Press Release
PRICE, Utah—Carbon County residents rally together to make their community a friendlier and more welcoming place to live and play.
The “Carbon County, FEEL THE POWER” campaign will kick off Memorial Day weekend with a “12 Week Challenge”. The challenge is intended to encourage the community to interact with someone they don’t know every day. By the end of the 12-week challenge, members of the community that participate will smile, say hello, compliment, thank, have a short conversation or do some type of service for six different people every day. If one person accepts and completes the challenge, they will have had a friendly interaction with 294 new people. If 50 people accept and complete the challenge, they will interact 14,700 times.
As a person goes about their day-to-day activities, they may forget to take time to say hello to the sad looking stranger walking down the street or help the elderly couple next door with their yard work. Most times, a person does not intend to be unfriendly or unhelpful. Instead, they are just focused on the task at hand and miss opportunities to inspire others.
There are a million motivation memes and inspiring videos of someone helping a stranger less fortunate than they are. The question was asked “Can Carbon County be known for inspiring the world?” and, “What is holding them back?” There are many wise individuals throughout history who have said that a person’s only obstacle between oneself and their goal is themselves.
The “Carbon County, FEEL THE POWER” committee is asking the community to break down the obstacles in themselves and become the person that inspires others so they in turn will inspire others. The goal for the 12-Week Challenge is to build a stronger community by establishing more camaraderie, collaboration, gratitude, pride and an overall positive attitude about Carbon County.
There are other aspects of the campaign that will be added over time. To start with, the following are being implemented:
- Tourism is in the process of creating a customer service training for hospitality businesses.
- A group of secret shoppers will write a positive and fun response in newspaper articles.
- BEAR is in the process of creating videos showing the difference between urban city life and rural life in Carbon County.
- “GREAT Things in Carbon County” banners will be put up at larger events in the county such as Energy Days, with markers for people to write the positive things they like in the county.
- The Faith Based Initiative will have their congregations pray together monthly for the county and some of the local media has agreed to help remind and encourage the community to stay involved.
- A Facebook page and email address has been set up for people to share their positive experiences around the county.
- The media will be creating: “GREAT THINGS, EASTERN UTAH” to post positive stories and experiences people have.
“We want the ‘Carbon County, FEEL THE POWER’ campaign to be ongoing for years to come,” said Tami Ursenbach, Carbon County Economic Development Director. “This will not only benefit the community as a whole but will also provide a great experience for tourists and businesses that visit the county.”
Information and reminders for the “12 Week Challenge” have been sent out to all of the schools in Carbon County, the Chamber of Commerce, local church groups, businesses and the local media.
For more information about any part of the campaign contact Ursenbach, at tami.ursenbach@carbon.utah.gov. For a copy of the 12 week challenge flyer or an outline of the program, email rita.vigor@carbon.utah.gov.
