00:01Good morning. As a Catholic priest, I'm very concerned about the current state of affairs.

00:07Things are falling apart, and we need to do something about it.

00:11That's why I want to talk to you about a very important issue--facilities management.

00:17That's right. I'm not only a priest, but the plant manager of an older facility.

00:25Never in the seminary did anyone ever tell me just how much time a priest would have to spend on maintenance.

00:32It's always something--clogged drains, leaky roofs, broken water heaters, and downed trees.

00:41Fortunately for me, my father was a carpenter, and that's the truth--that's the truth.

00:52And he really taught me a lot about construction. So I'm able to have intelligent conversations…

00:59…with my maintenance staff and with contractors.

01:02The challenge for me when I first came to the retreat house in Redlands was that I couldn't find the locations of…

01:08…underground electrical conduits, water lines, sewer lines, and septic tanks.

01:14It was like living in an archaeological project where much had been buried and forgotten.

01:23So this is one of the examples of a more detailed map that I inherited when I came to the retreat house.

01:31One of the unique aspects of El Carmelo is that we are surrounded by 20 acres of citrus and avocado groves.

01:39The Carmelite order originated in the thirteenth century in the Holy Land on a mountain called Mount Carmel…

01:47…a name that literally means Garden of the Lord. Our friars around the world seek to offer places of beauty…

01:55…where people can come to enjoy rest and spiritual renewal.

02:00So for me, grove maintenance is not just an economic activity, but a spiritual endeavor as well.

02:08I have to keep the groves healthy and beautiful. However, some of the groves are over 50 years old, and they've been neglected…

02:17…and the cost of maintenance is high. As a trained accountant, I realized the importance of maximizing our resources…

02:26…and minimizing our expenses. The challenge for me was to restore the groves and break even in three years…

02:33…before being reassigned. But where do I start? I didn't know the scope of the project…

02:40… I didn't have a budget, and I'm a priest, not a farmer.

02:46Around this time, I met Pat Dolan, and found out that he works for Esri. And so I asked him an innocent question…

02:53…Can you make me a map? With a big smile, he said, Oh yes, I can make you a map.

03:00But he didn't just print out a paper map--he sent me an e-mail with a link to an online map...

03:05…and the Carmelites were finally entering the twenty-first century.

03:14Pat came out and showed me how to use ArcGIS Online and how to collect data. And that was just in time, too…

03:21…because only the week before, I had a water line break, and we couldn't find the shutoff valves.

03:26So one of the first things I did was to walk around the groves with my iPhone and take the locations of all of the water valves…

03:33…just so that I'd be ready for the next crisis.

03:37Next, I mapped the grove boundaries to understand where to start the restoration project.

03:43The US Department of Agriculture has a program to help farmers to improve soil quality, so the map gave me the information…

03:53…and the tools that I needed to prepare a scope of work.

03:57I applied for, and was awarded, an $8,000 grant to improve the soil conditions and to minimize erosion.

04:06Now I needed to determine just how much fruit I should be able to produce.

04:12I did a full tree count, and using standard yield statistics, I estimated the amount of fruit that I should be able to produce…

04:23…and then I added that information to the map.

04:27The next challenge was figuring out how much fruit I could afford to sell to distributors without impacting our own needs.

04:35El Carmelo's guests have come to appreciate the fresh orange juice and guacamole that we serve.

04:42We also sell fresh fruit to the local community, and donate to food banks who help feed the poor.

04:49The healthier the groves, the more we can all benefit.

04:53The next challenge was figuring out which groves were in the worst shape. Some of the groves are in better shape than others…

05:03…so Pat came back, and using imagery from DigitalGlobe and lidar, he helped me to assess the condition of the groves.

05:12This information helped me to confirm which groves needed the most immediate attention...

05:17…and allowed me to determine a more realistic production number for each grove.

05:23I now have a baseline that I can use to measure the success of the program.

05:30Rather than simply hoping that it's working, I can see and measure its success.

05:36I hired a grove management company, and on the first day the grove manager came out, he asked a familiar question…

05:43…Do you have a map? With a big smile, I said, Oh yes, I have a map, and not just any map…

05:51…I proudly unrolled my ArcGIS map on the hood of his truck, and we discussed a three-year management plan…

05:58…without even getting my sandals dirty.

06:01He said, This is great! Can I have it? I gave him the map, along with the link to the online map…

06:08…and so he's now able to continue to keep up on the progress of our program as information is added.

06:20The value for me was that I didn't need to become a GIS expert to use the map.

06:27The map gave me the tools that I needed to manage the groves, monitor production, and share this information…

06:35…in an intelligent and understandable format with the next friar who comes to take my place in three years.

06:42He will be able to hit the ground running and continue our ministry of sharing the beauty of creation with all our visitors. Amen.