At The Farm Gate
September 2024
By Joanie Stiers
During my side gigs over the years as parent-teacher club president, Sunday
School teacher and FFA alumni volunteer enthusiast, my home office has served as much a dumping grounds for community service projects as it has a private space for writing commentaries and paying bills.
I call it my staging area, a designated place that holds the intent to make a
difference in our small town of 600 people. I have friends with such spaces, too,
because if small towns want or need something, their citizens often must collaborate to provide for the community.
Our parks offer some of the most visual evidence of volunteerism in our village,
which lacks a taxpayer-funded park district. Volunteers fundraise, install and oversee the 18-hole disc golf course, perennial beds, arboretum, depot pavilion, caboose museum and the barn playground, an incredible project that alone won the state’s top award for volunteerism. Currently, talented community members donate time and resources to install a mini golf course with nine holes of unique themes to reflect our community’s history – a coal shovel, grain bins and iron river bridge among them.
Unthinkable to my city friends, trained volunteers fight fires and provide our first-
response medical care. Unpaid folks decorate the downtown for the holidays and
archive our history in a small museum. Veterans hang dozens of flags in the park and cemetery every Memorial Day. Our musical leaders at church sing and play for God’s glory without compensation. Passionate volunteers endlessly support student success in the local FFA and make youth soccer, summer ball, 4-H and the scouts a reality.
Our kids learn at a young age that community service provides church dinners,
roadside cleanups, fun youth programs, impactful non-profits and special events like the upcoming town festival. For the latter, more than 125 volunteers will organize and deliver agri-entertainment-style fun for free to attendees at a festival that encapsulates the power of community service. Magic happens and friendships form when talents, skills and resources of volunteers come together for the common goal of community betterment.
About the author: Joanie Stiers farms with her family in West Central Illinois, where they grow corn, soybeans, hay and cover crops and raise beef cattle, backyard chickens and farmkids.
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