Giving Back

I had spent the entire day from 10:00-4:00 watching football in Box Elder starting with Junior High Football. It consists of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It’s a fun watch, but a long watch. Two hours of watching young boys learning and celebrating a game they love. The varsity Pioneer football started at 1:00. I tried to take some good photographs, but this game was intense. The kind of game that’s exhausting to watch. I made it to the Harvest Festival at 4:00.

I sat down to eat—yes it was early, but I was hungry. I wandered around looking for ways I could participate and help fund the important reason the Festival takes place. But my back hurt and I was exhausted. I was joined at my table by Shane Ophus, who recently received a miracle with his eye. We ended our conversation by talking about our favorite subject. The one we always end up talking about--why Big Sandy is a great place to live.

Afterwards, I looked around the Festival. I marveled at the effort put into making it happen. I could mention the names of those I know were part of the committee, but that leaves out those who volunteered to work the day of. It leaves out those who donated money. It doesn’t even begin to include those who prayed for the success of the day.

This brought me to all the ways people in our community give. Some volunteer to coach soccer, baseball, wrestling, and basketball for the little kids. Those are parents who give their time to help all the children of our community. They make time for what they think is important. We all have the same amount of time, but we make time for what we believe to be important.

The Booster Club does so much with so few people. But they do it because they believe it’s important for their kids and the community.

Coming up next is the Medical Guild garage sale. I sat in on the planning meeting, with at least 20 other women volunteering to make it a very successful reality, but it takes more than that for them to raise $10,000. It takes the whole community to show up to buy the pies women make in our community.

Chili Feed follows with all those who volunteer to serve as EMTs and firemen. Chili feed is huge, but it doesn’t happen without people giving back to our community.

The plays we have in Big Sandy are put on by volunteers—a lot of them. You don’t put on a production like that without background support.

Ok, we could talk Omaksee. To make that work it takes someone to give back.

The Big Sandy Historical Society believes in the value of their time. Their purpose is important.

The swim team takes a lot of time from volunteers too!

When you believe in your community, you give back to it! Do you believe in our community? Do you understand how important it is to give your time? Do you understand you have to make time when it’s important? This is a long overdue thank you to the many volunteers that make Big Sandy Great.