Date:
Sunday, March 9, 2014
This session
was geared towards students in RT/TR degree programs, new professionals, and
people who are not familiar with our professional association: ATRA.
I attended
this session despite being a member of ATRA since about 1999 or 2000. I thought
it would be interested to learn more about the direction our association is
taking.
I believe the
majority of people who attended were students from Slippery Rock University, a
school a little north of Pittsburgh, PA.
The
presenters reviewed the many functions of ATRA.
They discussed the benefits for
joining the association. There are so many different parts and functions that no one person could be an expert in all areas. That is why ATRA has so many different networks and so many different people serving in different roles.
Why Join ATRA?
I had posted my thoughts about benefits for joining ATRA at the former
TR Said/ RT Said - Forum at Charlie Dixon’s Therapeutic Recreation Directory. That
forum had been closed and moved to facebook.
A person had posted a question
along the lines of: What is ATRA doing for us? It reminded me of the famous JFK
Quote: My fellow
Americans, ask not what your country can do for
you, ask what you can do for your country. Here is my new JFK quote: ask not what your professional association can do
for you, ask what you can do for your profession?
To the best of my memories: I had argued in that
post-reply that ATRA is a membership driven organization based on volunteers
who work for free and pay membership dues. The dues are a lot like a tax. The
funds go to various needs to support our professional association. I wanted to
argue: What does ATRA owe non-members who do not pay their tax or fees or
membership dues? Of course, the association does promote the profession
(including people who are not a member).
Here are my thoughts:
Imagine what the association could do it if had 1,000 more members who
were paying membership fees. We, as a profession could do a lot
more. This reminds me a lot of the Smokey the Bear ad: Only you can prevent
forest fires. We need a mascot like Smokey who says: only you can promote your
profession! This is true. Other professionals are not going to promote and
advocate our services. It is up to us. So, let’s do this!
I [Danny Pettry] am a good-standing member of
ATRA. I am not a paid spokesperson for the association. As a member, I want to
encourage you to join the association. Here is a link with some of the benefits
you can get for being a member: http://www.atra-online.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=2
No comments:
Post a Comment