Drive$mart Wisconsin

"Drive Less When You Can... Drive $mart When You Do."

Happy New Year to all members and friends of D$W. We believe that 2019 can be a year of encouragement as we continue to address the issue of climate change. Each of you have been given a gift of $mart driving and this year we'll need your help in moving beyond your own personal gain in driving $mart to take a step forward to share that knowledge with others. After the recent NFCA report we know more than ever we are in a fight for our lives and the lives of future generations. We can give up hope or we can step up and give it your all.

We're looking at doing more D$W Meets with the addition of new D$W Meets in West Bend and maybe other cities, reaching out to schools, business and organization with talks and presentations and even getting our word out through churches. It's time for each of us to step up and show up. We're thinking about making D$W a non profit to get additional resources to share the skills of our "Tools For a Lifetime" training. We think we have to give our all and be an inspiration to others...will you join us?

Our members have been steady and reliable over these past 13 years and to share the skills and knowledge of $mart driving, we need your help and support more than ever. I know that some of you are retired and may have time to help spreading our message so we'd like each of you to let us know if you can devote time to help literally to save this earth of ours. We will still promote green vehicles, but since the earth's climate clock is ticking, we must share the skills that every driver can use right now and begin to save money, become a safer drive and lower emissions. Remember it's you, the HU factor, that makes all the differance.

Please let us know your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for outreach via Facebook or email at bjfons@msn.com.

We have a gifts that we should share with others and not keep to ourselves.

What just happened at the D$W hosted NDEW event on Saturday... a lot!

First off, I want to thank all our volunteers with special thanks to Marie/Justin for their support and encouragement and to Ben Nelson for his leading the EV Owners Forum in the library. We all need to also thank Greenfield Mayor Neitzke, and several City Council members, Fire Chief Cohn along with Sheila O'brian and Michelle Scaffe from the Greenfield Library for their help in getting this educational event legalized. (long story).

Here are some of the metrics that don't do justice to the spirit and flavor of the days excitement:

- 22 cars on site, 10 different makes
- 13 vehicles available for ride/drive with 58 people going out for the EV experience
- 63 people participating in the 2 hour EV Owners Forum
- 83 info packets on electric vehicles handed out
- 32 sign ups for D$W membership

Though numbers are hard to figure since both events were happening at once, my best guess for total numbers based on observation and conversations with owners/volunteers is close to 150 individuals that came to our first NDEW event.

It was a long 5 hour day but if the purpose was to support, train, educate and promote (remember our D$W STEP Program) the public on EV's, then we should all agree it was a great success.

Thanks to Marie, Justin, Ben, Joe, Dorothy, Gary, Teng, Jerry and Dennis for pulling off the largest EV event ever held in SE Wisconsin.

https://driveelectricweek.org/event.php?eventid=1370

Recap of our July Meet: Hot day but cool Meet with 28 members attending including 4 new members. We rolled in with a Tesla, iMiev, 3 Prime, 1 FEH, 1 Lexus 400h, a Volt, Camry Hybrid and 6 Prius and several conventional vehicles. We came from all over SE Wisconsin and Illinois including Bloomington, Burlington, Oconomowoc, Kansasville and Franksville.

We had a great open session on what "Tools For a Lifetime" we have in our Drive $mart tool belt. As you can see we came up with at least 27 tools that could be used in Smarter driving. We had an expanded Round Robin when we shared our current rides and mileage numbers.

One last update, D$W just finished 2017 with a unique partnership with the Milwaukee Public Schools and Arcade Driving in presenting our "Tools For a Lifetime" training to over 200 local students and driver instructors. This is the very first time that fuel efficient training has been taught as a part of a public school drivers education program and we were asked by MPS/Arcade to set the curriculum and teach the training. The MPS Drive program has continued into 2018 with summer school training and we hope that our D$W training will also expand in 2019.

Please feel free to invite family members, work associates, friends, neighbors and even strangers to this newest D$W Meet so they can learn the tools for the future and recognize that Fuel Efficiency is the Fuel of the 21st Century.

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Our planet Earth is our home, and D$W has over 52 Meets and over 12 years we have tried to “Protect Our Home” by teaching thousands of drivers to Drive $marter. As our country moves forward in a new direction, 2018 and years to come may put all of our D$W members and friends to their stiffest test in these initial 12 years of “Protecting Our Home”.

D$W has never been a political group, but rather a grassroots group of activists that passionately believe that one of the best ways to “Protect Our Home” is with our STEP Program of supporting, training, educating and promoting green transportation and teaching Driving $marter techniques. The rewards for this effort are when the drivers see the money they’re saving and the corresponding mitigation of the effects of climate change.

We all have met the skeptics that believe that D$W techniques won’t work, but once behind the wheel and after hearing the stories and connecting with other D$W members they become believers. All this takes is patience, persistence, practice and the continuing encouragement of each member. So let 2018 be the year of re-committing your passion to D$W and help provide the evidence that green transportation and Driving $marter is not only important but also critical to our efforts in “Protecting Our Home”.

As you can see above, Drive$mart Wisconsin members are just average drivers like you that have made a commitment to change their lives by changing their driving habits. By adapting their habits they will save money on fuel and maintenance costs, become safer drivers and become part of the solution to our state and this countries sustainable transportation concerns.

We All Learned to Drive When Gas was Cheap...

Well, gas is not cheap anymore and yet we drive with the same skills we learned when it was. The world has changed and yet we drive as if it hasn't.

So thanks for your interest in safe, fuel efficient driving and alternative fuel technology. Our 1,700 members are dedicated to promoting, teaching, and sharing safe and fuel efficient driving strategies that can be done with any vehicle, large or small, old or new, hybrid or not.

We emphasize the Hu factor in everything we do because any vehicle is only as safe or efficient as its driver...the Hu factor. Why wait for the world and others to change when you hold your own future in your hands on your steering wheel right now!

At D$W, our purpose is to educate and train any driver to become safer and more fuel efficient with their current vehicle. Through our STEP program to SUPPORT, TRAIN, EDUCATE, and PROMOTE; we can increase safety, lower fuel maintenance costs, reduce oil dependency and lower tailpipe emissions.

We advocate our changing our current driving habits through;

Personal Responsibility vs. Complacency

Doing Something vs. Good Intentions

Commitment vs. Wishful Thinking

D$W is a not-for-profit organization that charges its members no fees or dues and requires only the desire to learn how to become a safer, more efficient driver.

JOIN us and learn how to use the fuel of the 21st Century...."FUEL EFFICIENCY", because

"Drive$mart Wisconsin is not a Destination, but a Journey."

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"Drive Less When You Can... Drive $mart When You Do."