- Special to the Verde
Independent
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- Spotlight on Volunteers –
Lisa Pender
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- Volunteer Lisa Pender
multi-tasks fulfilling family, work and community responsibilities
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- Cottonwood resident Lisa Pender, busy wife, mom,
business owner and community volunteer, obviously doesn’t have a lot
of spare time on her hands. Besides family and business
responsibilities, Lisa finds time to volunteer. Pender works with her
husband, Tom, in the day-to-day operations of their engineering,
painting, and surveying companies. She is a licensed real estate
agent, and opened Old Town’s Little Lisa’s in 2004. Besides being mom
to two sons, Travis and Allen, she finds time to volunteer as the Old
Town Association president, and organizes many Old Town activities.
She has served on the board of High Desert Youth Football, and is on
the board of the Verde Valley Wine Consortium. She helps with her
oldest son’s wresting team and her youngest son’s ballroom dancing
team. Pender says, “It makes me feel really good to help others. And
everyone likes to feel good about themselves.”
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- Cottonwood Economic Development Director Casey
Rooney says, “Lisa is a community leader and a smart business owner. I
interact with Lisa on the Old Town Association Board, the Verde Valley
Wine Consortium and the Focus on Success Technical Advisory
Committee. I have seen her in action. When she steps into the role as
the leader, people willingly listen and follow and she provides good
direction. Lisa has a “can-do” attitude. I appreciate her ability to
contribute her skills and get things done. She makes good things
happen! What a great asset Lisa is for our community.”
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- A year round destination for
shopping, dining, sightseeing, and exploring, historic Old Town
Cottonwood is nestled in the heart of the Verde Valley. Old Town has a
unique array of eclectic shops, galleries, antiques, restaurants and
cafés. A trail to the Verde River and Dead Horse Ranch State Park
trails system, beginning at the Old Town Jail, offers hiking, biking,
and bird watching along one of the world’s rarest greenway riparian
areas.
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- Where did you grow up?
Part of my childhood was spent in Western Montana in
the Swan Valley. I moved to Sedona my freshmen year of high school
and to Cottonwood after high School
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- How long have you lived in the community?
I have lived in the Verde Valley 20 years.
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- Family: I have my
wonderful husband Tom Pender and my two boys Travis and Allen Vinson.
My mother, Susan Cox, lives here, my father in California and my
sister and her two girls live in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
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- Career: I have had a
variety of interesting jobs. I have worked for a company that did
accounting for charter schools around the state and managed the health
insurance for the local towns and schools. I assisted Marv Lamer with
starting VACTE. I work with my husband in the day-to-day operations of
our engineering, painting, and surveying companies. In 2003 I got my
real estate licenses and opened Little Lisa’s in May of 2004.
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- What are your volunteer activities?
I am the President of the Old Town Association. I recently resigned
from the board of High Desert Youth Football, but still hope to help
them with their fundraising. I am on the board for the Verde Valley
Wine Consortium. I like to help out with my oldest son’s wrestling
team wherever they need me--usually at the concession stand--and my
youngest son’s ball room dance team--driving kids.
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- Is there an event from your childhood or young
adulthood that influenced your desire to serve as a community
volunteer? My mother was a librarian, and
when we moved to this tiny, remote valley in Montana, they didn’t have
a library. You had to drive 90 miles to Missoula to the library. My
mother petitioned Missoula County to put a branch in our little town.
They agreed, but my mother had to raise the money in order for it to
be built and to keep it running. That was the beginning of a lot of
pancake breakfasts! The reward was, I got to eat some, my mother was
happy, and in the end, we had a library that I was raised in. When my
school needed a gym and new classrooms, my mother and several others
got out there and raised the money. That was a lot of hot dogs and
bake sales. When the gym was finished, I shot the first scoring basket
in our first home game in our brand new gym! I couldn’t tell you what
the score was, but I remember that.
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- What is the most interesting thing that has ever
happened in Cottonwood? I honestly have to
say, the new wine industry that is beginning to flourish.
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- How does Old Town reflect the history of the
community? Old Town was only old town in the
last 25 years. Before that, it was where all the commerce, the
hospital, funeral home, police, city government, post office,
utilities, churches and residents lived. This is where Cottonwood
started. Our buildings and the friendly people in Old Town still
reflect the same small town values they had when it all began.
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- The future? I think
that Old Town will again be a focal point for our community and for
culture.
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- How does Old Town impact tourism and economic
development for Cottonwood? Old Town is only
beginning to impact tourism. I think that we will see that start to
develop more over the next five years. As far as economic development,
even with the downturn in the economy, we are seeing more and more
businesses coming down here and staying. Our close proximity of
buildings, our sidewalks, and charm are bringing viable business down.
We are also seeing a lot of our community residents wanting to come
down and shop.
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- What can the community do to better support and
promote Old Town? I think that the only
thing that our community can do to support and promote us, is to “Come
on Down”!! We have a huge variety of retail and services. When guests
come to visit, bring them down. When we have an event, come down. We
just want you to join us in whatever it is.
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- Where do you see the community of Cottonwood in
10 years? I think that Cottonwood is really
at the beginning of branding itself for more than just a working
community, but realizing what we have to offer. We are just now seeing
the potential for the wine industry and what that can do for our
community as a whole. I also think that we are just now beginning to
see the Verde River for more than a water resource, but tourism
resource with the birding people. Cottonwood will become a
destination, not just a place that people drive through.
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- What are the biggest challenges for the city,
and as a volunteer leader, what are some solutions?
I think the biggest challenge for the city is the catch-up from the
growth that we experienced. Before the boom, it was a slow growth and
you could just deal with it as it came. When the boom happened,
everything was going so quickly, that everyone was in a whirlwind. And
when it stopped, it hit hard. I think that this is a really good time
to sit back and take stock in what we have and what will need to
happen for the growth of the community. Our community leaders need to
readjust what we knew, and look further into the future and how it
will affect the community later. I think we must take a look at our
general plan, current zoning, growth patterns, our potential, and our
new economic plan. We need to overlay them all to see what the path
may look like ahead. This is where our leaders are going to realize
that there is going to be no way to please everyone.
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- What are your hobbies, enjoyment, besides
volunteerism? I love to read, spend time
with my friends, go to the lake, fly, watch football, and dance.
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- If you could get every single community member
to do just one thing, what would that be?
Once a month, volunteer for something--anything. Help the teachers by
making their copies so they have more time to prepare lessons. Help
with a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization. There are so many
things. I think that if our kids volunteered more, they will learn how
to feel good about themselves and stay out of trouble.
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- Do you have a favorite quote?
“Do unto others as you would have done to you.”
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- What is your advice to the citizens of
Cottonwood? Be proactive in the direction
our community is going. Don’t put blinders on. If you have a problem,
or see a problem, don’t just stand back and ask the city to fix it.
Come up with some realistic solutions. What we do today, our children
have to deal with tomorrow. It’s back to what our beloved John
Fitzgerald Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you,
but what you can do for your country.” It still rings true, and is
even more relevant today.
