Why I moved back to Warrens

Knowing how much I love my friends in Wakulla county Florida, it was hard at the time to explain why I wanted to move back to Warrens Wisconsin, my home town. I told them that I wanted the small town atmosphere. Back then it was the heat for the most part. I cannot stand heat and humidity. There are only so many clothes a person can take off and not get arrested. I love to be outside and when it's 100 degrees out, that's not fun. I was a major factor. Most of the Wisconsin summer it is under 90 degrees and since I'm a mail carrier...that's a good thing. Nothing like driving around in a jeep letting the sun bake you through all of the windows. As it is I have a mail carrier's tan. Just my right arm and leg. My friend who is a truck driver only has a left arm tan. We look pretty goofy comparing tans. I digress. After we moved back, I became involved in the Warrens Cranberry Festival. It is a huge undertaking put on by mostly a few people (up until the actual festival which requires 100+ people). This festival is a non profit that is designed for the sole purpose of bettering the village of Warrens. Over the years we have donated over 2 million dollars back into the local community. Just this year alone, we donated over $94,000.00. This goes to local youth, civic groups, organizations, the village for street and gutter etc, we built a major portion of the community building, the ball park, the local hockey rink and almost the entire Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center from Cranfest funds and hard work. I am now President of the festival board of directors and find it a hugely rewarding position. I love making people happy. Onto my next endeavor. Times are tough all over, but especially here in Warrens. A couple of years ago the local resort went bankrupt due to mismanagement. Without warning 200 people in the area were without jobs. Warrens only has 360 people on a good day. You can see how this would cause a huge impact. People had spent hard earned money building vacation villas for the resort and suddenly any income at all for those villas was impossible. Many people lost their life savings all in a couple of weeks. It divided the community. Those that had been against the resort expansion were very vocal. Those that had lost everything were too. It was a royal mess, but the interesting thing is that through it all the community started coming back together. When I was little and growing up here. If I was naughty, it wouldn't have been odd to get in trouble with any person in town. They all knew me. I knew them. That was Gramma's house or Aunt's house. We were all family. It's starting to feel like that again slowly and in my opinion, one of the reasons is our Community Dinners. A few of us were talking one day a last year and thought that a free community dinner would help out people who are economically challenged, but also would get people together to talk and spend time with each other (something that used to happen often when I was young). We approached it from a youth group point of view and decided to start it as a youth project learning service to others. I started asking for donations. One of the local churches added their support, the local gas station/convenience store added in the milk to serve, Cranfest added supplies and we were off. The first year was a little odd. It was tough getting the word out so the first one only had 40 or so people. Slowly it grew and by the spring we had 90+. We stopped having them over the summer because folks are so busy. This year people could not wait for them to start. We have had over 70 each night and for the Thanksgiving meal, we served over 150 meals. Not bad in a town of 360. Now we are planning our Christmas meal on the 12th. It's going to be BIG. We are doing it the old fashioned way. Lots of food, cookies and singing. I am looking forward to it. So many people have stepped forward to donate and are hoping it makes a huge impact on the local people. I'm hoping it gives them a taste for what Warrens used to be. The community of Warrens may not be huge. It may not have much to do with the way things go in the scheme of things, but what it does have is heart. We are a community that in 5 years will celebrate it's 150th birthday. I moved back because I wanted to raise my kids in a place that they could ride their bike to a friend's house and we didn't have to worry. I want them to know their neighbors. I want them to be able to see that effort on your part to help out your neighbor is so worth it. I want them to see that working together for a common good is what the founding fathers based this country on and it's working here in Warrens. I want my children to see the best of America and I think a lot of it is here in Warrens. All of us working together to form a common bond as Americans.

Where did the time go?

I cannot believe how long it's been since I last blogged. That just goes to show you how busy life has been around here. The Warrens Cranberry Festival is over and gone for 2012. What a blast! It was our 40th anniversary and boy did we have a party. I loved each and every minute of it. The weather was wonderful and the crowds were HUGE. They estimate attendance at over 140,000. I love the chance to see that many people smiling and happy. Things around here have been busy too. Jake is now almost 20 and working at the company his Dad works at. It's a temporary job, but it's a great learning experience for him and gets him a steady paycheck. He's looking into some classes at the local college too for the winter. He really seems to want to do something mechanical, like welding etc. We'll see where he ends up. He loves cars and motorcycles. Jessalyn is in 10th grade now and is very musical. She is in choir at school, which reminds me...I need to check on her next concert date. She is also in the Worship team at church and enjoys learning the harmony that goes with that. She's always singing or humming. Will is still working at the same place. I am so proud of him. He has had perfect attendance for almost every one of the 20 years that he has worked there. He is a real trooper. It is a very physical job and for our 48 year old bodies, that is a hard thing. He does a wonderful job and is a great example for his kids of being committed to your job and doing it to the best of your abilities. Jake says that he has more respect for him now after seeing how hard he works. We have started having the Warrens Community Meals again this year. So far attendance has been growing. We served over 70 meals the first night and almost 150 this last one. Of course, it was the Thanksgiving meal and it was quite the feed. Tomorrow night is another one and I don't know what the crowd will be like, but we are having breakfast for supper....pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy and banana stuffed french toast with banana caramel cream sauce. It should be lots of fun. Time to head back to daily life.....until next time.... God bless.