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Bozeman Heroes:
Locals Creating Positive Change
By ------ - 12/11/2006
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead Sam and Abby Porter:Risk-taking, Visionary, Progressive Creationists
By Heidi Lasher
It was early October and I stopped by Sam and Abby’s house to go over the Bioneers program. I found Abby in the back room on the computer, pulling together thousands of files that would shortly be sent out for printing. Sam was in the living room talking on the cell phone and tapping a bouncy seat with his foot while baby Mae Porter slept to her drummer-daddy’s rhythm. He put his hand over the receiver, “We’ve got so many amazing things going on. I can’t wait to tell you about them.” A friend was in the kitchen making coffee milkshakes.
It was just another day in the life of the Porters.
Between parenting, running two businesses and launching a myriad of new initiatives in town, including a pesticide-free parks program, a new theater, a bio-bus project (a double-decker bus for Bozeman that runs on biodiesel) and an effort to “green” local events, the Porters have also planned, organized, marketed and produced one of Bozeman’s most uplifting community events: the Northern Rockies Bioneers Conference. It’s not something they are paid to do, and it’s a ton of work. But it needs to be done, and they know how to do it best.
This year, with baby Mae just a few months out of the womb, they moved their headquarters from the Emerson to their home office, invited 85 local leaders to present workshops, organized a live, satellite-fed downlink of the main Bioneers Conference in California, purchased food from local, organic farms and served over 900 meals to attendees from as far away as Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.
They didn’t do it alone. In fact, they solicited help from over 120 efficient and dedicated volunteers, attracted to the Porter’s vision, commitment and unending hospitality. Many of these volunteers became part of the family, stopping by to hold the baby for a few hours, organizing exhibitors, writing the program, bringing over dinner — whatever it took to make sure the event could happen. And it did.
This year, Sam and Abby are incorporating a nonprofit organization called the Bioregional Out-Reaching Network, or BORN (www.bornnetwork.org). BORN will offer a “home that connects people-to-people and people-to-place through education, activism, the arts and conferences like Bioneers that celebrate community, independence, peacefulness and solutions.” The organization will undertake management of the Northern Rockies Bioneers Conference and create space for ongoing events such as film and speaker series, leadership trainings, youth initiatives, music for change concerts and more.
I’d like to thank the Porters and all the individuals and families who, through the Bioneers and other fabulous events, make this community a vibrant, growing and sustainable place to live.
David Swingle:A Gift to the Community
By Marjorie Smith
People like David Swingle make Bozeman a town to be proud of. I’ve known this Renaissance man since long before either of us could pronounce “renaissance” or knew what it meant. When we were kids, Swingle was the guy who knew about everything. He played music, was active in theatre and skied. I didn’t realize it when we were in high school, but even then he was concerned about disadvantaged kids.
And it’s with at-risk youth that he’s made his most important contribution to this community: as the instigator and for 14 years, the leader of Bridger Alternative High School.
Swingle and I are both what the Japanese call “U-turners,” folks who go out into the world, reach some kind of success, and then return to their hometowns. After they graduated from MSU in 1965, Swingle and his bride, Rusty, moved to suburban Detroit to teach. In 1968, they moved to the San Francisco Bay area and spent 14 years teaching. Back then he also ran Centennial School, a private mobile summer school for at-risk youth. (Ever wondered how that terrific nature trail on Kirk Hill got built? That was Swingle and his California would-be delinquents.) The Swingles returned to Montana in 1982 to teach in West Yellowstone. In 1986 he became director of education for the Museum of the Rockies (MOR).
Despite his passion for museum work, Swingle was worried about teenagers dropping out of Bozeman High School, which had tripled in size since he and I graduated in 1960. He bugged the Bozeman Schools superintendent and the school board until they let him set up an alternative high school in 1992.
Some of us believe that Swingle saved more kids from disaster than any other person in town. During the 14 years he ran Bridger Alternative School, 415 at-risk students graduated from high school and over 600 enrolled to work toward a diploma or GED.
