no slowing down Andy
no slowing down Andy Acho continues to champion the environment By Ken Marten Andy Acho For a retiree, Andy Acho is a busy guy. And not just because he plays tennis four times a week. Acho, 71, has made protecting the environment his postretirement mission. He gives speeches, writes books, and probably even dreams about it. “Reduce, reuse and recycle – and reap rewards,” Acho said. “It isn’t just about recycling. It’s what I call waste minimization. Don’t throw things away, because there is no ‘away.’ It all goes somewhere. It’s better to give stuff away whenever possible.” Acho discovered this passion for the environment on the job at Ford Motor Company. Acho’s final title at Ford was Worldwide Director of Environmental Outreach and Strategy, a position that William Clay Ford specifically created for Acho in 1990. Already a seasoned 30-year company veteran, Acho held the position for 16 years until retirement in 2006. “I loved it,” Acho said. “How can you not love a job where your primary responsibility is making the world a better place?” His enthusiasm for Ford’s environmental accomplishments contrasts the stereotyped images of big bad automakers slapping together gas-guzzling SUVs while polluting the Earth to its core. And that image, surely partly earned and partly exaggerated, was a chief reason for creating the position. Acho recalled a conversation with his boss that led to the position’s creation. “Mr. Ford said to me, ‘All we do is fight regulations when it comes to the environment. When those regulations become law, all we do is follow the minimal requirements.’” Acho created Ford’s Recycling Action Team (the RAT Patrol), which finds uses for “post-consumer” recycled materials like rubber tires or plastic bottles. Among the RAT Patrol’s successes are the annual transformation of more than 50 million plastic pop bottles, one billion bottle caps and 27 million square feet of old carpeting into reliable vehicle components. The RAT Patrol also led recycling efforts to convert more than 10 million tires into safe rubber products like playground materials and artificial athletic fields. The latter are commonplace today at high school facilities across the country, as well as the surface at Ford Field. Acho’s efforts put Ford in the lead among manufacturers practicing environmental awareness while saving the company millions of dollars annually. In 1996, Acho was appointed chairman of the Great Lakes Recycle Board, which included former Michigan Gov. John Engler and seven other Midwest governors. Five years later, Acho received the Wildlife Habitat Council’s President’s Award and was subsequently appointed to its board of directors. Since retirement, Acho has joined Big Speak, a company that books motivational speakers and consultants for engagements around the world. He speaks five or six times a year on his favorite topic. “Only environmentally responsible companies are who I’m involved with, at least as far as compensation goes,” Acho said. Acho also contributed to the book Becoming a Green Innovator, published in 2009, which encourages green practices among businesses. This summer, Acho joined the board of directors of Tire International, a recycler and maker of rubber products. “April 22 may be Earth Day,” Acho said, “but there’s no reason why every day can’t be Earth Day. All of us need to be keepers of the environment, not users of it.” Acho worked at Ford for 46 years, starting while still an engineering student at the University of Detroit. He earned in bachelor’s degree in 1963 and a master’s of business administration from the same school four years later. Acho held various positions at Ford and steadily climbed the corporate ladder, getting married one rung along the way. His wife, Dee, was also a Ford employee. “That was my major accomplishment in terms of marketing,” Acho joked. “I had to ask her three times before she agreed to marry me.” The couple lives in West Bloomfield and has two grown children. Son Steve is a performer and entertainer also living in West Bloomfield. Daughter Lisa of Santa Barbara, California, is executive director of Animal Adoption Solutions. Acho was born in Iraq and moved to the United States as a child with his mother and siblings; his father had arrived two years earlier after waiting 19 long years for his visa approval. Always proud of his heritage, in 1995 Acho produced a 15-minute video about Chaldean culture and history that was shown in schools. He also wrote a short paper titled “Chaldean Link to Christianity, Judaism and Islam,” and started the first version of the Chaldean News in the 1960s. In his increasingly spare spare time, Acho chairs the Henry Ford Health System Ophthalmology Advisory Board and sits on the Birmingham Youth Assistance Board. Acho is also an occasional actor. He’s appeared in HAP ads that have been seen in the pages of the Chaldean News and on television. “I’m 71,” Acho said, “but I’m an active 71.” Andy Acho’s Green Tips • Conserve electricity and turn off computers, printers, TVs, radios, etc. when not in use. • Use reusable containers. Carry a plastic travel mug for coffee on the go instead of using disposable cups that end up in the trash. • Stop the junk mail. Save a few trees and request removal from mailing