In addition to being a mom, working with teachers at Poston Butte High School to help my son get the education he needs, taking care of clients in my business, MyBizNow.com, and taking my daugther to doctor's appts, I also participated in San Tan Leads, prepared for the San Tan Valley Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting, put on a fantastic mixer at Encanterra, participated in the annual Citizen's Advisory committee for the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan Amendment meeting, attended a meeting at Congressman Jeff Flake's office regarding the recent e-coli scare and kicked off this morning in Casa Grande at the Pinal Partnership Meeting. Through all of that, I was still able to pull together a surprise birthday party for my husband and the week's not over yet! I love all that I do in this community and all of the amazing people I get to share my life with. The incredible people I am fortunate enough to work side by side with this week (and every week), are the reason I have the energy to get up and go every day.
After reflecting on this week a bit, I have to stay that it still blows my mind how many candidates "step into the limelight" when they are running for office, only to never be seen again after the election is over. I was the only person running who was involved BEFORE the election and I am STILL the only person involved AFTER the election. Although many of you have told me how sorry you are that I didn't make it through the election don't fret ... I'm not going anywhere! I was involved before it all and I'll be involved moving forward too.
When people ask what's next for me, I simply reply with "Tomorrow." What I really want to know however, is what is next for "us", our community? What do we do now? Well here is what I would like all of us to do: We need to stop believing that the elected officials are the ones who are responsible for our future. IT IS UP TO US! It is our responsibility, the voters, to work together and determine what WE want to make happen and then it is our responsibility to put the people in office that will assist us with moving our community forward.
One of the questions asked today at the Candidate Forum hosted by Pinal Partnership was "What is one thing you'd like to see change once in office?" That might seem like a loaded question as there are so many issues to address, however, the issues are simply symptoms. What would I want to see change? I want our County and our community to stop "reacting" and start being proactive. We have spent generations "letting" things happen to our area, our community and our lives. It's time to stop dealing with "what we get" and start working together to see what we have and go get what we need, what we want. We aren't going to take what's left over, or the overflow from what's happening north or south of us. That is what got us into this mess.
Working together we can and will make a difference. Working together, we can get our elected officials to not only listen, but ACT in OUR best interests, not theirs and if they don't do their job, then it is up to us to remove them and get someone else in to do what they are elected to do.
San Tan Valley, our voice doesn't start with the government, it starts with us. Let me know what your concerns are. Let me know what you are doing to help provide a product/service/need for our area. We need to reach out to each other in order to bring us together. We need to step out of our own immediate world and see how our resources/talents can best help those around us. We need to encourage competition, acknowledge our volunteers and support our local community.
I am so inspired by all of you that I have met, and some I've even had a chance to work with. There are so many of us that are passionate about our future, about our potential and not only that - but are willing to STEP UP and do the work to get the job done.
San Tan Valley will become a community that we all look forward to being a part of and that others will wish to join and just think, it could be because of what YOU did to help get us there!
