Here’s another guest post highlighting our 25th anniversary staff tour in the northern portion of our region.
Enjoy!
Seeing the WHY First-Hand
Cheryl Glaeser, Program Officer
I recently watched a video clip about the importance of WHY. It’s not about what you do or how you do it, but WHY. On our recent tour of the northern part of our region, SWIF staff got to see first-hand WHY we do what we do. As a staff member who has the great fortune of spending time out of the office seeing the results of our efforts, it was especially fun to share the WHY with our teammates who spend most of their time in Hutchinson!
We learned why Aaron, a graduate of Willmar High School and former YES! team member, is back in and working with the current team to make the Willmar Greenhouse operate more smoothly. His WHY? He really likes gardening and enjoys being involved in YES!.
Ginny with the New London Little Theatre believes with all her heart that it was the creativity and innovation of the YES! students that helped the Little Theater become more energy efficient and incorporate solar panels for heating. WHY YES!? It was the YES! students who not only helped them think out of the box, but also helped leverage resources to make the projects happen.
Willmar Municipal Utilities has added two 80-meter wind turbines as part of their mission to incorporate sustainability into its energy production. WHY wind? The turbines will be used to power about 3 percent of the city’s electric needs for the next 20 years at a cost of less than five cents per kilowatt-hour.
Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center fully understands the WHY of not only the work that they do but also that of SWIF. It was great to hear first-hand about the various ways that SWIF has supported and collaborated with PWELC, from renovating the barn, to intergenerational work, to YES!. I think staff would agree that it is obvious WHY we value their partnership!
Many other stops on our staff tour reminded us of the WHY of our work and nothing’s better than hearing it directly from people we’ve worked with over the years!
