Managaha

We had our Marianas Office "Burnout" retreat on April 30, 2010 at Managaha.

This is a day we take to talk with each other in a formal way, but in a relaxed and beautiful setting away from the office, to discuss what we do as an office, our successes, what we could do better, our failures, and anything that touches on life at MLSC. We are so busy in our daily work that we seldom have time to take for this kind of reflection. The hope is that by doing this, we'll spot trends and find ways to do what we might not otherwise get around to. At the very least, we have a nice day where we get to know each other better and stave off burn-out by taking time to appreciate the beautiful place where we live.

Marianas staff on the day-long retreat included Maria P. Muna (who has been with MLSC since we opened in 1971), Polly Anne Sablan, Lolita Nazaire, Juanette Sablan, Dimitri Varmazis and Linda Wingenbach. And me (Jane Mack). This year Frank Rogopes from the Marianas Office didn't come, but Ben Tured and Ben Weber from Central Office did.


This was the view from our "front lawn." We opted for the northern shore of Managaha.


Lolita cracked firewood.


Linda made her cooking preferences known.


Maria, Lolita, and Dimitri stopped for a moment for the camera.


This is what our pala-pala (i.e. shelter) looked like from one side.


Here's another view of our pala-pala.


Another view from "our" beach.


The distance from the beach to our pala-pala.


Certain areas around our campsite were marked off to protect bird habitat.


Ben Tured (Polly Anne and Juanette in the background).


Maria and Lolita exploring a bit. (Or did they go to the concession stand for coffee?)


Another protected zone.


Dimitri in deep thought (or just sleepy).


Ben Weber, relaxing, and modeling his ocean-rescue-ready shorts.


Linda on the move.



Ben Tured with his betel nut.


Polly Anne and Juanette tending the barbecue. (Food was delicious!)

On the importance of taking time to reflect

MLSC Marianas Office had its annual "burn out" day at Managaha on Friday 4/4/2008. This is a time when we, as an office, have a picnic for an entire work day. It isn't all fun and games; we actually work.
We start with our general weekly staff meeting.
We review every new application for assistance (intake) and gauge whether the applicant is qualified for our services (meets income and asset eligibility criteria) and determine whether the case fits within our priorities. Our first priority is to the clients on cases we have already accepted. Sometimes this means that we cannot take a new case on, no matter how eligible and meritorious the case. And for those cases we do accept, we assign to one of the case handlers in the office.
Then we get to the real reason for our retreat. We take turns expressing our opinons about what we've done right during the past year, what problems we've encountered, what we want to do or do better on during the coming year, and how we're going to tackle these goals.
And then we barbecue, eat, swim, walk around the island, chat, relax.
There's something very rejuvenating about these retreats. The hectic day-in, day-out pace of work gets put into perspective. We can enjoy each other's company without the pressure of jobs that need urgent attention. We can see what our work means and how we can help our community by doing it.

A few photos:


The blue lagoon (from the boat).


Managaha-still beautiful.





Our newest staff: secretary Juanette Sablan


Frank Rogopes (1984 to present)


Omar Calimbas (2006-present)


Lolita Nazaire (2006-present)


Ed Peterson with wife Nenita (2007-present)



The whole gang-almost. (I've cropped myself out of the photo for aesthetic reasons! Maria P. Muna is off-island so missed the Managaha trip.)


In the shade of the pala-pala.


On the tour boat back to Saipan.