I Was Thinking... A Caring Community
About a week before Christmas, 52 local families received gifts for their children and a gift certificate for the local grocery store because of the caring and generosity of our local community. The Kasson-Mantorville Area Care & Share organization funded this particular outreach for those in need.
But they could not have done it if it were not for the support the whole community gives them year after year. Every year, people donate items for the Care & Share auction and then people show up to bid above the value of most items because they know it is for a good cause and it is local. There are no expensive promotions or administrative costs that eat into the money collected. Everyone involved are volunteers.
Small towns usually boast they are good places to live because everyone knows everyone else. As both Kasson and Mantorville have grown over the years we’ve lived here, I can honestly say, I don’t know everybody anymore. However, there is still a “small town” feel when it comes to how we support each other.
Even as we’ve grown, there still is a real community feeling present that is lacking in many larger cities and even some other small towns. The school is still the institution that draws people together. KoMet pride is not limited to the walls of the school but is a unifying attitude for the community. Sporting events, musical performances, and drama productions still draw good crowds. Even the water towers are painted blue and white.
Care and Share is just one example of the way the local communities reach out to those in need. Every Wednesday the Episcopal Church provides a free meal for anyone who needs it. They are also supported by other local organizations to help fund their program. Everyday volunteers leave their homes to pick up and deliver “meals on wheels” to elderly shut ins. Many churches and local groups recruit those that go door to door to provide a meal and a brief interaction with another person. Dodge County Faith in Action is another group that uses volunteers to help seniors remain in their homes. They also provide rides to appointments when people can no longer drive themselves. The food shelf located in Kasson receives support from so many local groups. Every year the Lions donate all the proceeds of their scrap metal drive to the food shelf. Student groups from the schools conducted a food drive this fall that brought in thousands of pounds of food. The food shelf also benefits from local private donations.
Another program that provides food for children is the “Food for Friends” program that provides a source of weekend food when students don’t get school lunches. Many local organizations also contribute financially to help them with their program. In addition, the KoMet Pantry helps students in need with some personal essentials. As much as we want to believe everyone has as much as we have, it is true there are those in our communities that struggle just with the necessities of life. Those that are involved with many of these programs can attest to that.
Before Christmas, those familiar Salvation Army red kettles appeared around town and next to them were people that took the time to ring bells. Some days it was really nice but other days it was pretty cold, but they were still there. The stores they stood in front of or in, also shows the commitment to their community. Some years ago, a large nationally known box store no longer allowed the bell ringers, but that is not true in our small towns. All the money that went into those red kettles also stayed in Dodge County.
While everyone seems a little more generous at Christmas, most of the organizations I mentioned are here year around to continue to help those in need. I’m sure I missed several group that also are helping the less fortunate, and for this I apologize. But I’m glad I live in a community where people care for each other and continue to support the efforts of groups that try and help. Too often we only hear of the misery and injustice that seems to abound, but we should also realize there is also a lot of good still around.
Did You Ever Wonder? — If someone is shorter than you, can you still talk down to them?