It is hard work being a volunteer. It means lots of hours, lots of legwork, lots of preparation before the folks come and lots of breaking down after they leave.
Ask anybody involved with anything in our small Lincoln County communities and they will likely affirm the grease that makes the local wheels go is blood, sweat, and volunteers.
Our firefighters are volunteers, our sports coaches, our municipal officials, selectmen and school board members (so poorly paid one and all for their time they might as well be volunteers); our parades, ice cream socials, fishing derbies, and pirate invasions all wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of volunteers.
Volunteers, or the lack thereof is an ongoing problem, probably not just here but everywhere.
We think about volunteers this week because of the announced cancellation of Jefferson Days. Yes, a big, big reason for the cancellation is the construction on the school grounds that typically host the event, but we were disturbed to find out, although not surprised to hear, another factor is the volunteer organizers have served their term and nobody else is stepping up to replace them.
The reason many of us choose to live in Lincoln County is because of the local community. If we don’t know our neighbors by name, we at least know them well enough to nod in polite recognition in the grocery store.
It is volunteers who help bind this community together. When it comes down to it, parades, and socials and the like, reinforce our community. If we stop having them, we are going to lose something, probably something we don’t want to lose.