lists. * Save more trees by paying bills online. • Showers use less water than baths. Save money on the water bill and the energy bill; less water used in showering also means less energy used to heat the water. • Time to replace an appliance? Some companies accept used appliances and offer discounts on new purchases. Check with the manufacturer. • Give no-longer-worn clothes away to friends or relatives to help them save money, or donate clothes to a charitable organization. Practice Eco-Driving “Eco,” said Andy Acho, is short for both ecological and economical. • Drive smoothly and keep speed consistent. Avoid jack-rabbit starts and sudden braking to get maximum fuel economy. • Plan ahead. Combining multiple errands to the grocery store, post office, pharmacy, bank, etc. into one trip saves on gas. • Maintain the prescribed tire pressure; pounds per square inch, or PSI, is printed on each tire. Over- and under-inflated tires hurt gas mileage and hinder any auto’s performance. • Lose weight – in the trunk. The heavier a vehicle’s load, the less it performs. Remove unnecessary items – golf bags, bowling balls, kids’ toys – from the trunk or cargo area. • If driving a newer car, save gas by turning off the engine whenever you have a lengthy wait in a drive-thru. • Park in the shade whenever possible. Air conditioning saps your car’s gas mileage. The cooler your car is, the less you’ll use the AC. 30 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2011
a stitch in time Sewing dresses reaps miracles By Crystal Kassab Jabiro For decades, thousands of Chaldean Americans have flocked to the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio, for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. But only one person has sewn more than two dozen dresses for the church’s famous procession statue and witnessed wonders every time. Her name is Samira Binna, and she visited Carey for the first time in 1976 when she came to Michigan from Alqosh, Iraq. She sewed a dress for the Samira Binna Mary statue a couple of years later after she miscarried twins. Her special intention was to have a healthy baby, and three months later she found out she was expecting. “When you ask, you get it. You just have to be patient,” said Binna, 54. Two years later she made a dress with a special intention on behalf of her friend who was also hoping to conceive. Like Binna, she too got pregnant three months after leaving the Basilica. Binna felt these dresses had a special power — not a science-fiction kind of command, rather an influence from the Holy Spirit and from the Virgin Mary herself. That is why she resolved to continue making dresses for the Feast of the Assumption. A priest at Our Lady of Consolation gave Binna exact measurements and when she asked what colors the church would prefer, the priest told her to go to the fabric store, close her eyes, and let Mother Mary pick. She did as he said and when she opened her eyes, the style was right in front of her. “A vision came to me, she told me what she wanted,” said Binna, the mother of four. “When I work on the dress, I feel like someone else is doing it. It’s someone else’s hands.” Binna believes in miracles. She said it was Mary’s intercession that saved her brothers from death when all five of them fought in the Iraq- Iran war in the 1980s. She had promised the Virgin in 1981 to sew her a dress every year for the next seven years. Seven years later, the war was over and all her brothers eventually emigrated to the United States. “These dresses are so powerful and every dress has a story behind it,” Binna remarked. “People pin their prayers inside the dress and their prayers are answered.” Binna believes the devil often gets in her way. Last month while working on the dress, she contracted an infection that swelled up her right eye. Then she had an allergic reaction to the medicine, although she had taken it safely before. She continued to work on the dress, sewing the beads by hand with only one good eye, and by the time she finished the dress, the infection healed and she flew from her current home in Phoenix to Ohio for the celebration. Last year was a marvel that she even managed to make the dress. Binna had hernia surgery in July and was unable to sew because she was confined to her bed and in a lot of pain. Feeling like she disappointed Mary, Binna asked for her forgiveness. Then she got a sign, a warmth all through her body. The week of the Feast, she started working on a dress and completed it in time for the procession. It usually takes her Mother Mary dresses crafted by Samira Binna through the years three weeks; this time, it took four days and sleepless nights. “I was crying after,” Binna said. “That’s what she wanted!” Binna believes she triumphs over the devil and it is the Virgin Mary who makes her stronger. Three years ago, she was in a horrible car accident that left her in a coma for 10 days. Her sister-in-law placed a dress she had sewn for the statue on her and shortly thereafter, she woke up. Binna knows there are skeptics who might say she has a streak of bad luck or that these stories are just twists of fate. “It’s been happening for 30 years,” she said. “There are no coincidences and they are not just stories. This is my life.” SEPTEMBER 2011 CHALDEAN NEWS 31
