Wanted: Your nominations for Everyday Hero.
Reviving a proposal featured in the now-retired weekly Nudge:
Declaring September 11 Everyday Heroes Day evoked responses outlining noteworthy volunteers in our village, certainly commendable. However I would like to distinguish between people of all ages who respond to a published need, or fulfill the role demanded by their uniform or position, and those who step up spontaneously, without a second thought, when circumstances call for quick thinking or things go horribly wrong. I’m not discounting in any way those immortalized on Toledo’s Wall of Honor, or awarded plaques for serving their community, or cleaning up the ‘hood before Cheese Days multiplies the population. Rather, I’m talking about the 9-year-old who set out to install a swing for her disabled brother, or the young man who jumped into Wallace Pond to rescue a toddler a mere 6 months before he awoke suddenly with a premonition that his teenage sister, lying unconscious in the next room, was in need of aid.
While I haven’t formulated criteria or recognition for selfless acts, the working title “Everyday Heroes” would acknowledge folks without a current holiday. Not a retail or Hallmark holiday, not a decorating season, but a recognition of the spirit of those non-uniformed heroes whose stories from that terrible day shone through the shocking events - like the passengers on the doomed White House-bound jet who stepped up despite the odds. People who stopped to help others fleeing the Twin Towers, putting their own fears second. That sort of thing.
As I haven’t set the criteria yet, I’m collecting ideas - nominations, ballots, whether age categories matter (everyone knows that America’s Funniest Videos is always won by babies and cute pets), whether death-defying heroics should be rewarded or chastised as reckless, etc. Anyway, the idea is open to all and not trademarked or copyrighted in any manner. Toledo just seemed to me, a relative newcomer, to be a great incubator for such a special day. Eleven months remain* before next year’s September 11 anniversary, the 15th such.
What do you say?
(*from October 2015)
C’mon, Toledo, let’s start something...small.
Email toledo.columnist@gmail.com.
***
Pardon, your slip is showing: Toledo School District’s Facebook page includes a promo for bus drivers with this ambiguous phrase: TSD is hiring people who love kids to drive their bus…
I’m 75% certain the youngsters aren’t being recruited to drive just yet. Facebook link here.
***
Today: Toledo Community Library wraps up its Summer Reading Program for kids with Camping! 1 p.m.
And: Knitting, Crocheting and Other Needlework with Cindy Quick and Kathy Tyner 3-5 p.m. at the Library.
Also: The Library is collecting board games for Middle and High School age students. We are interested in starting a "game day" after school a couple times a month. More information to come.
One week left: Order up your copy of “The First Phone Call From Heaven” by Mitch Albom from the TRL kiosk to join August’s Adult Page Turner group August 25. Meets 1 p.m. last Thursday monthly.
On Facebook here or call (360)864-4247.
***
Gallery 505 Artist Cooperative is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through September 3. This month’s theme: Water. Website link here. On Facebook, link here.
***
Speaking of art: Utility work in Steamboat Alley now complete, Sunday YOU are invited to meet with painters and artists of all ages 10 a.m. and create a masterpiece. Bring brushes and rollers, along with blue, green, brown or white paint to breathe life into river, trees and of course Mt St Helens - past, present and future. Bring the family.
***
Mark your calendars: 2016 ARTrails Studio Tour September 17-18 and 23-24 highlighting SW Washington’s creators and crafters including Toledo’s own Morgan Arts Centre.
Declaring September 11 Everyday Heroes Day evoked responses outlining noteworthy volunteers in our village, certainly commendable. However I would like to distinguish between people of all ages who respond to a published need, or fulfill the role demanded by their uniform or position, and those who step up spontaneously, without a second thought, when circumstances call for quick thinking or things go horribly wrong. I’m not discounting in any way those immortalized on Toledo’s Wall of Honor, or awarded plaques for serving their community, or cleaning up the ‘hood before Cheese Days multiplies the population. Rather, I’m talking about the 9-year-old who set out to install a swing for her disabled brother, or the young man who jumped into Wallace Pond to rescue a toddler a mere 6 months before he awoke suddenly with a premonition that his teenage sister, lying unconscious in the next room, was in need of aid.
While I haven’t formulated criteria or recognition for selfless acts, the working title “Everyday Heroes” would acknowledge folks without a current holiday. Not a retail or Hallmark holiday, not a decorating season, but a recognition of the spirit of those non-uniformed heroes whose stories from that terrible day shone through the shocking events - like the passengers on the doomed White House-bound jet who stepped up despite the odds. People who stopped to help others fleeing the Twin Towers, putting their own fears second. That sort of thing.
As I haven’t set the criteria yet, I’m collecting ideas - nominations, ballots, whether age categories matter (everyone knows that America’s Funniest Videos is always won by babies and cute pets), whether death-defying heroics should be rewarded or chastised as reckless, etc. Anyway, the idea is open to all and not trademarked or copyrighted in any manner. Toledo just seemed to me, a relative newcomer, to be a great incubator for such a special day. Eleven months remain* before next year’s September 11 anniversary, the 15th such.
What do you say?
(*from October 2015)
C’mon, Toledo, let’s start something...small.
Email toledo.columnist@gmail.com.
***
Pardon, your slip is showing: Toledo School District’s Facebook page includes a promo for bus drivers with this ambiguous phrase: TSD is hiring people who love kids to drive their bus…
I’m 75% certain the youngsters aren’t being recruited to drive just yet. Facebook link here.
***
Today: Toledo Community Library wraps up its Summer Reading Program for kids with Camping! 1 p.m.
And: Knitting, Crocheting and Other Needlework with Cindy Quick and Kathy Tyner 3-5 p.m. at the Library.
Also: The Library is collecting board games for Middle and High School age students. We are interested in starting a "game day" after school a couple times a month. More information to come.
One week left: Order up your copy of “The First Phone Call From Heaven” by Mitch Albom from the TRL kiosk to join August’s Adult Page Turner group August 25. Meets 1 p.m. last Thursday monthly.
On Facebook here or call (360)864-4247.
***
Gallery 505 Artist Cooperative is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through September 3. This month’s theme: Water. Website link here. On Facebook, link here.
***
Speaking of art: Utility work in Steamboat Alley now complete, Sunday YOU are invited to meet with painters and artists of all ages 10 a.m. and create a masterpiece. Bring brushes and rollers, along with blue, green, brown or white paint to breathe life into river, trees and of course Mt St Helens - past, present and future. Bring the family.
***
Mark your calendars: 2016 ARTrails Studio Tour September 17-18 and 23-24 highlighting SW Washington’s creators and crafters including Toledo’s own Morgan Arts Centre.
Website link here.
ARTrails website link here.
***
Photos from TOT archives unless otherwise noted.
Email your news, reviews and events to: toledo.columnist@gmail.com
ARTrails website link here.
***
Photos from TOT archives unless otherwise noted.
Email your news, reviews and events to: toledo.columnist@gmail.com
