President's Message

Hi All

Well that was interesting. - I doubt any of us have ever experienced a week like it, and to be honest I’m certainly not in a rush to do it again.

At Pacific Doors Limited in Seaview, on Monday we were calmly planning to trial working from home. The next day we seemed to have an acute and foreboding understanding of what level 4 meant, and suddenly we were in facing a State of National Emergency and in complete lockdown.

For the last few days we’ve been trying to figure out how to keep a business and a household running in an entirely foreign environment. I wouldn’t say its been fun, but I would say I’ve learnt a whole lot more about myself and those around me.

Events like this bring out the best and worst in us, but mostly the best. For my family, we had a serious test of logistics bringing my sons home from Christchurch and Auckland, and close family from Cambridge, England made it home in the nick of time. I’m writing this from our garden furniture, which has been brought inside and re-purposed as my office, and I’ve given my parents a crash course in WhatsApp.

I’m sure everyone has their own stories.

I feel lucky to be surrounded by family in my own home, and working for a business that is likely to come out the other side in good shape. I know that not everyone has been this lucky. Our industry ebbs and flows with the economy, and we have some rough times ahead.

Now that the dust is settling, I can see that NAWIC has a role here. Now more than ever we need to make sure people are connected, talking and listening to one another, hearing and telling stories and looking out for each other. It’s what we do at NAWIC, and we can do most of this while we stay in our bubbles.

We’re turning our minds to how we might do this in the new environment. Even after this is over we’ll probably look at meetings and events a little differently. While I’m determined that our fantastic awards event will go ahead this year, we’ll most likely have to make some tweaks to how we do it.

The NAWIC Board will update you soon on ideas and initiatives to keep our NAWIC family together, but please feel free to share any ideas you may have to my email address listed below. But don’t wait … if you need to reach out just do it!

In the meantime, please keep safe in your bubbles, I wish you all the very best.

Kind regards

Stacey Mendonça
NAWIC President