In Praise of Volunteers

I work in a small town so it is no real surprise that many of the folks there have the same surnames. There are dozens of Notme's, Sumbodyeles' and Imbusy's. Imagine my surprise when I didn't run into a single one of them this weekend.



My Thumbs Up! this week goes to all of the people that give their time to their community.

This weekend I think all of the certified inspectors in the county showed up for our Car Seat check. Thank you!

To all of the bus drivers that volunteered to stay an extra four hours cooking, coloring, blowing up punchballs, babysitting, washing dishes and re-parking all the buses - Thank you!

Two of my grandson's are playing Pop Warner football. To ALL of the volunteers it takes to run this program; football coaches, cheer-leading coaches, the concession folks, the guys that get the fields ready and the folks I didn't think of - Thank-you. Also thank you to the parents and grandparents that came out in the rain to cheer on your kids and the other team's kids too! To the official's who put up with the coaches and parents while insuring a safe game - Thanks!

To anyone that volunteered their time this weekend to make your community a better place to live - Thank-you!

Fall is a very busy time of year with all kinds of events. At the events you attend this year please take a moment to thank those who give their time to make them possible!

Today's Youth

Today we had a very pleasant lunch with our niece, Sharon. She has only been living in St Louis a couple of months, having joined AmeriCorps VISTA a month after graduating from college. She is living on the third floor of an old catholic school, in the old nuns quarters along with five other young people. This is quite convenient to her office which is only a few feet down the hall! The set up is actually quite nice. They each have their own rooms and nice shared areas including a large roof top area where she has started a little herb garden.

Over lunch she talked to us about her job working with seniors in the area. I was quite shocked at the pay she is receiving. For working forty hours or more a week she receives half of what I make at my part time job and she doesn’t get the vacation time I get. Her rent is reasonable but that still leaves her very little to live on.

She is considering delaying grad school to serve another year with AmeriCorps or perhaps the Peace Corps. As a college graduate she could be in a much higher paying job and be well on her way to establishing herself in a career. I’m quite proud of her for delaying her career pursuits to give this time of service.

After we left her, we headed out to Branson and on the way we passed Ft Leonard Wood. A month ago a former student of mine made the decision to serve our country by joining the Army. He is currently training at Ft Leonard Wood. Not only is Bob a former student, his mother is a friend of mine so I know how hard his decision was and how it has affected his family. They are proud of him but at the same time quite concerned.

We hear a lot about how selfish, self centered and irresponsible many of the young 20 somethings are these days. So Thumbs Up! To two special young people that are giving of themselves to serve their country in two very different ways.

Thumbs Up!

Rodney Olsen at The Journey has started a new blog Carnival called Thumbs Up!

Want to highlight someone making a positive difference?

Is there a blogger who deserves a pat on the back or simply something that has you feeling thankful this week?

The blogosphere can sometimes be a pretty negative place so I reckon it's great to make a habit of accentuating the positive.

I want to link to a number of bloggers who are writing positive posts each week.

Do you want to be a part of the positive? You can post a thank you to someone, a list of reasons you're thankful this week, or highlight people doing something worthwhile in your community. You don't have to post every week but it'd be wonderful if you're prepared to make the effort to write a positive post most weeks.

If you are not familiar with Rodney, he's located in Perth, AU and hosts a Christian radio show. His posts are usually very thought provoking. I think this is a great idea and suggest you check out his blog. He has buttons you can add to your blog. I have added one to my sidebar along with a link to the Thumbs Up Carnival Submission form. A Carnival is different from a weekly meme in that you can post any day you wish and you need to submit your post, either through the Blog Carnival link or by sending Rodney an email. You can check out the first edition of the Carnival here.

Many of you already do this, Susie's Sunday Blessings springs to mind. For me, I think it is important to try and find something positive to reflect on and write about especially in the weeks where bad things just seem to pile up and threaten to overwhelm me.

For my first Thumbs Up I would like to tell you about one of my families. I have had members of this family on my route for the last few years. The youngest member will be starting school next month. She has a beautiful smile even though she has leukemia.

They bought a used pool and went to a local company for a liner. The company they picked refused to sell it to them, instead they gave it to them. When they got out to the house to install it they looked over the pool the family had bought and decided it wasn't suitable and gave them a new pool. The family did not request any of this but the company felt that this was something that they wanted to do. I would be happy to post the name of the company here but they can't do this for every family, it was just something that they felt was the right thing to do at the time and they are not looking for publicity.

So a big Thank You! and Thumbs up to a local company that did something wonderful just because they could.