Lend a hand, build community

People have lived in this region of Alaska for thousands of years, but the stories we know about life here are much more recent.

Most of our local history is made up of events that occurred during the very recent past, say the past 150 years or so.

What we do know is something about the people who built this place, the folks who carved out trails that became highways. We know the stories about how whole new communities sprung up along the railroad’s path.

We know about the Colonists and their children and their offspring who continue to live, work and raise families here in the Mat-Su Borough.

But each new family that moves to these woods with their dreams of carving out a life in this place where neighbor helps neighbor inherits a part of a birthright left for us here by our human ancestors whose toil set the foundation for us.

Living here includes unique opportunities to be part of a community, to envision how we can leave a richer legacy here for our children than the one we inherited.

The Alaska State Fair is one of those places where the fingerprints of community are inescapable. While the fair is a private nonprofit enterprise, it wouldn’t be much without the folks from around the state who enter their jellies, needlepoint, photography, flower arrangements and super-sized vegetables in the fair’s annual contests.

It was former entertainment manager Joe Lawton who decided to add the Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off to the fair 18 years ago. But it was his wife Ginny — and frustrated giant cabbage competitor — who cooked up the idea for the Cabbage Fairies.

She recruited a handful of her friends who have volunteered for the last 10 years as Cabbage Fairies, too.

“This is a story of friendship,” Lawton said about the story on today’s front page. “A story about a bunch of friends who do this as volunteers to add to their community.”

There are a lot of stories like this in our community, stories of people who have an idea for a way to make living in the Valley a bit better and organize their friends and family to make it happen.

Volunteers with Wasilla Sunrise Rotary built an inclusive playground at Newcomb Park in Wasilla this summer. Still other volunteers organized fundraisers for local families struggling with medical bills.

Members of Trinity Lutheran Church will mark their 25th anniversary Sept. 8. And what better way to celebrate being part of the community than with a volunteer workday? Volunteers will meet at 10:30 a.m. in the church’s Community Garden to begin pulling weeds, filling raised beds with soil, making walkways and putting up a moose fence.

One of the largest community volunteer efforts of the year is coming up Sept. 14 when more than 500 volunteers will work at the Mat-Su Borough’s new Government Peak recreation site as part of the Mat-Su Community Day of Service.

Volunteers are needed to help improve cross-country trails, build sledding hills, picnic tables and light poles at the new recreation area off Edgerton Parks Road in Hatcher Pass. To join the fun, contact Delray Hobbs at 841-3153 or delray@mtaonline.net.

Watch for them, and if you see an opportunity to lend a hand, jump in and help. You can have a lot of fun building your community.