CA. hosting more than 200 attendees from free clinics across the US.

It was a pleasure to connect with clinic administrators, staff, and volunteers that Melis Jones and I met last year in Rhode Island and hear updates concerning their clinics. Additionally, I met attendees that I have the privilege of supporting and had not met previously. One, Larry Robins of PediPlace in Lewisville, TX has graciously agreed to give several of our team a tour on Friday, Oct. 30th. His clinic is atypical in that they only serve children, whereas most of the NAFC member clinics do not serve children because they are generally covered under the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) program, which is federally funded.

Many attendees reiterated their sincere gratitude to Aidmatrix. With small operating budgets for many and a really challenging economy, their cash donations are even more negatively impacted. The savings they receive ordering discounted and donated product through FreeClinicLink has been a real blessing to them.



I enjoyed interfacing with our valuable vendor partners as well including reps from Invacare Supply Group, Paul Fohlin; Home Diagnostics, Randy Lowenberg; and Henry Schein, Mike Clawson. Additionally, I reconnected with Morgan White of AmeriCares to whom we are thankful for managing many of our donations.



The summit also allowed me the opportunity to spend time with Nicole Lamoureux, the NAFC executive director, and many of her board members. Thanks to Nicole and M. Jean Serafy of the Free Clinics of the Western Region for all their hard work in making this annual summit for the free clinics so informative and meaningful. These free clinics do the work of angels on the ground with the uninsured and underinsured in America.

Next year’s summit will be held in Cleveland, OH.

Charlotte Medley
Aidmatrix Office Manager

Monday, November 2, 2009

Resilience is about Solidarity

The Aidmatrix Foundation attended the International Disaster and Emergency Resilience (IDER) annual conference held October 19 thru 21st in Karlstad, Sweden. The conference was hosted by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). Sweden holds the European Presidency from July to December 2009.

Helena Lindberg, Director General of MSB, opened the conference. In her introductory remarks Ms. Lindgerg said, “There are no boundaries in contingencies. Preparedness is all.” Approximately 70 senior representatives from disaster relief agencies, consultancies, governments and the EU Commission participated. Notable amongst the participants was Her Excellency Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson, Ambassador to Sweden from the Philippines who gave a compelling view of her country’s vulnerability to natural disasters and a profile of disaster response in typhoon emergencies.

Over the 2-day conference presentations addressed issues of Emergency Disasters on Road and Rail Transport; Lessons Identified from Recent Disasters, and Major City Resilience-Links between Government, Business and the Emergency Services. The session on NGOs Response to Disasters included presentations from Feed the Children, and Global FoodBanking Network (USA) and the Civil Protection unit of the EU Office of the Red Cross.

Shari Temple, Managing Director, Aidmatrix EMEA, addressed the assembly on the topic of secondary disasters in crisis scenarios under the heading Critical National Infrastructure. Ms. Temple's presentation was well received. People said they were so concerned with primary disaster response that hearing the effect of unneeded donations in terms of both time and money enlightening and cautionary.

The unifying message of the conference was set forth by Lindberg, who noted that, “Resilient societies are societies which can bounce back from disasters. Resilience is about the capacity to give and to receive help. Resilience is about solidarity.” A clear call to action and renewed commitment which resonated deeply with all conference participants.

Elena Mendoza
Marketing Director, Aidmatrix Europe