Freshwater Voices

The Newsletter of Freshwater Future

Freshwater Voices is the newsletter of Freshwater Future, published four times per year. Freshwater Voices is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.

Volume 17, Number 3 • Summer 2009

Director's Notes: Preserving Your Resources

Jill Ryan, Executive Director

Have you ever been frustrated by customer service at a grocery store or a hotel and spent a lot of your time telling the clerk or bag boy how upset you were? While this tactic may have helped you feel better, it is not likely that it changed anything in terms of the company and their customer service. After the fact you may have questioned whether your time was well spent.

Similarly, you may spend a good deal of time telling your issue story to everyone you meet, with the hopes that they can help you solve the problem. Unfortunately this strategy seldom gets your story to the appropriate decision maker and often zaps your group of the energy necessary to get that story to the right place.

In this issue you’ll read stories about organizations that prioritized how they spent their precious volunteer resource of time and effectively worked to solve their issue. You too can ensure the best use of time and other resources with a strategy plan for your issue. If you need help with such a plan, give us a call and we can talk about how our services can assist you.

Disclaimer: The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.

Freshwater Future builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. We work toward this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Through these efforts we work with over 1,800 grassroots watershed groups and citizens to protect and restore the rivers, lakes and wetlands in their communities. Freshwater Future is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

For more information, please contact:

info@freshwaterfuture.org
P.O. Box 2479,
Petoskey, MI 49770
PH (231) 348-8200;