So Proud of the Sonic Team

Written by Dane Jasper
October 13, 2017 | 3 min read

An open letter to the 423 members of the Sonic team:

As we close out a catastrophic week here in the North Bay, I wanted to gather my thoughts and share some of them as we go into our weekend.

First I wanted to comment about that coming weekend: our outside plant team has been working hard this week to build a new fiber optic cable route to our customers in the the Fountaingrove business park, where the fiber feed to the North on Old Redwood was destroyed by the fires.

We asked the OSP team to continue work on Saturday in hopes of completing the repairs on Monday or Tuesday of next week – but they volunteered to continue on and work through Sunday, to knock this out, to get those businesses and their employees back to normal work on Monday AM.

I am really touched by that dedication, and my thanks go out to every one of you on that team. Notable also is that this is Sonic’s first self-performed aerial construction. We are doing a rapid build of three miles of new optical plant on an emergency basis, with our own team. Amazing teamwork to see.

I also want to thank all of you for supporting each other in so many ways. I’m hearing from evacuated staff who are staying with their co-workers, I’m seeing kids here playing or watching movies together, and I’m hearing about staff providing clothes, supplies, and emotional support. And thank you also for those who have helped Jen as she has led our efforts to shelter staff and families here at the offices.

I’m also seeing our teams supporting our community and our customers, and I’m very proud when I see those efforts too. Staff have been cooking at local shelters. We loaned out Zander from our geo team to support Calfire’s GIS efforts. Our installers and NOC whipped up a VoIP phone system for the Volunteer center in a day, and then expanded it for them a couple days later. We are supporting businesses that are relocating with expedited fiber network delivery in our business parks. And all of these things have happened without my input or direction: staff and the teams have taken the initiative to assist the community and our customers in all of these ways. Thank you.

I knew all of you were amazing, before these fires. I saw it every day, in the small things, the praise from customers, the loyalty and dedication to our mission, and to our members, and to each other. But this week has really shown me even more clearly what wonderful people you all are. Thank you for that.

This community and members of our Sonic team will have real challenges in front of them in the coming months. Lets stick together and continue to support them. Some have lost their homes, some have parents or family or friends who have lost homes, and some have family who have lost their jobs because businesses have been destroyed.

This is an opportunity for us all, to continue to make a difference for those here at Sonic and those in our community who are only beginning their process of returning from the devastation of these fires. Together we can do it.

-Dane Jasper