ECD Chair’s February 2026 Message

February is Caring Month

Greetings ECD colleagues!

I wanted to write about human kindness in my chair message for ECD “February Caring Month,” and I will.  But I am revising my message to include some thoughts about good fortune, gratitude, and obligation on this bright, white Monday morning after the relentless winter storm that buried most of the ECD region under more than a foot of snow.

I spent Sunday clearing the driveway of the 14 inches of snow that fell on our community of Beavercreek in southwestern Ohio. I’ve got a snowblower. We didn’t lose power. My hands throbbed in pain – but only briefly – as they thawed out. I was well-fed and toasty as I relaxed in front of the NFL playoff games, including the one in Denver that ended with snow.

Clearly, not everyone was as fortunate. It’s a challenging time for the hundreds of thousands without power to their homes. It is a life-threatening time for untold numbers of the impoverished and homeless. It is an absolute anguished and perplexing time for citizens protesting in the ice-cold streets of Minneapolis.

Mother Nature is always more than willing to provide a reality check on what it means to be a “have” or a “have-not.”  February is the heart of winter, the Valentine month of love, and a rightful month to consider duty, stewardship, and citizenship. February is “Caring Month” for ECD because we have chosen to move the “Week of Caring” initiative introduced last year to this early month of the New Year.  We encourage and implore all our chapters and members to give back wholeheartedly to your local community with a charitable activity during the week of Feb. 22-28.

Now, to some thoughts about kindness.

These days, we are speed climbing the learning curve of Artificial Intelligence, anxious about failing to adapt and adopt at our peril. The 2025 jobs report showed hesitation to add or fill positions due to uncertainty about AI. ChatGPT users trapped in feedback spirals believe robots reveal to them the secrets of the universe. Can the Earth possibly produce enough energy to feed the voracious appetite of AI data centers?

But “Caring Month” gives us a chance to re-center and focus on something un-AI and uniquely human: kindness.

By giving volunteer time to worthy and important causes, we can flip the alphabet of AI. We can demonstrate our “Absolute Interest” in helping others. We can be generous in our “Attention to Individuals.” We can embrace the AI of “Accessibility Investment” and “Adaptive Ingenuity.  (And no, I did NOT use ChatGPT to search these acronyms!)

During last year’s “Week of Caring,” I joined my home chapter in chopping vegetables at Miami Valley Meals. PRSA Dayton was among 10 ECD chapters that volunteered with local nonprofits, addressing needs from food insecurity to literacy, veterans support, breast cancer and rare disease awareness, crisis communication, and a youth coat drive.

“This is something we should do,” said PRSA Dayton volunteer Katie Lewallen. “We are all part of the community.”

Participating in the “Week of Caring” is a wonderful first step in the New Year to show we are “All In” (another redefining of AI) when it comes to being a caring, supportive, contributing member of our community. I say “first step” because I know many of our ECD chapters engage in traditional community support initiatives throughout the year, while others look for volunteer endeavors beyond February.

I also encourage the many small steps we can take throughout this year – as chapters or individuals – to help people and good causes with our time and skills as PR professionals.  It did not take much time and effort for me to write a press release and share my media list to help publicize the Fish Fry at our local high school, a fundraiser at a city park, a road race for organ donor awareness, or to write a marketing campaign outline for a local public radio station.

They were small contributions. I could and should do more. We are part of our community, and so we do our part. When we are fortunate, giving back is a good way to be grateful. It is the best way to help everyone come in from the cold.

Thank you for caring!

Mark Pompilio

ECD Chair