Theme
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Last night, Dave and I ventured out on our very first “Community Event” in Elk Grove where we moved in 2008. You know, if you have been visiting my caring bridge blog or this one, that our relocation was fraught with Dave’s healthcare crisis of Multiple Myeloma and we spent a good chunk of time traveling back and forth to Little Rock, Arkansas for his treatment. We are only recently starting to feel like we are HERE! So we were invited to attend a fundraiser for the local Teen Center in Elk Grove. What a lovely evening, with dinner, live and silent auction, and performances by the first, second and third place winners of the Elk Grove Teen Idol competition (their 6th annual event). The kids were terrific and those intimately involved on the Board and the Executive Director, are all very passionate about what they are doing and the programs they are providing. So far, they have managed to operate without federal or government funds, though they get some support from the City of Elk Grove and the Mayor was there, along with City Council members. The hope of the organization is to raise money for their operating costs privately, and be supported by the community and not the government. I’m very supportive of such endeavors and worked with our nonprofit groups and activities back in Maryland, so I felt the TUG to get involved somehow. I plan to stop by and see the center soon.
Anyway, it felt wonderful for Dave and I to go out and meet some new folks and introduce ourselves. He was there representing Frontier Communications where he works, and I was there as his wife and a new citizen of the area. Our children are grown and almost on their own and when you don’t have kids, its not always so easy to meet people easily and get involved in the things that make a community a good place to live. We seem to continue to be moving forward in our lives and it feels great.
