As I was thinking about what to write for my column this week, I got to visiting with my wife Pat and she mentioned a topic that was timely. That was volunteerism.
Something that I had been remiss about was to talk and thank how many people came and volunteered to help us several months ago during the time of the passing of our daughter Meghan that included the time she was in the hospital.
It’s amazing the number of people who volunteered to do this or do that, things you might not think about at a time of such a loss.
Our son-in-law Terry wanted to have some kind of meal after the funeral and Pat and I agreed with him having it our house was the place for that to happen. By the way, Father Peter Shults from St. Gregory’s Abbey who celebrated the funeral Mass at St. Benedict’s, told me recently that he had never seen that many people attend a funeral.
He said there was standing room only. We felt there would be a crowd all right, so we decided to host it outside on our Patio and in the area surrounding it.
Relatives, neighbors, close friends and others began asking soon after Meghan passed away what they could do. And what we saw and found out so many others just began doing things they thought would help once the word got out what we were planning.
Many people sent flowers, some brought food that week leading up to the funeral. Meghan passed away on Monday and we held the funeral on Saturday morning.
When I thought about naming some of those people who volunteered, at first I hesitated due to the fear of leaving some out. But when I rethought it, I decided what the heck, I’ll just do the best I can at remembering and hope I don’t hurt the feelings of those who I failed to name here.
I believe mentioning none by name is wrong, so I’m giving it my best shot.
Marian and Gary Salwierak, who just live three houses down from us, were Megahn’s Godparents and they jumped in quickly, as did our good friends who are like family, too, Gary and Charlotte Barnett and neighbors Bret and Rhonda Ellard.
Some of the women worked together to plan the meal and they got the word out and once they did we knew there would be no shortage on something to eat.
Gary and Charlotte recruited some of their family members, Bridget and Brad, daughter Kayte and son Kayden to bring tents, chairs and help set them up the evening before and to come take them down afterwards.
My good and longtime friend Steve Buoy was able to line up a whole bunch of extra chairs that we really needed as it turned out.
It was unbelievable the number of people who sent cards and other correspondence to us during that time. It was so nice to think that many people thought of us and our family at that time we had lost a loved one who was so precious to us and others.
Thank you to everyone.