Civic Pride - 11/22
Civic pride = pride in our cities. How often do we think about this?
November 22, 2011 by guest blogger: Liane Minier
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Whitley County is such an amazing place to live. I have to admit that I never quite realized that prior to working in downtown Columbia City. For years I’ve lived here, but always worked in Fort Wayne and I’ve taken most everything here for granted. For the last year I’ve worked in Columbia City and have been given the opportunity to learn about the communities within the county and all that they have to offer.
I’ve had the opportunity to see the new companies just starting out and the existing companies growing; the school systems that are growing and expanding their programs to give our kids the best opportunities possible for their futures; the parks continue to grow and develop for our families to spend time together; the civic organizations that provide services and programs for all of the communities; the list goes on.
This month has been especially amazing watching our communities pull together as we exercised our right to vote and the celebration of our veterans. I recently overheard a comment made by someone I greatly respect, “We take voting for granted anymore, not as the privilege that it is.” Our voices count……by participating in elections, both in government or private organizations, we are letting our voices be heard and we are showing our spirit and pride in our community.
I am so proud of how we chose to celebrate our veterans. We had celebrations in our schools with children honoring veterans and singing songs to them and for them. Flags were waving up and down our streets. A marathon was run in downtown Columbia City with the streets lined with people, a HUGE flag presiding on the side of a downtown building over the race, soldiers marching, and children saluting. Churches provided special services honoring veterans. Civic organizations honored our veterans in area nursing homes and many more. What amazing pride we have in our community for those who served and are still serving!
We have the right and responsibility to take care of the amazing community that we have. Every day I see and talk with people who express pride in their community. We need to do this every day, not just on certain days of the year. We need to show our civic pride when we pass each other on the streets, when we shop at our local stores, when we welcome new people to our towns, and even when we decorate our downtowns or our own front yards for the holidays, or when we stop to help someone in need.
As a county, we have made significant progress in the recent past with expanding our education programs, decreasing our unemployment rate and increasing our training for skilled businesses. This will allow us to continue to attract more businesses to our county as we continue to grow all aspects of our individual communities. It is our responsibility as a citizen of this county, state, county and city to support these initiatives and continue to work together and show our civic pride. Our towns are small, but together we are a mighty county with a lot of honor.
Keep moving forward,
Liane Minier