艾琳費雪

????你可能想象不出一個時尚設計師頂著亞利桑那州的炎炎烈日，在霍皮族印第安人的保留地里汗流浹背地蓋草房子是什么場景。不過在2010年，紐約歐文頓市的艾琳費雪公司（Eileen Fisher）的技術設計師利奧諾拉?默克爾的確花了整整一星期的時間做這件事。她先是打磨木頭，搭建房子的骨架，然后把一捆捆的干草堆成房子的墻等等。在這之前，默爾克做過的與這最接近的體力活就是上學的時候為校園劇搭舞臺。

????默克爾回憶說：“每一天對我來說都是新鮮的，是不同的。從體力勞動和天氣的角度講，這是非常艱苦的一周，晚上凍得要死，白天熱得要命。”

????一共有來自艾琳費雪等公司的10名成員參加了這次由食品公司Clif Bar組織的名叫“好公司”（Good Company）的活動。他們把帳篷支在沙地上，晚上聽著土狼的嚎叫聲入睡，輪流做飯，打掃清潔。

????默克爾學會了如何使用太陽能淋浴器，如何搭帳篷、使用電動工具等。在非盈利機構紅羽毛發展集團（Red Feather Development Group）和Kii' Nat Wan Lalwa的協調下，他們還參觀了印第安人的慶典儀式，了解了霍皮人的文化，還與當地部落成員進行交流。

????默克爾表示，通過這次活動，她找回了對自己能力的自信，而且更加欣賞她的公司。她說：“它教會了我很多，它讓我了解了我自己，讓我知道我在體力上和精神上有多大的承受力，讓我能把恐懼拋到一邊。”

Eileen Fisher

????You might not be able to imagine a fashion designer sweating under the Arizona sun to build a straw bale house on the Hopi reservation. But that's precisely what Leonora Merkel, a technical designer for Eileen Fisher Inc. in Irvington, N.Y., spent one week doing in 2010: sanding wood, constructing the framework for the house, and stacking straw bales to make walls and such. The closest Merkel had ever come to similar work was building sets in school plays.

????"Every day was something new and different and foreign to me," Merkel recalls. "It was a very difficult week in terms of the hard labor and the weather conditions. At night, it was freezing cold, and in the day it was excruciatingly hot."

????The 10-person team, from Eileen Fisher and other companies participating in Clif Bar's In Good Company initiative, slept in tents set up on the desert sand, and were soothed to sleep by the howling of coyotes. They took turns cooking and cleaning.

????Merkel learned to use a solar shower, pitch a tent, and use power tools. They also observed Native American ceremonies, learned about Hopi culture, and connected with members of the tribe, thanks to the nonprofit Red Feather Development Group and Kii' Nat Wan Lalwa, which oversaw the project.

????Merkel says she came away from the experience with newfound confidence about her abilities and increased appreciation for her employer. "It taught me a lot about myself and what I'm physically and mentally capable of taking on, being able to put my fears aside," she says.