Upcoming: CRM's Beers with the Bloggers

A while back, I came up with an idea for Arlington County's Community Role Models program. An idea so simple, so lazy, so low-maintenance, it could only be compared to the "Jump to Conclusions" mat in Office Space for its sheer unremarkableness.

"I'm the board chair. I like to drink beer. I'll go to a bar, invite people to come have a beer with me, and we'll call it 'Beers with the Board Chair'!"

I know, you can practically hear Samir in your head now. "Yes, this is horrible, this idea." And yes, Comedy Central was running Office Space 8 times a day this weekend.

But here's the crazy thing -- it worked. We had seven people come out to January's "Beers with the Board Chair" at Jay's in Clarendon, and we had a great time talking about Arlington, volunteering, the presidential race, basketball, whatever.

So for March, we're kicking it up a notch. I've invited every Arlington blogger I know to come to Carpool in Ballston this Wednesday (3/21) at 7pm for an event we're calling "Beers with the Bloggers." Eric was actually the first person I invited (this was before we joined forces to become Team WUA), and Steve from the Buckingham Herald TribBlog will also be there.

So why come?

1. Learn how Community Role Models can make volunteering easy & fun
2. Meet people who blog about your community
3. Drink beer (or soda or whatever is your bag baby)

We'll be in the front room (closest to Fairfax Drive). Please sign up today at CRM's website so we know you're coming.

If you have a blog about Arlington, please join us! I'm trying to get some business cards made up with info on The Green Miles to pass out, but my experience at FedEx/Kinko's was a lot like the training video sketch on Chappelle's Show ...

Beers with CRM Board Chair

This week, I welcome Dan, from Community Role Models. I couldn't make it out to the recent event that CRM hosted, so Dan provides the 411 below.

Last week we had Beers with the Board chair at Jay's
Saloon. Couldn't have been a better place to experience what Arlington has to offer - a vibrant history and exciting plans for the
future. A bunch of newcomers came to throw back a few with some existing steering committee members - we chatted about how they could get involved in CRM and the community involvement and volunteer participation it facilitates. I'll look forward to getting out to these events more often, and welcome new folks to the team.