The majority of Wellington’s Santa Claus parades have already wound their way through busy streets. Service clubs, volunteers, in-the-spirit businesses and groups put on many shows to remember.
Those things do not happen overnight and rarely do they happen without team work. As we approach the final weeks of 2011, it might do us all well to pause and reflect on what those community organizations offer year round.
Most service clubs have a mandate or mission, but in a very general sense, they have the best interests of a community at heart. And it shows. There is no doubt we are all too busy for our own good. And it seems the busier people are, the more they take on. But it is our hope, that those who have a little spare time will consider joining a service group and join others in giving back to their community in 2012.
The Lions and Lionettes clubs are well known for their work with the blind and general community improvements.
Optimists and Opti-Mrs. are known as friends of youth.
Rotarians contribute immensely to community projects and fostering international exchange opportunities for students.
Kinsmen and Kinnettes are committed to changing lives and making Canadian communities a better place to live.
The Legion Branches and their Auxiliaries work for veterans and provide all kinds of help for the community.
The Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star offer up their child identification program to help find kids who might become lost.
Surely we will have missed a group or two and we apologize for that. But we wanted to point out the over arching connection between all of these groups is a sense of community betterment. For that we should all be thankful.
The many volunteer hours that go into those ventures are often reward enough for the participants. Volunteers know that a good deed has taken place or see the thanks in the eyes of a young person for a chance to play a sport or to escape poor circumstances and be happy for a bit. That is a very good thing.
Similar kudos are offered up to churches, Sports coaches, cancer patient drivers, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Scout and Guide leaders, community beautification groups, fall fair societies, horticulture societies and so much more.
Again, it is about community; social networking in the real world. We encourage it and applaud it.
