We are thankful for... volunteers

Talk about it

A person sees volunteers everywhere in Carlton County, in every season. Whether they’re ringing bells for the Salvation Army, coaching youth sports, visiting with folks at nursing homes, manning thrift stores, teaching people to read or garden or volunteering on the board of some local non-profit, there are plenty of folks in the county who give their time to make things better.

Reneé Birman, a Duluth transplant who served as campaign chair for the United Way’s recent fundraising drive, couldn’t say enough about the generous spirit of the people she has gotten to know here.

“I have never been a part of a community that is so selfless, so thoughtful and caring,” Birman said at the United Way celebration and awards luncheon a couple weeks ago.

While non-profits as a whole saw a 7 percent drop in fundraising during the recession, the United Way of Carlton County not only met its goal of $210,000 for this year, it exceeded it, thanks both to donations by hundreds of individuals as well as businesses and corporations.

It’s not just the grown-ups who are contributing time and money, it’s the kids too. At Tuesday night’s Cloquet City Council meeting, Lauri Ketola told Mayor Bruce Ahlgren and Council members about an excellent event organized by the Cloquet Young Life Ministry for April 30.

Youth involved with Young Life have chosen that day to go out and clean up Cloquet’s parks, trails, sidewalks and other property, at no charge to the city.

These young folks will be asking friends and family to sponsor them individually for their efforts (kind of like a walkathon, but it’s a cleanathon), while Young Life is hoping area businesses will sponsor the event. Friend and family sponsorships will help the individual with costs for summer camp while business sponsorships go toward a summer camp scholarship fund.

“Last year I think we had 75 kids and leaders who cleaned, which added up to something like 300 man hours donated to the city,” Ketola said. “Plus we raised about $16,000 and almost all the kids got their camp paid for.” (Anyone who would like to get involved is welcome to call Ketola at 218-213-7115.)

For those who want to get more involved but don’t know where to start, Cloquet’s Fourth of July Veterans Celebration Committee is looking for volunteers. They will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, at the American Legion Club in Cloquet.

As you may or may not know, Lisa Karulak has been the main organizer of the July 4 celebrations for the past few years and she’s done a lot of the work on her own. She’s really hoping more people will step up and get involved to make this event even better.

Volunteer opportunities abound. What will you do?

Jana Peterson

Tags: opinion, editorials