Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Whew! Time passes so fast!

July 31^st, 2007

After a restful vacation and a business trip to Washington, D.C. complete with a cancelled flight thanks to Northwest Airlines, I am finally blogging again! The blogging hiatus is over! Earlier today, I took the time to write an article for our Fall issue of Current and the topic was suggested by Roberta King on our staff who is the VP for PR and Marketing. The topic has to do with the past twenty years that I have served as President of this foundation and my insights on what has happened in these twenty years. Not to spoil the article because I know everyone will clamor to turn to it when it is sent out in a couple of months, but as I was reflecting on the years gone by, I was struck by how much has changed over this period of time! Twenty years ago in Grand Rapids, we were dedicating the opening of Grand Valley State University's Eberhard Center, planning for the new Public Museum, celebrating the city of Grand Rapids sesquicentennial and the lighting of the bridges over the Grand River and just so much more. Grand Rapids Community College was still Grand Rapids Junior College and was part of the Grand Rapids Public Schools. Davenport College was yet a university. The list could go on and on! Until I was deliberate about getting my brain in gear about what was happening twenty years ago for the Current article, it was rather surprising to see how much has really happened in the past two decades. When I started at the Foundation, there was one selectric typewriter and a huge -and I mean huge - word processing machine - not a personal computer in sight! (We still have that typewriter by the way!) The internet was not something that I was accessing every blasted second of the day! In fact, I just did a quick check on the history of the internet and it wasn't until the mid 1990's that more and more user friendly sites and uses were being created for the general public. Fax machines in 1987 were just coming into vogue and try to think of how our lives have changed so dramatically due to computers, the Internet, PDAs, iPhones, the gamut! I didn't get a personal computer for my home until 1998 but I sure don't know how I survived without it! And I have yet to get a Blackberry - but I'll soon join the bandwagon. The Foundation in 1987 was making major strides in helping change the physical landscape of downtown Grand Rapids and assuring that neighborhoods throughout the County were vital and vibrant. Staring out of my office window at the new Art Museum being built, I am reminded that the Foundation still is making a strong statement about the growth and vitality of our community. The more things change, the more they stay the same! Except now I'm blogging!