MASWA
News & Updates
March 2021 | Issue 3
Thank You to Our Meeting Sponsors


Thank you to Cathy Matrejec with Changing Lifestyle Solutions and Jarrod Peterson with Touching Hearts at Home for sponsoring our January and February meetings.


A Few Words from Our MASWA President
Transition. Webster defines transition as: “passage from one state, stage, subject or place to another.” In its simplest form, transition means change. Transition or change can happen in many ways and for many reasons. Seasons change to help refresh our planet. People and various things change to adjust to the current or impending circumstances. We are currently journeying through a pandemic storm. We learned to do things differently and to help keep each other safe along the way. The vaccines have helped bring about change designed to foster some protection from the COVID-19 virus.  We at MASWA tried to keep you upbeat and informed through monthly relevant speaker content. We hope you’ve been able to participate in those virtual meetings and to gain helpful knowledge along the way. This month we celebrate our social workers who on a daily basis try to bring positive change to someone’s life.

Transitioning out of this pandemic will cause us to do things a little differently. Maybe we will try new things. As with any transition, it must be slow, deliberate and thoughtful. A few years ago I read a short book titled, “Our Iceberg is Melting”. In it, author John Kotter, recounts a fable of a penguin colony that had been living on Antarctica for many years. It was all they knew. One day, one of the very curious Emperor penguins noticed there were changes in their habitat landscape. The iceberg upon which they lived was changing. This set forth a flurry of activity and general discord among the colony revealing differing personalities and approaches to how this should be remedied or not. It was a critical situation declared the original observer and something had to change. It was fascinating how it was addressed and how Kotter developed 8 key steps to handling a critical situation involving change in a group of varying personalities and beliefs.

Throughout this pandemic we have seen much of the same however we all came together and interestingly enough, we experienced many of the steps outlined by Kotter. Some of those steps were: ·Creating a sense of urgency while helping others see reason for change. ·Devising a successful plan; how will things be different from the way they were? ·Replace old ways with new ways to enable success. What did you try or do?

We, as workers in this key industry, are on our way to furthering our careful transition. Let’s embrace nature’s transformation to Spring. Let’s carefully embrace our transformation to a new normal. As you do so, please consider spreading the word about MASWA and the helpful knowledge it can bring to you and your colleagues. Join the monthly meetings and bring a friend. Thank you for what you do every day and thank a special social worker, too!

Georgene Connelly
MASWA President