Dear Nitaya, Paula, and Pam,I’d love to respond to each of you sepraately, but as you can see, that would mean posting three separate replies. So, I’ll take it one at a time:Nitaya,It was a pleasure to meet you as well. We didn’t get to talk much but I hope we get more opportunities to do so in the near future. What a lovely analogy you drew about newcomers to the community and new babies! I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you are so right. As a newcomer myself, I resonated with your analogy. I am truly inspired by the Blandin Foundation, the Leadership Programs team, and all the Leadership alumni. Their dedication and passion for working together to build healthy communities is genuine and I feel and see it every day working here at the Foundation and living in the Grand Rapids area.Paula,I enjoyed meeting you too. I am still in awe of the powerful work that got done at CPIL! What I was most touched by was the fact that it wasn’t about “programsâ€ but rather about relationships and people who are willing to cross lines and break down barriers in their personal lives, as opposed to simply talking about it. You and the other participants are a credit to your community. I applaud you.Pam,I hope we get to meet some day. Congratulations on being named Citizen of the Year. Those are just the kinds of successes we love hearing about. I'm sure the award went to exactly who “shouldâ€ have gotten it. While I do not know all the details, I’m sure you were fully deserving of it. Thank you for caring enough about your community to reach out and touch lives at a time when you too might have needed some support. You’re an inspiration to me.