I'm as human as the next person, which means that occasionally I get cranky and ill-tempered. And I'm willing to admit that last night at 6:30pm, I was not looking forward to driving into Okotoks for the third time in a week and not getting the chance spend the night at home with my partner. But I had promised some volunteers that I would get them bags and bulbs so they could get started on delivering and I'm not the kind of guy to break promises, so after yoga and a brief stop at home I hopped in my car to get the goods from our office.
Adding to my foul mood was the fact that when I arrived at the office there was no short term parking out front. This meant that I had to go through the painful process of pulling around back and driving up the four flights of parking to find a spot and then take a series of elevators to get to our office. Anyone who has had to go through this process can attest to the pain it causes. I strapped four bags to my person, grabbed four extra boxes, and with my parking ticket lodged firmly in my mouth I made my way back to my car, not fitting through doors the entire way because of my exorbitant payload.
On my way out to Okotoks I found a radio station playing some funky classical music (yes, I just used those three words together), which helped to calm me a little bit more as I merged onto Deerfoot (aka according to Brian: the Highway of Hell). When I actually arrived in Okotoks and started ringing people's doorbells to drop off the bulbs, bags, and associated gear my mood changed quickly and dramatically. Rhonda Player greeted me warmly, expressed her relief that I was able to find her home, and thanked me for taking the time to bring her more bulbs (Rhonda is on box number two). Kim Saunders also smiled and opened her door to receive the three bags and three additional boxes (six hundred bulbs in all) for herself and two other volunteers as I walked up her front steps. Kim and I went over how the delivery list works one more time as she invited me into her home for a moment's respite from the cold.
But the show stopper was my last delivery. My last stop was to Shelby Butler, an eight year old resident of Okotoks who is going to deliver bulbs in her neighbourhood with her Mom, Dianne. In Dianne's words,
"Shelby is an 8-year-old, grade 2 student. She has recently been learning quite a lot about taking care of our environment, and has been talking non-stop about conserving water and electricity. The other day, in a restaurant, Shelby noted how much water gets wasted because the servers just automatically keep refilling people's water glasses - even if they don't want any more! She respectfully shared her observations, although I don't know if the restaurant will change their procedures, but you never know. When Shelby learned about an opportunity to go door-to-door to her neighbors to hand a light bulb to them and get the chance to explain how it will make a positive difference, she was VERY EXCITED to do something so tangible!"
Unfortunately, neither Shelby nor Dianne were home when I stopped by, but I had a chance to briefly chat with Shelby's Dad who said that she would very excited to come home and find her bulbs there waiting for her. As I walked back to my car to head home I took a moment to imagine Shelby coming home and finding this bright blue Project Porchlight delivery bag full of CFLs for her to deliver to her neighbours, the two bright green Porchlight toques, and the two volunteer buttons for she and her Mom. I thought about how delivering those bulbs was going to be one of the first in hopefully a long list of things she will do over her lifetime to reduce her, and our collective, ecological footprint on this planet.
That was it, any residual crankiness faded away completely. Moments like that are what Project Porchlight is all about, and I am lucky to have the opportunity to be doing work like this on a campaign like this. Full stop. It's moments like that one that bring our campaign slogan, Simple Actions Matter, into focus and you see how the ability to do good things and affect one another's lives positively isn't nearly so far out of reach as we often believe it to be.
So thanks Shelby, for caring so much, so early on and for giving me that moment of reflection. And thanks to all of the volunteers in Okotoks for being a light in your community.
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Inspired by Shelby
Well Expressed... Well done! JR
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