Service In Sync® (SIS) is a program encouraging PCMA members to come together and give back to their local communities on behalf of the meetings industry during a designated period of time. Network for the Needy (NFTN) promotes volunteerism through the meetings and convention industry and is sponsored in part by a generous grant from GES Exposition Services.

Service in Sync Week for 2008 will be November 1 - 9!  Check with your chapter to find out what's going on in your community.

Thanks to the outstanding PCMA members, 2007's SIS was a great success! PCMA Chapters throughout North America organized service projects such as food and clothing drives, refurbishment projects and on-site volunteer work. Some chapters even held multiple projects! Check out what these outstanding chapters did in 2007!

Canada East collected food, clothing and money for Scott Mission. Altogether the chapter colleted $450, six large bags of clothing and lots of food! In addition to the collection, members also sorted food for Scott Mission.

Canada West participated in a food exchange with Quest Food Exchange. Different from a typical food bank, Quest "rescues" food, finding a use for every scrap as well as the packaging it comes in. Food is collected and the food that cannot be used is turned into animal feed or compost. The packaging is recycled. Canada West culled and composted seven pallets of fruit and vegetables; produced referral cards; offloaded donations from trucks; recycled cardboard; stacked pallets; stocked and priced product in grocery store.

Capital and Chesapeake joined together to assemble care packages for troops overseas with the United Service Organization. Together both chapters assembled more than 4500 care packages and raised more than $2200 for the USO!

Greater Midwest held a clothing drive to collect clothing items for Bottomless Closet. In total, this chapter collected approximately 200 hanging items and 40 large bags of women's professional clothing. In addition to collecting clothing, Greater Midwest also collected items for the Salvation Army and donated more than 20 bags of items.

Greater Philadelphia joined Volunteers of America in a refurbishment day at Anna M. Sample House. Participants worked to refurbish the family lounge area.

Gulf States collected and sorted food for the North Texas Food Bank. In addition to the day of sorting by PCMA member volunteers, Gulf States collected more than 26,000 pounds of food which is equal to more than 32,500 meals!

Heartland participated in a volunteer day as well as a food and cleaning supply drive for Harvesters and Operation Food Search. On the volunteer day, members sorted and packaged the 975 pounds of cleaning supplies and 603 pounds of food collected by the chapter!

New York joined Bowery Mission for two days to serve meals. During the days, more than 300 meals were served!

Pacific Northwest held projects in multiple locations throughout Oregon and Washington. At each location, members volunteered at Food Lifeline in Seattle, Oregon Food Bank in Portland and at Second Harvest Inland Northwest in Spokane. Altogether, volunteers repacked more than 16,000 pounds of food totaling in more than 12,000 meals. Members also collected 150 pounds of food for all three food banks.

PCMA Headquarters collected more than 600 food items for the Greater Chicago Food Bank!

POWER participated in three projects within the region. The first was a donation drive for the Holy Family Institute of Pittsburgh. Members contributed money, pillows, blankets and toiletries. The second was a cleaning supply collection for Homeless Families Foundation of Ohio. Enough supplies were collected to fully stock five family apartments. The third project was a smoke detector collection for the Children's Medical Center of Dayton. More than thirty smoke detectors were collected and used for baskets given to teenage mothers with newborns.

Rocky Mountain hosted an autumn craft party for children at The Children's Hospital in Denver. Members participated by finding sponsors for the project as well as volunteering to staff the party.

Southeast joined American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge to prepare and serve an Italian-style dinner. The meal was provided for patients currently undergoing treatment.

Southwest & Pacific held projects in both Orange County and San Diego. Members participated by sorting and prepping food for the Orange County Food Bank and San Diego Food Bank. Between both projects volunteers sorted 100 bins of food and prepared and boxed 1200 pounds of food!

For more information on SIS, please contact Liz Giannini at lgiannini@pcma.org or 312.423.7231.