Letters in the Ether, "Let fury have the hour, anger can be power. You know that you can se it"

Hello gang,

So, most of you guys were at the English Center last week (March 18th) to listen to Matt Malloon from the Electrical Workers Union, along with myself and Pam Bailey, speak. I had a lot of fun seeing all of you again and talking about our future together.

For those of you that didn’t make it, my company (Sun’s Free Solar), is partnering with the players that make up SEE Green Careers to find a way to put ALL of the graduating class to work on one single project. We are looking at one commercial roof in particular and things look pretty positive, nothing for sure… but POSITIVE!

I have said it to most of you, but one more time for the record, you guys changed my life the night of the graduation. It was more than a little disappointing (for me) to say I had no job openings when each of you asked for employment. I made a commitment that night to reexamine why I’m in business. I am totally committed to this project and, in turn, I am asking each of you to go further, work harder, and stay positive until we get things rolling.

In my blog, Kevin's Sun Blog, SPF 50, I write about you guys and where we are going. This blog is designed to reach out to anyone and everyone in order to generate support. I want you to read it. I want you to understand it. And I want YOU to use it as a tool to market our project. Please send this link to everyone you have in your address book (your friends, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, your 2nd grade teacher that made you feel like you were gonna be somebody some day).

Here are some other action items I want you to do:

1. Stay in touch with me. I need each of you. Email me at least once a week with your thoughts.
2. Help us name the project. SEE Green Careers is a separate entity. We need a name like “R.I.S.E- Resources Integrating Solar Employment” or something like that.
3. Be prepared to come with me to public events to help promote our cause. I want us to meet as many elected officials, property owners, and community leaders as possible in the next few weeks, and I want you to tell these people about your journey. YOU are our most powerful marketing tool. Need some examples?



Who doesn’t want to see Latinos, African Americans, women and young adults get a fair slice of the green jobs market? Virtually nobody. And those who don’t want us to succeed, they may present obstacles, but they won’t break our stride.

We also have four young men from Nepal, which is widely regarded as the spiritual capital of Asia (the Himalayas) and nowhere else on the planet are people more aware and interested in this culture than in the East Bay.

If you’ll forgive the sports metaphor, batting cleanup we have a young gentleman from Iraq that is a natural ringer. Our target is to influence people already sympathetic to the struggle and injustices of others. Anybody with half a heart is going to realize helping Iraq correct the devastation from the last 6 years of US invasion is in everyone’s interest.

4. Stay upbeat. This is not going to happen quickly. We will push it along as fast as we can, but there is a process and it takes time. You are going to get depressed and feel like this isn’t worth it. That’s when we will all need to be there for each other.
5. Make solar all you eat, drink, and sleep about. Read everything you can about solar. Go online and check out the hundreds of solar websites. Watch every solar/environmental TV show and movie that you hear about. Listen to public radio! Public radio is the only source of information that will really tell you what’s going on. You will need to know this if you want to stay employed in solar and advance to a higher position.

Do you follow me here? We are going to be approaching wealthy business owners and presenting a package that earns them money, helps save the environment, and puts your skills to work. There is nothing unique about installing solar panels. All poly and mono crystalline panels are basically the same. If a commercial property owner is going to install solar, his or her mind is already made up. It is OUR job to convince the property owner that we are the ones to do the installation. We need to let the people know it is in their best interest to have us do the installation.

Am I missing something? Did I leave something out or was I way off base about something? Let me know either way. I don’t care how good or bad your spelling or grammar is, I need your story. I will use your story and make it OUR story. I will then “shop” our story to everyone that will listen until we get another job, and then another and another.

Thanks for your time and please get back to me soon.

Sincerely yours,

Kevin Good