Valley responds to neighbors in need

Reporters, as is the case with a number of professionals, often fall into the trap of getting caught inside a bubble.

When work is piling up and you have little time each day to do anything but get the most immediately pressing tasks accomplished, it can often be hard to take the time to poke your head up and take stock of your community.

For news-people this is often an acute problem when the readership responds with letters and e-mails. Most people don’t take the time to write unless something has upset them.

Which means reporters can get something of a jaundiced view of their communities.

We know, or at least assume, that the lighter side of the community — the generous, caring side — is the dominant one. That side of the community usually toils in anonymity, not drawing attention to itself and very rarely writing us letters. But every now then one of our stories takes on a life of its own and reminds us that there are more eyes watching what we do than those belonging to the easily offended and sharp-tongued.

Jim White’s story is one of those.

White, a double-amputee, came to our office unannounced to talk about his problems with Social Security. We saw in him something more than just a story of the evils of bureaucracy.

And the Valley saw something more, too. While nobody can really give him back his legs, individuals and organizations that saw in the background of our photos the state of White’s trailer have stepped up to build him a house.

Jim White’s story isn’t complete yet. Organizers say they are still tens of thousands of dollars away from completing the project and can use all the help they can get. White’s story is just one of a handful of stories in recent years that stand out as bright spots.

Another is Jack Runser.

Runser’s was another of those stories that just kind of fell into our laps. A friend of his asked if we might be interested in telling his story. Runser is deaf and has cerebral palsy. He is something of a fixture in the Valley and so was his dog Sheba. When Sheba died, he couldn’t tell the people he met what had happened since so few of them spoke sign language.

Again, the story we told went a place we didn’t expect. A brief mention of Runser’s need of a replacement dog opened the floodgates. The reporter who produced Runser’s story saw his work posted on so many walls and donation cans around town he almost felt embarrassed — it was much more attention than felt comfortable. But the attention was really being paid to Runser.

And, before we really knew it, Runser had his money and he had his dog.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Frontiersman also watched as a second Valley resident in need of a service dog quickly raised the money. It was no small feat — the dog cost $11,000. But if anyone needed such a dog it was Caitlin Racenet, 3 years old at the time, who suffered between six and 30 seizures each day. The dog would help calm her during the seizure, divert her from things that could set one off and detect when one was imminent.

Racenet’s family got the money it needed and then some. The extra money went to help another person in need of a service animal.

It truly is a remarkable place we live and we are honored to have the privilege of telling its stories.