By: Katie S., Grand Worthy Advisor, Visalia
Hey California Rainbow! It’s Katie S., your Milestone Making Meerkat Grand Worthy Advisor. Did you have fun on your adventure in the Enchanted Forest? I know I did! Now I am ready for an adventure with the Milestone Making Meerkats and I hope you are too.
All my friends know I love coffee. Not only do I love to drink it, but I love to make it. I am a proud barista at Dutch Bros (yes Mrs. Regier, Dutch Bros) and had the opportunity to help open the first stand in my town! If you are familiar with Dutch Bros, we are a lively and upbeat group of guys and gals. I get to walk into the Mafia door (that’s what our work crew is called), every day and hang out with and bring smiles to fellow coffee lovers. Dutch Bros is a service and leadership orientated company. In fact, during my interview, I shared about Rainbow and that is what helped me get the job!! During my training, the “Dutch Creed” was shared. The Creed is a message that is instilled into every barista across the West Coast. It is a powerful statement of positivity, strength, and hope.
One of my favorite parts of the creed is “To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true”. Throughout these uncertain times, my optimism was put to the test. I leaned on my faith, family, and friends to keep positive. I also found peace in exercising every day either through swimming or going to the gym. Just like many of us, I quickly learned how to attend class online, zoomed meetings, and we were pushed into a new world of technology. These times of change caused us to adapt and grow as a person and as an organization.
The creativity California Rainbow has shown throughout this year shows how we looked at the sunny side of this milestone moment. We took advantage of this virtual world and “traveled” to other assemblies to attend meetings, play games, meet other girls, create new ceremonies, and so much more. Our Grand Assembly was the pinnacle of optimism and strength. Our Lemurs and their directors transformed our Grand Assembly into a virtual experience. They didn’t do it alone. With the help of all of our amazing grand adults and our milestone making Supreme Inspector, Grand Assembly showed the world that California Rainbow is ready for the next century.
I know we are all excited and thrilled to be able to meet again soon, but what about all of the new learnings and discoveries we made during our virtual era? What are we going to do with it? Are we going to forget what we learned, or are we going to make it part of Rainbow? I challenge California Rainbow to continue with that creativity and optimism. I challenge all of us to dream about our “new normal”. Dream about how we can use our learning of connecting to our Rainbow sisters not only across California but across the world. Dream about all of the new activities that we experienced. Dream about our virtual Grand Assembly. Now take those dreams and make Rainbow grow. Plan the best meetings, best activities, and the best service projects all while using our new learning. Let’s rise up California Rainbow and embrace this new normal and show the world that Rainbow will even make a bigger difference to the world in the next 100 years and I know the Milestone Making Meerkats are ready to lead the way.