At 3:00 am. I woke up to five missed calls from a friend. When I call back, I am met with uncontrollable sobbing. Suddenly, I am in an Uber on my way to console a friend's breakup. I might have a 7:00 am meeting coming up, but I would do this any day. Friends, they are there to hold you up, hold you accountable, and hold you when you need them.
When I was working for publications on my college campus, one of my favorite questions when interviewing someone was, “Why do you love your best friend?”. It’s always easier to talk about why you care about someone else than talking about yourself. There is a lot to learn about a person by asking them why they love their friends. You get to see what is truly important to them.
Another question is, “If you could take a character trait from each member of your family, what would they be and why?” This is because we may not be able to choose our family members, but I’ve noticed that we all admire our loved ones. I wish I could be as brilliant as my mom, as patient as my dad, and as lovable and goofy as my brothers.
GRO too is a place to connect and help each other. We had our first GRO Intern meeting a few weeks ago, and both Kailyn from Buffalo and Charlotte from Hermann brought ideas and energy. The call went swimmingly with the three of us collaborating and talking about what would be good ways to spread the word about the community survey coming out on November 1st. This to me is a perfect example of how GRO has become a place of connection and support.
You are committing your precious personal time to help your friends and your neighbors. You are putting in the time and effort to better your community. GRO is simply an extension of a family, taking care of each other. I am grateful to be learning alongside you. To pick up the big and small insights. For example: the GRO Eldon team had the clever idea of putting their GRO Town Plan in their alumni magazine to let those who may have left the community know the great progress at home.
I am learning everyday from all of you, my friends. If you ever need help or are confused about something, never hesitate to reach out to me, your friend Miles...Maybe not at 3:00 am, but I am here nonetheless.
- By Miles Baker, GRO Community Engagement Leader
What's Been Happening
Cross-Community: Community Engagement
Oct 5 (9 am CST): Cross-Community: Community Engagement Outreach | We discussed our Social Media Strategy for the Community Survey coming up November 1st. (Click Here)
Cross-Community: Chamber Consortium
Oct 12 (11 am CST): Cross-Community: Chamber Consortium | Seeing really great result from the "Women Business Leaders In Rural" forum. Will continue this series in 2022.
Cross-Community: Project RISE
Oct 19 (9am CST): Cross-Community: Project RISE | Recruiting families who are living paycheck to paycheck continues to be an issue. Discussed strategies to address recruitment.
Monthly Business Speaker Series
Oct 21 (12 pm CST): Business Speaker Event | Our speaker was Raylene Hollrah; Mom, small business owner, property developer, passionate community leader, cancer survivor & advocate, and much more. (Click Here)
Cross-Community: Housing Discussion
Oct 26 (2 pm CST): Cross Community: Housing Discussion | We discussed the importance of finding ways to encourage developing middle missing housing.
What's Ahead
Nov 1: Voice Of The Community Survey launches
Nov 2 (9am CST): Cross-Community: Community Engagement Outreach
Nov 9 (11am CST): Cross-Community: Chamber Consortium
Nov 18 (12pm CST): Business Speaker Event
Nov 23 (9am CST): Cross-Community: Economic Development
Nov 30 (2pm CST): Cross Community: Housing Discussion
Nov 30: Voice Of The Community Survey closes
Discussions will be streamed on GRO Ozarks Facebook page. Click here to join
As we continue on the GRO journey, we are striving to continuously listen to the community and understand the priorities that they are highlighting to us. The assessment also provides us with a realtime gut-check. It helps us ensure that we are making sufficient progress against our goals. The process will also help us refine our goals and priorities for 2022. If you haven't taken your communities survey yet, find and take yours down below! The Community Survey closes on Tuesday, November 30th.
Pictured: One of our GRO leaders, Sadie Ferwalt, from Ash Grove, discussing her business and experience to students in her community. Thank you, Sadie and Mrs. Blankenship for all the hard work you do for your community.
At 3:00 am. I woke up to five missed calls from a friend. When I call back, I am met with uncontrollable sobbing. Suddenly, I am in an Uber on my way to console a friend's breakup. I might have a 7:00 am meeting coming up, but I would do this any day.
