Chairman’s Message

Since March 2020, we’ve been living in a different world. A world most of us couldn’t have imagined or anticipated. A world in which everyday decisions have taken on the weight of life and death. A world that has asked us—no, demanded of us—to be cautious, yet courageous; to protect our families, friends, and total strangers with equal commitment; to survive, and to mourn, and to hope. This new world of ours has stripped us down to what matters most. It has asked for the best in us. It still is.

We are not in the same place we were in March 2020, when everything was unknown. We have knowledge now. We have history, personal experiences, the ability to discern fact from fiction. We have reality and situational awareness. We have common sense, a sense of love and family. A sense of survival. 

When the vaccines first became available in our community, my family and I extended our arms with gratitude, ready for the measure of safety and peace of mind it would give us and those with whom we’d come into contact. The vaccines meant—and still mean—we could gather with our children and grandchildren, whom we went months without seeing when everything began. They meant we could go back to offices, grocery shop in person, eat a meal in a restaurant. The vaccines, in some ways, brought us back to life. 

We’ve seen the economy, too, come back to life. Once-empty retail centers are thriving. Restaurants are packed. Now kids are trading their computers for classrooms. They’re seeing friends again, talking and laughing with each other, light in their eyes and joy in their hearts. 

We’re not in the same place we were in March 2020. But we’re not out of this yet—cases are rising again, and as joyful as it is watching our children and grandchildren return to the world, they’re doing so vulnerably, trusting us to protect them. We are not meant to live in insolation. We don’t live in isolation. We are interconnected—through our touch, through our laughter, through the very air we breathe. 

Let’s combat our fear with optimism. But let’s also keep doing our best to take care of each other. 

God bless you, and stay safe. 

 Adolfo E. Gutierrez