Talk about teamwork! We got our paws on the minutes of the first official Friends of McNeil River meeting that took place on February 26, 1991, and especially want to thank the original team that ultimately helped save our very lives: John Warden, Tony Dawson, Kathy Bushue, Ken Robertson, Mark Newman, Bruce Herman, Kirk Johnson, Grant Klotz, John Hession, Randy Weiner, Cliff Eames, Alan Phipps, and Leo & Dorothy Keeler.
Nothing would have happened if you had not stuck your necks out, reached into your wallets and gathered a total of $880 to fund the first newsletter and begin preparing for the first of many battles to save us. We can't thank you enough!
We also want to give special thanks to all the volunteers that helped in countless ways those first few years: Pam Brodie, Bill and Bobbie Gosweiler, Allan Smith, Tom Walker, Mike and Diane McBride, Bill and Barbara DeCreeft, Kennan and Karen Ward, Dave Fritts, Michelle Barnes and Jim Stratton have all been supporters from the very beginning. All of us bears want to extend a special thank you, and borrow something we saw that we wanted to share with you (with all due respect to somebody named Shearson Lehman/American Express (funny name for a human))!
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.
It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than words.
It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things.
It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.