But I know these three. And I think I know why they do what they do: It brings them satisfaction greater than any public acknowledgment, and it makes them happy in ways that have no quantifiable or monetary value, but enriches them nevertheless.
Their names are Ann Denis, Doris McKintley and Nora Barsuk.
Anne and Doris have spent countless hours over the years helping to resurrect and preserve a piece of our local history, The Verdugo Adobe, for visitors in our community and most especially for thousands of school children who are led through the park grounds and who gain an appreciation for how this thriving community got started. The Adobe museum marks the first homestead in the area dating back to the mid-19th century. Thanks to these two ladies, this original homestead has been brought back to its original state, including furnishings and artifacts that date to the period.
Nora divides her volunteer hours between working with third-graders at Horace Mann Elementary School and helping out at Adventist Hospital.
She has been a teacher, counselor, creative consultant, surrogate mother (or “grandma Nora” as she is known to so many of “her children”). She is greatly valued and dearly loved in both places, and, like the above ladies, unheralded in her many hours of service.
Their example offers great lessons for our kids (and for lots of us adults as well), and I am definitely in favor of a public service requirement for every child before they graduate high school.
Perhaps more than ever, our children need to get outside of themselves, away from their cyber-social world, away from their cells and pods and into real people with real needs.
