NURIDE is the NU BLACK

Last month, the City of Williamsburg hosted “Roll or Stroll to Work Day” as a way to encourage residents to walk, bike, or carpool to their jobs. As a fanatic of the whole Green Movement, I was immediately intrigued by this idea. The day before the event, I checked out the website and found out that snacks would be served at several rest stations in the morning and then free lunch would be served in the afternoon. Who doesn’t love free food? I decided to ask some co-workers if they wanted to join, and my good friend and fellow Assistant Dean of Admission, Randy Tripp, agreed to carpool with me. I’m not sure if it’s super wack or super cool, but for the entire day, I felt like a mini-celebrity. Randy and I, along with other W&M staff and students and Williamsburg residents, were interviewed and videotaped that morning for the local news stations (see the fabulous Admission deans at :56 on the YouTube clip). We were given stickers to wear to show that we participated in the event, and those little stickers made us the talk of our office. And of course, we chowed on a fabulous lunch catered by Sal’s, one of Williamsburg’s local delicious Italian restaurants.

At one of the rest stations in Merchant Square, we learned about a new incentive program from one of the Hampton Roads Traffix spokespeople. The program is called NURIDE, and people who use alternative transportation methods receive points for rewards for their trips. How neat to get gift cards just for riding to work with friends! After that day, Randy and I signed up for NURIDE. We also got another Admission dean, Tish Lyte, to join in with us.

After reading over this blog, I know I may seem a little too excited over something that appears not to be a big deal. However, I do think it’s a big deal. It’s so easy for us to assume that we can’t make a difference in our world just because we are all individual people. However, programs like NURIDE show us that every little bit counts. Many little pieces add up to one big whole.

Okay, that’s all. This has been a service announcement by Kia Butts.

– Kia Butts