CAI-NJ December 2020

LOOKING AHEAD ANGELA KAVANAUGH | CAI-NJ CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

T he holiday season, while celebrated in many different ways, is the perfect opportunity to slow down the crazy pace that we seem to sustain all year and take the time to spend with our family, friends and community, enjoying traditions and making new memories. It’s also the time when I reflect on what has transpired and make a plan for a new year. 2020 – What a Year To say that this past year has tested us is an understatement, but our committees, the CAI Team and the Board of Directors faced the challenge and persevered, continuously bringing value to your membership throughout the year. Beginning in March they launched Cyber Trivia, Virtually Connected, HOA Feud, Virtual Happy Hour Events, and She-Connects, giving our members a platform to network. The CAI-NJ tradeshow went virtual with the Exhibitor Video Catalog and the soon to be launched Exhibitor Livestreams. Free to our members, weekly live educational sessions have been provided with the Wednesday Webinars, Legislative Updates and Roundtables, all recorded and available in our Webinar Library. A huge thank you to everyone that continued to support our philan- thropic commitment, raising donations for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Adopt a Family. As we say goodbye to a crazy year and all of its chal- lenges, hopefully we have become more appreciative of what we have. Although this year has been incredibly difficult for many, I can think of a few things that may have changed some our lives for the better. • Return of drive-in movies that many of us loved as children • Free live virtual concerts from top music artists. Thanks to social media, musicians gave us personal concerts from their homes • Comfy clothes became a fashion statement • Puzzles and board games became cool again • Everyone moved to virtual meetings, became tech savvy and ZOOM became our best friend

• Some of us became obsessed with TikTok! • Maybe you learned a new language, tried creative recipes, and found that hidden artist within • Birdwatching anyone? • Health care workers and essential workers – All heroes! • We came to realize how hard homeschooling is and recognized teachers are also heroes • Out of quarantine comes bonus time with family! Looking Forward to 2021 As we plan for the upcoming year, the CAI chapter calendar is already filling up. Thanks to our volunteer mem- bers, our committees will be meeting, creating programs and events for our members. Education will continue to be available virtually until programs are safe to be hosted in-person. The first Virtual Roundtable was successfully hosted in November and five similar educational events will be hosted throughout the year. The Livestream portion of our Conference & Expo will begin in January, allowing our members to visit with our exhibitors in a live session. We will also continue to host our Wednesday Webinars and HOA Feud. Please check our calendar on the facing page for a full list or visit our website, www.cainj.org for more details. Our Annual Meeting and Retreat will be virtual this year on Thursday, December 10th. All committee members are strongly encouraged to attend where you will have the opportunity to meet your fellow members, learn about your committee and share your ideas for the upcoming year. We are also planning on our live events, but our main pri- ority is the safety of our members. Everyone at CAI hopes to see all of you very soon. Happy holidays! Here’s wishing you all the joys of the season and the happiness all throughout the upcoming year! n

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