Above and beyond the call of duty

Above and beyond
the call of duty

Around the holidays, it sometimes gets a little easier to find those willing to lend a helping hand.

After all, for many of us it is only once a year that we take the extra money we may or may not have in our pocket or a little bit of time and energy and give it to the people or causes in our communities that need our help most.

However, once the calendar hits January, most of us go back to focusing on our own comfortable existence for a while.

But for some remarkable people in our midst, going above and beyond the call of duty, all year long, seems to be in their nature.

They are the people who do their part to hold our communities together and make them better places for us all to live. There are many of them in each town, and they play many different types of roles. And chances are, most of them toil behind the scenes and receive little recognition and no compensation for their efforts.

By publishing stories about a few of the people who truly make a difference in their community, we hope to do our part to recognize the often unsung heroes and heroines among us for their extraordinary efforts.

In this week’s issue, you can read about people like Richard Kosmoski, a volunteer firefighter since 1974 who helped with projects to build local memorials for veterans and firefighters; and Edna Gordon, an affordable housing advocate and longtime member of an organization on call 24/7 to help local people in need in her community.

Their work can be unpredictable and tiresome, but the rewards, abstract though they may be at times, make their efforts worth their while. They don’t seek a pat on the back, but if they get one, that’s all the better.

Hopefully, we can all draw just a little bit of inspiration from these people.