“They saved themselves,” he said. “All I did was create an environment in which they could succeed. We respected the kids’ intellects and tried to make the curriculum relevant to them as adults.” There were many tears (and perhaps a few relieved education bureaucrats) when Swingle retired from the school last spring. “It was time for somebody new to take over,” he said, expressing confidence that Bridger will go on giving second chances to “neglected and down-and-out kids.” Predictably, Swingle is already back at work n at the Museum of the Rockies where he’s putting together an exhibit in celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary and teaching a course in museum administration.
It’s great to see Swingle looking so relaxed and happy. But if I were in the Bozeman public school administration, I sure wouldn’t make any cuts to the alternative program. We U-turners are watching.
Annie de Meij: Feeding the Children
By Pookie Godvin
Annie de Meij describes herself as “not very adventurous.” She has adopted two children from a third world country, witnessed civil war in Africa, received the Gallatin Valley Peacemaker Award from the Community Mediation Center and developed a humanitarian organization to feed orphaned and street children in Madagascar. While doing all of this, she has held down a job at MSU’s Insect Quarantine Department and built her own home with her husband Joop without the aid of architects, contractors or and the generosity of people in our community. A local man donated the money to build a wall around the Tangiana Orphanage so thieves could not steal food from the garden and the children would feel safe. A female artist from the valley contributed funds to buy sewing machines and provide lessons for homeless mothers so they could get their families off the streets.
“So little can make such a huge change,” said de Meij.
Help a child take heart this holiday season. Purchase an AOM holiday gift “Giving Card” in someone’s honor in the amount of $10, $30 or $75 at your favorite coffee shop. A day with food is a wonderful gift.
David Kack: A Multi-Modal Man
By Tracy Oulman
Photo by Janie Osborne
Some people spend their entire lives making plans. David Kack is not one of these people.
They shape their ideas into absolute perfection before attempting to implement them. Kack does not relate.
And, just before they begin their well-crafted plan, many will realize they forgot something and start all over again. Kack thinks it’s a shame.
“You can drive yourself crazy if you plan for the sake of planning,” he said with a tone that indicates he has learned this lesson and will not be convinced otherwise. While the comment isn’t crazy, it is a bit revolutionary coming from a man who makes his living in transportation — a profession hallmarked by planning.
It is, perhaps, exactly this philosophy that has resulted in Kack being credited as a driving force behind Bozeman’s new Streamline Transit System. Launched last summer, the new bus system is exceeding expectations, with four buses making 50 stops and serving up to 320 riders a day. And while Kack is the first to say this project has not been a “one man show,” those who’ve worked with him are quick to point out his uncanny ability to know when to stop planning in order to begin running.
“David is the sort of person who sees a need, commits to finding a solution and then identifies the basic information required to get started,” said Kristen Hamburg of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC). “He came onto our board recognizing the importance of providing everyone with an option to reach their jobs, doctors, schools and grocery stores, and he started making it happen.” In 2002, HRDC recruited Kack to join the Galavan Advisory Board and assist in writing a five-year plan to improve the service provided by the system. He was an obvious candidate for the board because he’d grown up in Bozeman, gained experience working on transit systems and returned home to become a research associate at the Western Transportation Institute (WTI). His route had been both direct and on time.
When the Bozeman Transportation Plan was updated in 2001, Kack saw an opportunity for public transit where others may only have seen a plan. The experience he gained working with Galavan, paired with his ability to anticipate how local and federal funding sources could fit together, made his wheels turn. Kack began working with others to assemble the puzzle.
“We knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but understanding the imperfection is allowing us to build a great system,” he said.
Kack is approaching public transit the way most of us forget to approach life n with a sense of direction and the courage to start. If we follow his lead, there is no telling how far we can go.
Judge Michele Snowberger:A Positive Impact
By Jenna Caplette
Photo by Janie Osborne
Judge Michele Snowberger’s job makes her feel lucky every day. She has a good family and her health. Something, anything, could have happened to send her life in a different, more difficult direction.
In Belgrade’s Municipal Court, Judge Snowberger mostly sees people with traffic and misdemeanor offenses. By-in-large, their lives are good.
