A Letter To The Norte Family

To the Norte family,

Keep showing up for our kids. They’ve had a brutal 18 months. They need you. They’re counting on you.

Start attending Board meetings — typically the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm.

Consider raising your hand to join the Board — there will be at least 3 empty seats in January.

Reflect on the current governance model of your small but mighty organization. Would Norte be better served with a membership model like the Traverse City Track Club where family members elect their leaders — not detached Board members hand picking their replacements?

What’s next for me? Good question.

One thing’s for certain, I’m not done yet. In fact, I think I’m just getting warmed up.

Yesterday, I came across this photo I snapped on May 26, 2020 while reading Jaqueline Novogratz’s “Manifesto for a Moral Revolution” in my favorite park.

This book opened my eyes to the fact that change is in fact the domain of all of us. And that other’s resistance to that change is part of the deal when we sign up to disrupt the status quo.

Right then, on a table outside the Clubhouse, I made a promise to myself to not let this pandemic go to waste while underlining this sentence — “Success exists in the beauty we create, goodwill we offer, ideas we spread, causes we stand for and lives we help transform.”

I promised that I would do everything I could to fight for our kids’ physical, emotional and social wellbeing by providing fun, adventure-based opportunities for them to get outside, make new friends and foster a sense of belonging.

Over the past year and a half, I did just that. I made mistakes along the way and am now out of a job but I’m proud of the work.

I’m now excited to write my own manifesto for a moral revolution in support of disruptive, upstream actions to change the odds in favor of more happy, resilient, active-for-life kids.

I can’t wait to share it with you.

To be continued.

Ty