Five people were selected from where I work at Whirlpool Tulsa Division. In order to get a chance to go on the trip you had to fill out an application. Each of us were nominated by leadership.

Monica, Trish and Eileen are engineers. Joe is a Support Technician who trouble shoots and solves computer problems on the assembly lines. I work on the Line 4 assembly in which we build the more complex and most variety of models. Since our plant makes only ranges, I am called a “ranger” and fill in when someone is gone in our different areas.
Debbie from the Whirlpool Corporate Headquarters is the project manager for the trip and lead in the selection process. Applicants came from all over. She said choosing who would go was the most difficult part of her job. Around one hundred Employees came from U.S. Whirlpool plants and our newly obtained Maytag plants. Two hundred volunteers and employees were chosen from Habitat For Humanity, International and U.S. affiliates. There were many people from the Nashville area that also chipped in to accomplish our huge building task. It was fun to begin talking with someone and ask where they were from. You would get so many different replies. I met people from many different states that became my friends.
For the first time I became aquainted with people who worked at the Whirlpool Headquarters in Benton Harbor, Michigan. I have been with Whirlpool for nine and a half years and was glad to know a few of those who help keep the core of our corporation knitted together. There were three, Debbie, Casey and Jeff.
After arriving on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, we were picked up by a sharp looking bus owned by the Gaylord Opryland Resort. The bus had tinted windows with giant fancy graphic advertisements on the sides. The seats were plush and the air conditioning smelled like baby powder!
The hotel was amazing (I used this word a lot during my trip). It was extravagant and huge. The several columns in the lobby appeared to be about 5 feet across. The carpet was crimson with the design of oriental rugs and would fill extra large halls and giant conference rooms.
The resort is on 52 acres. A waiter told us it has the largest indoor plant landscape in the world. There is a beautiful wide selection of flowers, trees, small plants and ground covering. Various styled waterfalls, small and large, accented all the greenery. Winding varnished brick paths would lead you through the exotically dressed landscape.
It was easy to get lost in these small winding roads as they crossed bridges, lead you up stairs, and then down escalators and through elevators and then passing by large overhanging balconies. And anyone is sure to get even more distracted by the many small shops with display windows filled with the creative and the lovely to lure your interest away and tempt you to buy whether it be a snazzy sequenced jacket, a commemorative country and western keepsake, a novelty gift for a child still at home, or just an ice cream cone to munch on in your wanderings.
There were also food places of all sorts. You could visit the fancy steakhouse to eat some fillet mingnon, the french restaurant which always prepped its tables with pretty wine glasses, the buffet filled with cuisine meant for a cruise ship but wonderfully available for you to enjoy, or you could just casually hang out with the guys at the sports bar where four or five TV screens covered the walls so you could watch them all and not miss any major sports event.
My room, I loved it. I suppose you could say it was one of their basic accomodations but still nice. I decided to just forget my worries of regular life as I stayed in such a relaxing and enjoyable setting. My husband, children and I talked during the week but I mostly let my stay in Nashville be a time to clear my mind.