opnion
july18
2013
An Opinion: Consider Yourself Asked
By Scott Laird
One of the things that make life
in a small, rural community so interest-
ing is that we have to create our own op-
portunities. We manage to find ways to
entertain ourselves, our families and our
friends even though we don’t have ac-
cess to all the resources, organizations,
and facilities that folks in the city or
suburbs have. We don’t have the popu-
lation base to support and fund a lot of
infrastructure and so we are often left to
make do with what we can piece togeth-
er from what we already have. We often
have to create our own entertainment,
build our own organizations, and sup-
port ourselves to create our own vibrant
and active community.
One of the ways that we can
judge vibrancy is by the activities that
we are able to provide for our youth.
Creating organized activities for chil-
dren is one of the really big challenges
for rural communities. I have often
heard that “...there is nothing for kids to
do in Vernonia.” It is true that we don’t
have movie theaters, bowling alleys,
sports teams for all ages and jobs for
teens that want them. What we do
have are a lot of parents and volunteers
who give a lot of their time to organize
and provide activities for our children.
We have very active groups like the
PTA, Boosters and Scouts who support
activities for youth in our community.
We have a host of volunteer coaches and
parents who help with youth sports, in-
cluding Little Guy football, soccer, bas-
ketball, baseball and softball.
These volunteers are the life-
blood of our small, rural community.
They fill in the gaps where paid profes-
sional staff, well-funded associations,
and organized infrastructure would nor-
mally be in larger communities.
The recent success of the Senior
National Boys Baseball team is a great
example of parents and adults coming
together to create an opportunity for our
youth. With not enough boys to fill out
a roster, head volunteer Coach Joe Wal-
ters found a younger boy with the skill
level to play on his team and a player
from outside the area and received
waivers so his team could compete.
Parents helped with coaching, driving to
games, field preparation and more. The
boys won their county tournament and
made a trip to Corvallis, competing in
the state tournament, creating memories
they will have for the rest of their lives
in the process. That could have never
happened without adult volunteers.
This is just one of many examples in our
community of volunteers making activi-
ties happen for our youth.
Through volunteering we can
get so much more than just helping our
children. Volunteers get the chance to
interact with their neighbors and get to
know more people within their commu-
nity. Volunteers get to meet other fami-
lies who share similar interests and have
children who are the same age. They
make friends, support important and vi-
tal activities, provide places for our kids
to interact and be involved, and give
back to their community.
Unfortunately, sometimes there
are not enough volunteers to go around.
I have spoken to several volun-
teer leaders in recent months who are
concerned about the lack of volunteer
parents and adults stepping forward to
help the organizations who really need
them. Some local groups are being
forced to cut back on the services and
activities they offer in our community
because they don’t have the volunteers
they need to run their programs.
The volunteer base in a small
You are invited to a
community often ebbs and flows.
Sometimes you have a handful of peo-
ple with extra time and energy who can
really make a program flourish-or even
numerous programs, in many instances.
Parents often get involved be-
cause they have a child participating in
an activity. But what happens when that
child ages out of a particular activity or
loses interest? What happens when the
child of the team coach is no longer part
of that team? Often the parent volunteer
moves on as well.
If we want to continue to have
opportunities for our youth to be in-
volved in activities we need more adult
volunteers to come forward, give their
time and volunteer, especially parents of
young families.
One volunteer I spoke with re-
cently said that they often hear adults
reply that “...I was never asked.” Well,
if you are reading this, consider yourself
asked. There are plenty of groups out
there that could use an extra hand.
I understand that sometimes it
is hard for people to make time to vol-
unteer. Work and other obligations have
to take priority. You may already pay a
fee to allow your child to participate in a
particular group or activity and consider
that your participation.
But if you are a family that is
using some of the services and taking
part in the activities provided by local
organizations, please consider finding
a way and offering to volunteer. Our
small, rural community and our youth
need and want you to help create those
opportunities and memories.
3
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Chip Bubl
Dr. Ken Cox
Tobie Finzel
Bill Haack
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Jack Phillips
Sonia Spackman
Brad Witt
Photography
Scott Laird
Want to advertise?
Have an article?
Contact: scott@vernoniasvoice.com
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Vernonia’s Voice is published
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of each month.
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
www.VernoniasVoice.com
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