Care
Weekly Update #241 9/1/2024 to 9/7/2024
One of my favorite hoodies reads “not all wounds are visible,” and this week, I had a chance to attend an event with several reminders of what that phrase means. Before I wrap up with that though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
This week kicked off with a staff meeting Tuesday morning directly after a holiday. Topics across the board from updates on various projects around the city to those needing staff to fill a few open spots always make for an interesting meeting. As always though, we kick off with “blueberries” which are thank you and praises from around the city for jobs well done. We call them blueberries because in the caveman days if someone found blueberries to bring back to the family, they would not have asked about all the troubles it took to get them, but instead would be thankful for the food that was provided. Thus we are focused on and thankful for the good moments. One example from this week was when some Department of Public Works employees noticed smoke in a mulch bed and stopped to help extinguish a fire near a local business.
Speaking of DPW, I spent part of a day with the mowing crew and learning some of the areas of the city they mow every week or two. I will start by saying if you see a location that looks good, it is probably the work of James and Drew as they do a great job. If it didn’t look as good, it is probably because they let a rookie on the zero turn, and he might have not had as much experience with the job. All joking aside, I enjoy getting to chat with team members as they go about their day-to-day jobs and show me the ropes of what they do. I even enjoyed the good laugh after the train surprised me as I mowed next to the tracks on west Second Street. If you are looking for a part-time job and enjoy mowing, reach out to Dawn White in Human Resources and see if she has any temporary positions available through the end of the season. Thank you, James and Drew, for the guided tour of what you mow.
This week, I had a chance to meet North Vernon Vet to Vet coordinator Willie Steele for the first time. He had worked with City Hall to arrange the use of the George Green Council Chambers to host a Suicide Awareness event for veterans, first responders, community officials, and families of all the previously mentioned. The main speaker was from Veteran Affairs in Louisville and focused on the clinical side of suicide awareness and some of the ins and outs of how to have a tough conversation with those in crisis. While I learned from him, I picked up more from Willie’s story and why he cares so much about suicide prevention. The organization's slogan is “each one, reach one, teach one” and that is exactly what they are trying to do. I could spend an entire weekly update talking about the statistics on the the topic of veteran suicide, but instead I would like to encourage everyone to check out their website at northvernonvet2vet.org and see how you can get involved. Today, I will leave you with a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt that I think sums up the most important thing I learned from Mr. Steele this week, "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."