Volunteer'ism'

Students' cedar garland lights up downtown streets.


Once dark storefronts shine brightly!

Leadership Class puts on the finishing touches.

Hard working HS students working together as teams.

Michael Pollan talks of 'ism's in his book 'In Defense of Food' as ideologies. I never thought of the act of volunteering philosophically until I read that. However I have always believed in the power of the volunteer. A few dedicated individuals can accomplish many things............ and so began my re-submersion into the ranks of a 'volunteer'. It all started innocently enough. Our local paper ran a story about the small town where we live wanting to 'Light Up the Town' for Christmas. "If you were interested in helping, come to the meeting Monday morning at 9" ................... I thought .. why not? .... The dedicated group of community leaders and business owners gathered for discussion of ideas. Both the committee and the project grew exponentially with each meeting.

SB had taken out some cedar too close to his shop, so we offered to teach the high school students how to make cedar garland. With the help of volunteer coordinator SM and the Horticulture instructor, 5 classes of energetic students put together 5 garlands totaling more than 250 yards! with lights! We forgot how 'social' this age could be, but they really worked hard and finished in less than 5 hours!

Our original project was to decorate a vacant store front. We (SB and I) lit up a small antique store on a corner. Great fun! and took us back to our retail display days. Like many small towns today, there are numerous businesses closed and empty buildings. Many volunteers hung donated lights throughout downtown.

More than 100 families attended the Tree/Town Lighting event and munched cookies as the children had their pictures taken with Santa. A successful 'warm and fuzzy' evening. Merry Christmas CR! You proved that you are a small but hardworking PNW community capable of lighting up not only a Christmas tree but the whole town!