We Have Another Board Member! Trey Parsons Joins the 612 Team!

Tonight, James and I were supposed to take our friend Trey Parsons to dinner with the intent of telling him about our dreams for Sixtwelve and then asking him if he would be a board member.  Earlier in the day, he called and said that there was a last minute Think Tank meeting with Ed Shadid, our Ward 2 City Councilman, and asked if we could skip dinner.  He then said we would be welcome to come.  I had just told Andy Zeeck last Thursday that I would really like to talk to Dr. Shadid about our project and Andy offered to introduce us, but now he doesn't have to.  I still can't believe our luck sometimes. After that awesome meeting on Sprawl that I keep referring to, I really wanted to meet the man in our local government that takes the time to listen to people and who believes in sustainability and the things needed to improve OKC's public health issues.  I really respect this man.

So we went to the meeting and it was in a beautiful back yard of one of my very kind neighbors.

You can't see it in this picture, but there was a pretty big crowd at the meeting!

When I arrived (I met James and Trey there) I was a little nervous.  Was I qualified for a Think Tank? Would I have anything to contribute? Well, it turns out that everyone there was wanting to see good things happen for our community and it was great to be able to share the concerns we have with someone willing to listen.  We also talked about ways that we can move forward and possibly work with PlanOKC.  Tonight was meant to be a meeting to talk about meetings. Haha! But it turned into so much more. It was just good to meet like-minded people who are excited about the changes that are possible here.  Oh, and most of them had heard about what we are doing at 612 and were supportive.  Even Dr. Shadid said he had heard about our project in the Paseo! That would have been the highlight of the night, but something even greater happened!

At the end of the night, I 'fessed up and told Trey that the reason we wanted to take him to dinner was to ask him if he'd be willing to serve on our board.  He said he was honored and he accepted! Wooohooo!!!  I told him that James and I were taking our time in forming the board because we really want to know the people before we ask them.  I also told him that I'm picky.  And I am.  It just takes time to know someone's character, integrity and commitment to the things we want to further with 612.  

Trey and his partner, Jason Branson, own and run a company called Enersolve here in OKC that provides energy audits, ratings and consulting for consumers.  I had met Trey a while back at Romy's art opening for the Lightwell Gallery at OU and I had heard nothing but good things about him multiple times over the past year. Every now and then we would bump into each other and I would tell James that I thought so highly of him that I thought he would be good for our board. He's so involved and committed to furthering the awareness of energy issues that we will all face. The irony is that James had talked to him over a year ago about working with us, but I didn't know him at that time and can remember thinking, "Who is this guy?"  Well, now I know and we're honored that he said yes.  Thank you Trey!!! We can't wait to work with you!

Trey, Me and James after the meeting