October is full of opportunities to socialize and participate, from harvest festivals and community fundraisers to The Chronicle’s own Halloween coloring contest.
We attended the Family Relief Nursery fundraiser at Creswell High School last week, and met so many great people supporting a terrific organization. I’ll need to save all of that for next month’s column, but wanted to at least mention the event.
There are a couple of people and faces that I feel I’ve known forever. And it’s probably why I’ve missed including them in this forum. Two of the friendliest and most supportive folks I see regularly are Gary and Susan. I spent about an hour chatting with them recently, and a little medical knowledge and advice emerged that I know will be helpful for my mother-in-law. You never know where a conversation is going to go, what it might reveal, or how it might improve someone else’s life.
I was looking forward to my “ride-along” with Chris, but the deputy had to make a court appearance the evening of our scheduled ride. It was great to meet him in person, though, and we’ll be rescheduling the ride-along experience soon.
Our building was vandalized earlier this month, when exposed outdoor wires were cut overnight. Fred, a manager with Charter, could not have been more responsive in the morning; he was patient and professional in dealing with several harried business owners who didn’t have phone and internet access.
Millie (Millicent) came by the paper and we ended up talking about her name and how it’s always been a bit of a conversation starter. She had several good tales from back in the day.
I was fortunate to meet someone in the past few weeks with deep, deep ties to Creswell and the paper. Peg stopped in to let us know she once worked for The Chronicle, and she shared a few stories with us from her reporting days. I’m looking forward to spending more time with her.
Our Halloween coloring contest brought quite a few people through the newsroom. Zana, Opal, Alexandria, Xander, April and Malia were all people dropping off entries for the contest, and I was able to meet contest winners Lyric, and her dad, Chris, and Phoebe.
The Chronicle is now formally part of the Intergenerational Reading Council (IRC), and I’ve been working with Bailey’s second-grade reading class. The children rotate through “stations” to focus on reading and writing skills. They are wonderful kids, and it’s been great to see how the teacher(s) and other school staff support them. I “share” my IRC responsibilities with Paul, who helped show me the ropes when I began. I also was able to meet Susan, his wife, who is delightful.
So, here’s a shout-out to The Pigeons: Hailey, Rubi, Mason, Sam, Tiernan, Aralynn, Nicole and Jagger; The Piggies: Eli, Claira, Brooklyn, Dreygon, Kane, Taylor, Lauren and Riley; The Elephants: Anica, Donivan, Callaway, Elena, Pearl, Eric, Hannah and Atreao; and The Ducks: Jaxson, Hunter, Jerran, Ben, Matthew, Troy, Amaris and Vincent.
Noel Nash is publisher of The Chronicle.
