Around the Valley with a Total Reading Time of Five Minutes

What the drought looks like at the former Stevinson Ranch golf course, why visitors love spending time at Hilmar Cheese Visitor Center, and a special designation for Our Lady of Mercy Church in Merced.

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Photo by Steve Newvine

There are many signs of what the drought has done to the Central Valley.  Drive through any residential neighborhood and you will find brown lawns and dirty cars.  It is not surprising to go out to dinner at a local restaurant and see a sign that says “water served on request” as managers comply with California law.  

The photograph at the top of this column shows the former hole number one at one of my favorite golf courses, Stevinson Ranch, before it closed in July.  Rich green fairways lured golfers to this out-of-the-way world class course for several years.  Management closed the course in July due to a drop in business coupled with the ever increasing need for irrigation water.

Now take a look at that same golf hole two months after the watering stopped. 

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Photo by Steve Newvine

This is What the Drought Looks Like in our Valley

Turning off the irrigation at a golf course pales in comparison to the thousands of acres of farmland throughout the state that have been shut down from production.  The valley has gone through a very rough dry patch.  Let’s hope we’ve seen the worst of it.

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Photo by Steve Newvine

Hilmar Cheese Factory

After nearly a decade living in Merced County, I finally got to see the visitor center at Hilmar Cheese.  Every year, the Center at 9001 Lander Avenue, welcomes more than 15,000 school students for field trips, at least 300 tour buses, and thousands of others.  

Inside, there are displays showing the basics of cheese production.  But as many of us know, making the dairy product at Hilmar Cheese is a sophisticated process.  According to an environmental news website, the company employed nearly eight-hundred workers in Hilmar in 2010, with more employees at a facility in Texas.  Hilmar Cheese turns out two tons of cheese daily.   

The visitor center offers a welcoming environment for families, includes a gift shop, and offers a tribute to the agriculture industry in the valley.  It’s worth the trip

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Photo by Steve Newvine

Holy Year of Mercy

Finally, Our Lady of Mercy Church in Merced is set to welcome visitors from throughout California over the next twelve months.

Pope Francis has named the 2016 church year as the “Holy Year of Mercy”.  The official name is the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.  

In the Diocese of Fresno, Bishop Armando Ochoa has designated Our Lady of Mercy as a “stationary church for the faithful” during the year of mercy.  It’s expected the Bishop will authorize special Mass times and services throughout the church year, which runs from December 8, 2015 through November 20, 2016.  The Our Lady of Mercy Preservation Foundation receives contributions for the upkeep of the church.  A fund raiser was recently held at St. Patrick’s Parish Hall.

The church expects many visitors to come to Our Lady of Mercy over the next twelve months.  The church is located at 459 W. 21st Street in Merced.

www.hilmarcheese.com

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/hilmar-cheese

Thank You for Hiring Me

Labor Day is set aside to honor the virtue of hard work.  It’s a day off for many folks, and just another day at the job site for many others.  In the northeastern United States, Labor Day signaled the end of the summer vacation season.

Growing up in upstate New York, my first day of school was traditionally on the Tuesday following Labor Day.The Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy was held on Labor Day weekend up until a few years ago. 

But if the first Monday in September is set aside to bring attention to our labor force, a day should be set aside to draw attention to the people who have done the hiring.  These owners, managers, human resource professionals, and others deserve some sort of call out.

I occasionally think of the people who hired me for several jobs I held over many years. 

Newvine Personal Collection

When my broadcasting career was launched at a small radio station, a man named Dave hired me at the end of a short interview for a weekend announcer.  He needed someone fast, and with a recommendation from another staff person who knew me, the job was offered on a Friday without the standard voice audition.  It was accepted immediately by me and I was on the air that weekend.

My first television job

A man named Mark gave me my first television reporter job. 

He’s in the picture at the top of this column.Mark had several candidates from which to choose.  After an in-person interview, I waited about a week before receiving his call that included points about the salary, benefits, and the expected working shift. 

He did everything except offer me the job.  He told me he would have to run his choice past the station manager and that if everything went well, he would call me the next day.  I slept only three hours that night and waited all day long the next day for the call. 

It finally came at 6:30 PM.  The job was offered and I accepted on the spot.

When I switched careers in the mid-1990s, a man named Joe headed the search committee for the job of executive director at a chamber of commerce.  The decision was not entirely his, but as the chairman of the committee, his view carried considerable weight.  He saw some potential of bringing someone from a different field of work into an organization.  I remember the phrase “transferrable skills” was used by him on several occasions. 

Thirteen years later, a woman named Mary made the difference in my professional career by again seeing the potential of “transferable skills” to position me in a new role helping local governments save energy. 

I try to call her every year on my work anniversary date to thank her for that leap of faith.

It’s important to be ready to work. 

We hear a lot about education, job training and the so-called “soft” skills such as promptness, following through, and good customer service. 

All of this matters.  But when I think back on the successes I’ve had in getting hired in the first place, I always get back to the person who made the decision to invest their company’s resources in me. 

They could have hired someone else.  But something spoke to their decision-making process and helped swing the pendulum in my direction. 

For that judgment, I say thank you!

We rightly focus a lot of effort in the direction toward finding and keeping a job.  As we take a day off to celebrate Labor Day this year, I urge you to spend a little time remembering the people who said those two magic words:

You’re hired!

Steve Newvine lives in Merced and serves as the immediate Past Chair of the Merced County Workforce Investment Board.

His book Soft Skills in Hard Times is dedicated to the people who hired him at various jobs over the years.You may read a preview of the book at:http://www.lulu.com/shop/steve-newvine/soft-skills-for-hard-times-new-forward-teens-in-the-20-teens/paperback/product-20506951.html