However, in her work she is also faced with the mentally ill, addicts and alcoholics, people impacted by extreme poverty and those whose problems are beyond the resources of her courtroom. There are also defendants whose interaction with the criminal justice system might shift the course of their lives. In these cases, Snowberger works with the county’s Court Service’s Justice Councils, which include volunteers who bring their life experience to the table as they work with the adult defendants.
The first judge in the county to both embrace the work of the councils and participate with them, Snowberger said, “It can be remarkable to see someone’s progress over six months.” Snowberger was the first of the area judges to consistently sentence DUI offenders to Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s (MADD) Drunk Driving Impact Panels.
“For many people it’s not the first time they have driven under the influence, but it is the first time that choice has had a negative consequence,” she said.
Snowberger wants offenders to realize how horrific the impacts of a DUI can be, both on victims and on the lives of drivers who have maimed or killed people. Snowberger not only sentences offenders to the impact panels, she attends them as well.
“I want to deal with people with respect, to treat them as an entire person,” she said. “We have to do more than just put someone in jail because as soon as they walk out of the jail, their life will be the same as it was.” Snowberger moved to the area six years ago to help her family. Her sister and a niece are participants in Eagle Mount’s program for the disabled, so she began to volunteer. Now she’s a certified riding instructor teaching three to five classes a week for Eagle Mount’s summer and fall sessions.
“It’s empowering to see participants grow in confidence on a horse so that they can get a 1,200 pound animal to go anywhere they ask it to go in the ring,” she said. “It brings so much joy.” Not only does Snowberger find joy in empowering people to live the best lives they can and have a positive impact in our community, but it’s also what she directs her life’s work toward.
“I would rather that people be glad that I enter the room than have them be glad when I leave it,” she said.
Margot Kidder:Passionate Political Activist and Mental Health Advocate
By Kris King
It would be easy for actress and Livingston resident Margot Kidder, well-known as Lois Lane to Christopher Reeve’s Superman, to rest on her considerable laurels. She could settle into the joys of small town living; there are grandchildren to adore and dogs to walk. But Kidder is no receding star; she is a bonafide firecracker ready to light a fire under anyone who is apathetic, misinformed or uninvolved.
Kidder’s prevailing activist passions are social justice and progressive mental health education.
She is a founding member of Montana Women For… (Peace, Justice, and Equality) which began the day after the 2004 Presidential Election with a few women concerned about human, civil and women’s rights.
“We decided to focus on what we wanted in a positive way n what we were for, not what we were against,” explained Kidder.
Now a nonprofit with hundreds of members, the group’s goals include chapters throughout Montana, a separate lobbying arm, promoting female candidates and addressing economic issues.
“Economic realities hamper women more than men and disproportionately affect single women and mothers. Minimum wage, in our eyes, is a women’s issue,” she said.
Kidder has been a peace activist since the 1980’s anti-nuke movement. “…I had a daughter, and the arms race was so extremist that I felt it would affect her life,” she said. “Peace is a women’s issue.” Montana Women For has held a peace vigil every month since the bombing of Iraq began and Kidder observed, “For every 10 people who used to give us the finger, now 10 people honk for peace. Every single town in America has women starting little peace vigils.” Of the mid-term election outcome, Kidder said, “This election was won by every peace vigil, letter to the editor, voice that was actively speaking out against the war… People voted for goodness, fairness, equality and against fear. The ramifications globally, economically, environmentally and politically are huge.” When asked about her enduring passion as an activist, Kidder mused, “On a deeper level I think most activists have a sense of what injustice does on a personal level…and you could let it eat you up or you can direct your anger and grief to make sure it doesn’t hurt others.” Kidder has a history of some quite public mental health difficulties and is a spokesperson for the rights of the mentally ill. “I would be well for long stretches and then have plunges,” she said. “But it was directing energy outward to the common good that helped me stay well.” Kidder said her activist work is a full time job between meetings, protests, writing letters and giving speeches. She was on her way to speak at a human rights convention in Kansas City when we spoke. Kidder’s passion is indefatigable but she advises the rest of us, “Every person on the planet… is afraid; no one has enough time; no one has all the answers…There are no grown ups running the show, so get involved!”
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