September 2010 Newsletter
Filed under Newsletters
Is it just me or does anyone else think that the summer was over before it got started? That was fast! So now school is in session as we swing around the corner and (gulp) get ready for the Holiday Season. I kid you not, I saw Halloween decorations at a store the other day.
For its part, the Greater Mission Bend Area Council just passed the three year mark, counting back to our humble beginnings at a Town Hall Meeting at the Volunteer Fire Department in June of 2007. Those three years went by very fast too. In this time period we have made exceptional strides in our work to make the Greater Mission Bend Area a better place for all of us to live. Some of our work is highly visible; other projects will bear fruit over the next few years. To be sure, we are only getting started and we have so very much more work to do.
In follow-up posts I will review some of the projects in which the GMBAC has played a significant role. But let me first begin by sharing a more personal experience, which affects all of us in the community and on the Council. Three years ago Joyce Nible and I met at Christian Brothers Automotive. It was one of those accidental encounters which leads to fabulous future outcomes. As we sat waiting for our cars to be repaired we began to talk, as strangers often do. We began talking about the aforementioned meeting at the Fire Station. We were both still excited about the community turn out. Moreover we were amazed and impressed by the dignitaries and officials who came on a hot summer night to address our concerned citizens.
As we sat talking about this experience we also shared a common concern: what next? It was a great meeting, great community fellowship and lots of “good feelings” shared by all. But, what was next? As we began to talk about future prospects for our community Joyce and I decided that “somebody” needed to do “something”. Ever wonder why “they” don’t do this or that, fix this problem or that problem? Well, that’s pretty much where we were, until that is, we began to consider another question. Why don’t “we”, she and I, do something? Instead of sitting around complaining, why don’t we step up and just see what we could do, or maybe what could be done? I have to tell you, this was not a comfortable question.
We both shared concerns about already being too busy, too tired, not having any free time, yadda, yadda, yadda. You know that conversation. You’ve probably had it a few times yourself. (Come on, be honest now.) I am self-employed. Among other things I provide coaching and consultation services for adults with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Believe me when I tell you this job can absolutely consume you. My weeks are full to overflowing. Then I have significant commitments outside my job. I’m telling you, I am too busy for another project. Before long we actually ran out of excuses and began to talk in terms of what “could” be done if only a few people would step up and lend a hand. That was scary, let me tell you.
So gradually we began to focus our energy on possible paths we might take to build on the success of the Town Hall meeting at the Fire Station. To make a long story short, we decided to contact other interested and invested people in our community to see if we couldn’t get something, anything, going. We, Joyce and I, took that next step and as they say, the rest is history.
I can confide in you that had Joyce not been the person she is that I would have likely not have gone into this project. I have taken many small businesses through startups. I know the problems they face. I have sat with small business owners as they went about the process of closing the door on what was at one time the dream of their life. I know the reality of a project such as we were considering. I am a dreamer, a planner and something of a motivator. To succeed I work best with someone who can take those dreams and that energy and direct them to the practical, the organized and the planned. I knew based upon over twenty years of experience that Joyce Nible was that person who could work with me. I read her as being practical, grounded, methodical and so very sincere and dedicated. I knew that if she told me she would go down this road with me that I would never have to worry. She would have my back, as they say these days.
So it is with the deepest gratitude and the most profound sense of appreciation that I share with you that after three very (did I say, “very”?) challenging years, Joyce Nible announced that she felt that she had achieved the goals we set out to achieve. Joyce told our board that she was now ready to step down from the burden that comes with being on a board such as ours. In retrospect I understand Joyce’s decision. Nothing is forever.
Joyce helped me to launch this organization. Now she is comfortable letting others pick up this burden and carry it on down the road. So, Joyce has passed the baton so to speak. Others will pick it up and carry on. It is interesting that the board had to enlist two people to carry the load that Joyce carried herself. That’s Joyce. From the bottom of my heart I want to stand on the rooftop and tell the world, “Thank you Joyce for all you have done for you community. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I know with total certainty that we would not be where we are today without all your hard work and dedication. And for all the times you brought me back down to earth with that stern look I want to say again, thank you. You will be missed.
Mike Martin, President, GMBAC