At Give A Mile we are often celebrating flight milestones, individual stories successes, and the volunteers that make up our team.
But we rarely stop to congratulate the Give A Mile founder, our friend, and fearless leader: Kevin Crowe. June 1, 2021 is Kevin’s 50th birthday so let’s take a moment to celebrate that.
Conventional wisdom says that good leaders share common traits and practices. These are some of them, and how Kevin puts them into practice:
1) Offer a vision: from the origin story based on the growth of Kevin’s friendship with Ryan Westerman as Ryan fought cancer, to the discussions on how any new campaign or fundraising can support the cause – the Give A Mile vision is clear: Give people the gift of time with a loved one who is critically ill or dealing with a palliative illness.
2) Form an effective structure: from ad hoc volunteers, to the various team members across Canada and in U.S., and all the way up to the Give A Mile Board, people are in places where they can best support the cause; and regular meetings keep us all focused on the immediate and longer-term goals.
3) Act as a role model: Kevin inspires and motivates the Give A Mile team through his achievement of personal (insane!) goals like completing multiple day endurance events (including an 800 mile paddleboard trip he has scheduled this year!). Like a good leader, he leads by example at every event, every time: Stampede breakfasts, Picnic in the Parks, Dragon Boat Races, etc. There is no job too big or too small for Kevin to take on in support of the BIG goal of providing 1 Billion miles of customer loyalty program point to those in need of visiting a loved one who is critically ill or in palliative care.
4) Delegate and empower the team as we work toward immediate and long-term goals. Whether we are booking flights, practicing for Dragon Boat races, executing a Mothers-Fathers Day or Holiday campaign, running with regular social media updates, or doing the all-important Flight Follow-up, we know our roles, and we run with them! And Kevin is there to congratulate and cheer us on.
There is very little that Kevin Crowe asks for personally, so it should be no surprise that his 50th birthday wish is for people to purchase the Mothers-Fathers Day 2021 Campaign 50-50 raffle tickets (for Albertans only), or to donate loyalty points or dollars to Give A Mile. Or just help to spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Happy 50th birthday Kevin! We wish you many, many more.
- The Give A Mile Team
