Notes from the Chair

“Learn the job, learn as much as possible, and do the best you can.”

-Peggy Onthank, July 30, 2021

My interview with Peggy was a bright spot for me on that Friday afternoon. Her last day of work before retirement, and a pizza and cake celebration...

“In areas with substantial and high transmission, the CDC recommends that everyone—including fully vaccinated individuals—wear a mask in public indoor settings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, especially the Delta variant, and to protect...

In his book The Morning, Larry Mulder wrote:

“I believe, though, there’s a common denominator in each generation; we walk in the footsteps of preceding ones. Most of us enjoy the shade of trees we didn’t plant—trees that were tended by others who...

Have you ever noticed that when someone says “I’m crabby.” it's usually followed by a look of frustration or confusion? It’s almost like we’re saying, “I don’t know why I feel this way, but I do. So please forgive me for anything I might do that...

In July 2020 we started a learning journey to open our eyes to bias. Through Workplace Respect Training, we explored diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIBs). Since then, we’ve had about ½ dozen other trainings to help us continue this learning in...

ATS is a metric that we started paying a lot of attention to in 2020 in order to stay focused on service to our customers.  95% ATS was a Key Expectation last year, and we’ve been working hard to move closer to that goal every day. Recently we had...

ODL’s History (Glass) Wall in the Zeeland, MI corporate office is filled with dozens of icons that represent important moments in our history, special stories that showcase our Core Values, and goals for our future. 

One of the icons in the 1960’s...