Honoring a community’s efforts

Jordan Fischer

July 03, 2006 09:36 am

— In light of this week’s exceptional events, the Greensburg Daily News has decided to run a special edition of the Volunteer of the Week.
Normally individuals or groups who have gone out of their way to improve the quality of life for others in the community are honored with the award, but when the community itself goes above and beyond the call of duty to improve life for the entire state, well, that also deserves recognition.
The Greensburg Daily News Volunteer of the Week then is you, the people of Greensburg and Decatur County who did your part in showing Honda that this was the right choice for their new location.
More than 300 citizens attended a rally in May to show their support for Honda by forming a human version of the automaker’s logo, an encircled letter “H”. Not only was the rally a success and major show of unity within the community, it also sent the message that Decatur County welcomed Honda enthusiastically around the world.
“If a picture really does tell a thousand words, we said a lot today,” said Jennifer Sturges, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, after the symbol had been completed. “The neatest thing was, David Fry and I stood on the lawn just before 5:30 and watched all of the red shirts trickle toward us from all four corners. It was something to see.”
Sturges and Fry are part of the Economic Development Corporation’s Honda Community Support Task Force which put together the event. The size of the crowd overwhelmed Fry.
“We knew we’d need around 200 people to make the logo and, with it being as hot as it was, we were a bit afraid of falling short,” he said. “We just called people and asked them to play a part. Without question, their response was, ‘Of course.’ We wanted to show Honda we have a welcoming community and I think this was a powerful sign of that. We realize this won’t make or break Honda’s decision whether to come here or not, we just wanted to get the message out that the people of Decatur County want it to happen.”
The pair was correct in their assessment. While the logo didn’t instantly secure Honda, it did have a powerful effect on Takeo Fukui, president and CEO of all of Honda’s operations globally. After the picture had printed and been placed on the Greensburg Daily News Website, Fukui printed it out and showed it to the members of the board at a stockholders meeting.
“At that point, he told me and the other members he could tell how much this area wanted Honda to come. It made a great impression,” said Koichi Kondo, president and CEO of American Honda. “That was a great welcome.”
The Honda symbol was not the only gesture made by the community however. In the following weeks, citizens showed overwhelming support with “Welcome Honda” signs, messages on the Daily News Website, a letter-writing campaign with more than 300 submissions and attendance at meetings for the automaker. Beyond capacity crowds, of more than 400 citizens, showed up last Wednesday for the official announcement from Honda, furthering bolstering their decision.
“Today was the first time I got to meet the community and I was very pleased how they reacted to my speech,” Kondo said after the press conference. “When people are clapping at everything you say, it makes it easy to speak. That was impressive. It gave me a warm feeling and showed me these were welcoming and friendly people.”
The work of local and state officials should not be overlooked, as it was critical to winning over Honda, however the support of community was, and is, equally important. Congratulations again Decatur County.
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