I was invited by the township supervisors to attend the Middle Smithfield Person of the Year banquet Friday evening. On a whim I said I'd go even though I didn't think I'd know anybody there. But I was surprised to find out that a friend was one of the nominees! (the fellow on the right) It was a very inspirational evening as each one of these gentlemen volunteer with various organizations because they have a caring heart and are passionate about people. The gentleman on the left works with young men who are preparing to become Eagle Scouts (part of the Boy Scouts program here in the US). He especially helps them through the spiritual formation part and was quite humble about the amount of boys he's tutored over the years. Tom (on the right) serves in two different organizations- Meals on Wheels- which makes sure senior citizens and other house-bound individuals gets a warm meal each day and "1,000 Feet of Road" where people in the community can volunteer to help maintain the roads and keep them free from litter. He told of two different people who were receiving food from Meals on Weals but when he delivered their food, he noticed that neither was doing well due to no heat in their homes. That led to a visit from a case manager who in turn was able to place them into assisted living and now they are doing quite well. The night's "winner" (they all received checks for their organizations as you can see) established the only non-profit karate school in our area. Students are young and old alike and pay what they can afford. Many of the children come with anger issues and are failing in school, but the program builds their self-esteem and confidence. One story involved a young boy who was flunking out of school and struggling with math. After several months of training his mother came to school one day in tears. She showed this man a paper which revealed a score of 100 on a spelling test- the first of many to come. There was also a young man who came to the school and was very dedicated. Then all of a sudden he "disappeared". It turned out he had joined the marines. All in all the whole evening was quite uplifting and gave me hope for humanity! Congratulations to these fine men- all deserving of the recognition they received!
We have a volunteer awards evening which sounds quite similar. There are so many people doing great things and commiting huge amounts of their lives for no financial reward. Good to see them recognised.
Thank you Nicole, Babs, Lou Ann, Henri, Daisy, Taffy, Haskar and Helen! Too bad the news doesn't focus more on this kind of thing- I have a feeling it would have a tremendous impact for the positive if they did!
@allie912@pyrrhula
Thank you Allison and Ferry. I wish their stories and those of others like them dominated our newscasts. What a difference positive reporting could make!
Thank you Nicole, Babs, Lou Ann, Henri, Daisy, Taffy, Haskar and Helen! Too bad the news doesn't focus more on this kind of thing- I have a feeling it would have a tremendous impact for the positive if they did!
Thank you Allison and Ferry. I wish their stories and those of others like them dominated our newscasts. What a difference positive reporting could make!
Thank you Katy, Marnie, Diane, and Kathy! They were inspirational and uplifting to be sure!