Showing Up

By Donna Bumgarner, CPA

Bill Gates Sr. recently released a book titled “Showing Up for Life.” In the book, Gates says he was inspired to pen this work because he believes in the combined power of men and women who “show up” for the people they love and the causes they believe in. He shows up because he cares about a cause, because he cares about a person or maybe because it irritates him when other people don’t show up.

As CalCPA members we are asked to show up for many reasons. We show up at work to earn a living, we show up at our place of worship for our beliefs and a sense of community, and we show up for community service events because we believe in the mission of the organization. And, I have asked you to show up at various CalCPA events.

I recently attended a meeting of the San Jose North Rotary Club and had the privilege of introducing the guest speaker for the day, Chris Finn. He spoke to the club about a nonprofit organization, the Federation International de Powerchair Football Association, of which he is vice president. Chris was an avid sports player while growing up and his specialty was soccer. Unfortunately, during his senior year in college, Chris suffered a spinal cord injury that left him confined to a motorized wheelchair.

Several years ago, Chris became involved with power soccer. In fact, he was the head coach of the 2007 World Cup Champion USA National Power Soccer team. His presentation at the Rotary Club included a short video showing how the game is played. It is a fast-paced sport, designed for people with disabilities using power wheelchairs. It’s played on a basketball court with two teams of four players each. A cage is attached to the front of each wheelchair that is used to bat an oversized soccer ball through the goal. It was inspirational to see the joy in the players’ faces while they participated in a sport designed for them. Chris tells us that the sport has been in existence since the late 1970s, and the United States got involved in 2005.

The new U.S. organization is looking for a volunteer to assist them in setting up their accounting. I am reaching out to our members to see if any of you may be willing to “show up” for this opportunity. Please e-mail me if you are interested and I will put you in contact with Chris.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 12:50 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.