I'm Gonna Be On T.V.

So I'm gonna be on a cable show sometime soon for winning the Volunteer of the Year Award. A man named Dan McNulty called and asked if I would be on because he does a show for seniors and others in the community of Schaumburg showing points of interest or giving them ideas of things to do. Dan used to be a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) himself and when he saw that I had won the award, he was hoping to generate some interest in volunteering for the organization through the interview on his show.

When NeAngela called me from CASA to tell me Dan was looking to talk to me about being on the show, she broadly hinted (i.e., practically hitting me over the head with a baseball bat) that the Director of the local CASA chapter would love to be included in the interview invitation too. This is more than hilarious for one big reason. This same director helped black ball me for a paying job at CASA a few months ago over the objections of others at CASA who knew me and my work better. Her major objection was my disability (she couldn't see past it) whereas those in the organization knew my disability had never interfered with my volunteering at all. She was new to the group having just been hired the month before but she knew better! Of course NO ONE would ever admit to me directly that this was the reason but it was hinted at to me. Otherwise they would have not been living up to their EOE label.

Much to the director's chagrin, NeAngela and Renee (two others from the CASA office) nominated me for Volunteer of the Year and I won. Neither my CASA friends nor myself really thought the award was all that big of a deal until the day of the award when I found out most people get nominated for years before they win. I was written up in at least 2 newspapers, there were two press calls at CASA for comments from me that they had to forward and now they had to forward this request to be on this small show. It's not that the show is a big deal. It's that "me", the person who wasn't good enough to work for them is now getting CASA tons of free publicity and the director, who held me in the mildest of esteem, is having to treat me much, much better.

So I called the director and left her a message inviting her to be on the show with me and now we are going to try to work it out for everyone's schedule. The T.V. person said he and his camera man were pretty flexible about where they could go but I am making it convenient for me. I am making the director come from downtown Chicago out to Schaumburg to shoot the show if she wants to be on it. I told her I thought it would be great for her to offer the global CASA position and for me to be able to speak from my personal volunteer experience.

At the time of the award, I had just been assigned to a new case. Most people, having been black balled for a job for crummy reasons would have walked away from the organization but there was no way I was going to do that. The organization is about the kids, it isn't about one idiotic administrator who doesn't see the valuable employee she threw away like yesterday's garbage. It is like that in every organization you work in ~ there will be some people who "just don't get it" and who have their own personal prejudices that they let color their lives both personal and professional. I feel sorry for them. But it seems as if in this case WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND! The director is having to deal with me whether she wants to or not. NaNeeNaNeeBooBoo!! :P