Appreciation for proactive individuals

-- Chatter -- 

I've noticed so many things in our community that make me really sit up and absorb what I am seeing. So forgive me, but I do have to celebrate them today publicly:

Locally we have numerous organizations that benefit the community - one such organization is the Fields Forward group, which works with volunteers, government, farmers, markets, business, food producers, etc. to improve the "10 mile diet" we have going on here and also including "100 mile diet" for the interaction and cooperation with communities close to us as well. It really is amazing how this organization was able to connect the dots between all these enthusiastic individuals and groups, so they can now work effectively toward their goals. 

Numerous organizations host fund-raising auctions and bake sales, and many other types of fundraisers and events, benefiting all kinds of community projects on an almost daily basis. 

People are often spotlighted in the paper for the legacy donations to various causes - most recently the emergency room at our hospital got a $650,000 upgrade because of several legacy donations.

I learned that Canada has the highest number of volunteers per capita of all the nations. That's pretty cool! And in our community, we have an unusual number of volunteers, one of the highest in Canada. Nice, eh? 13 of these volunteers were officially recognized this year, each receiving the Sovereign's Medal this year for their amazing life-time contributions. 

Dave and I have noticed this wonderful retired-aged gentlemen who wanders around the city picking up litter and donating the $ from returnables to a couple of charities. He does it as a reason, or excuse, to get out and keep busy. Whenever we've seen him, we've been in the Jeep so we have not had a chance to say or do anything, but we keep saying we will one day (buy him a gift certificate or just say we appreciate him at least). So I was thrilled when I saw an article by him in the paper a few weeks ago about his experiences followed by a letter to the editor praising him just the other day in the newspaper. How cool is that? 

I've also seen all kinds of environmental programs from planting trees, to fish release, to community gardens and parks, to grants being awarded via the Columbia-Kootenay Waterbasin group (can't remember their official name, sorry). 

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all of these amazing, positive, inspiring things that I have noticed in the last few weeks in our little city.