MOVERS & SHAKERS
Susie Janis
Recipient of the 2014 Traverse City Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award HOW DO YOU SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY? I have been a volunteer in our community for the past 40 years, along the way I have been asked to do "fundraising" to be more specific. The projects I have worked on are varied from special need folks to churches, schools, museums, senior housing, and symphonies. WHAT DRIVES YOUR PASSION TO VOLUNTEER? Whenever I decide to work on a project I am thrilled to be a part of the Hopefully, many of them are peeps 24 "crew". MARCH/APRIL 2015 | BAY LIFE NORTH
I haven't had the privilege to work with before and that gets me excited to meet them, work with and learn. My passion is my "enthusiasm" in working on a new project/community endeavor. I believe in order to truly grow in life you have to use and bring along your passionate (belief) side. It has never been to me what I have done but what we as a team have done collectively. YOU RECENTLY RECEIVED THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD AT THE TRAVERSE CITY CHAMBER GALA; CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS? Never in a million years did I believe I would receive this DSA award. In the first place, I never took on any project with the idea that there would be an award attached to it. Reward, yes, in the sense that when "the group" of us are finished there is a great feeling of accomplishment. I have found that one receives so much more by giving; it's a pure, simple and honest fact!
WHAT DOES “SERVICE” MEAN TO YOU? To have the opportunity to serve in one's community is a gift within itself. It's there where you get a clearer picture of what our community is truly about. Just having the opportunity to work alongside with other members of this great area is a gift. The "picture" of what Traverse City is becomes so much clearer; its people, its people, its people....and may I add, it's FABULOUS PEOPLE! ARE THERE ANY "WORDS OF WISDOM” THAT YOU LIVE BY? If you try to find the time to volunteer you probably won't find it... but if you decide to make the time... you will find it for certain. TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF WE DON’T KNOW? Something people do not know about me is that I love to write. Also, I am actually a very quiet person within my home and that I am a "nester.” I truly love to be creative in the kitchen.