Live United by Ann Austin

I’ve been thinking a lot about what our community was like and my own life experience before the Blue Zones effort came to the area in 2009.

Saying that, I would like to remove all of my titles and any assumptions you have of me for a moment and share some of my thoughts about what I see for our community and for my life here.

I grew up as Ann Gramstad (good Norwegian name) and I lived in a neighborhood that was in between a field and forest. I slowly watched homes and other development build up around me. As someone who loves nature and the environment, I found this development suffocating. It is now an area called St. Michael and is one of the satellite communities that people sit in traffic for hours to return home to from their jobs in the Cities.

As a child, I read a lot and dreamed of living in a community like Green Gables (“Anne of Green Gables”) — people knew each other and interacted regularly, they could walk or bike anywhere, they had gardens and worked hard. The area I lived was nice, but it was isolated from this dream in many ways, mostly because of how people chose to design it.

When I met my husband and visited Albert Lea, I thought it was an ideal community. People were so friendly. There was plenty of green space, and the library was fantastic!

I moved here in August 2003, right after the devastation of the Farmland Foods fire. Understandably, it was a huge shock to the fabric of the community, and it takes years to overcome the loss of a business and jobs. But people have been able to truly transform this community over the past 10 years, and it’s been wonderful to watch!

I have seen another great transformation happen since 2009 — people have been more intentional about planning for the future of our community, considering how residents choose to move and interact with each other. This has caused a slow evolution of how traffic moves — installation of bike lanes and connecting sidewalks, creating more gathering places and being intentional about supporting local arts and local food. It’s been so inspiring to be part of these efforts!

This brings me to the idea of “A Community of Hope,” something resident Darryl Meyer shared at one of our recent Leaders Partnering to End Poverty meetings. It just struck me.

When we live in a community of hope we are open to the possibilities of what we want our community to look like. Hope is faith in a better tomorrow. I have so much hope right now for what we are all capable of over the next year, and in to the future.

Our community is in the middle of many changes — it is so hard to see the path and to know the right way to go or where our journey will lead us. At times we may feel overwhelmed because of the uncertainty.

But we are not alone — we have each other. That, to me, is what Blue Zones is about — it is a means to connect with each other on another level.

We all have a role, we all have a voice. I have found that when you start down the path, it can get harder — but it also gets easier, especially when you have companions who share your vision. We have an opportunity now to set our intentions for what we want our community to be like. I encourage you to show up, engage authentically with others, speak from your heart, share your ideas and join us in the Blue Zones effort to create a better community.

 

Albert Lea resident Ann Austin is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.