Dear Curiosity Journal,
It was an absolute honor to receive the Non-Profit of the Year Award for the First Annual Vernon County Awards at the Hillsboro Brewing Company on Wednesday evening. We are filled with gratitude for the nominations, the votes, and all of the support we receive from this fabulous Driftless community. We would like to thank the Viroqua Chamber of Commerce and all of the chamber groups across the county who came together to host this event to recognize inspiring businesses, educators, volunteers, and individuals who make our community shine. We extend a warm congratulations to all of the award recipients. We would also like to thank the team at the Hillsboro Brewing Company for hosting us in your lovely space and feeding us a delicious dinner. Last, but not least, we wouldn’t be the organization we are today without the Driftless Curiosity board of directors (Rufus Haucke, Taylor Juresh, Diana Tapia, Shaun Murphy-Lopez, and Colleen Robinson), our team of instructors, many volunteers, collaborators, sponsors, donors, and every participant who has helped make our organization a success. Last night was one of those moments when you feel like you’re watching yourself in a movie or something, a sense of the surreal, a strange floaty feeling, not ideal for public speaking. To stand before one hundred of our peers, to shake the senator’s hand, to speak to fans I didn’t know I had, and to accept our very first award, was to be seen, and to see myself in a shiny new prism of light.
~Joy
