Small Town Heroes
Years ago when my husband and I decided to move back to my home town I remember telling him that sometimes living in a small town feels like living in a fish bowl, everyone knows your business (or thinks they know) sometimes even before you know it. He laughed at my concerns and reminded me that the town he grew up in wasn’t much larger than mine.
Bill and I have lived here since 1981 and neither of us have ever regretted the move. What makes this community so special? A whole host of things, but for now I want to focus on the people.
My sons play basketball and this past season one of their team mate’s brother (who plays on the freshman team) was diagnosed with bone cancer. His name is Logan and he is 15 years old.
His parents are good friends of mine and when I asked what I could do to help they mentioned that they would like to have a blood drive in their son’s honor. Tuesday of this week the “Lots of Love for Logan” blood drive was held and it was a great success because of the wonderful people in this community.
Yes, small towns are fish bowls but when needs arise there is no better place to be than right here in this tiny town in the middle of south central Kentucky.
Big city folks sometimes underestimate the power of the people who dot the country side. When I called the Red Cross workers in Lousiville and told the gentleman there that we wanted to host a blood drive he said, “How many do you think you will have donate?” I replied, “At least one hundred, maybe more.”
There was a long pause.
“I don’t want to argue with you miss, but we have had blood drives in your county before and you will be lucky to get 50 people there.”
They set our goal at 50 and brought a few extra bags, just in case.
We had 50 donors before 4 o’clock and the drive just started at 12! To make a long story short they ran out of bags and we had to take names and phone numbers of people who came so we can invite them when we hold the next one. If they had brought enough bags (dare I say I told you so!) we would have had about 150 donors!
So let me say it loud and clear, SMALL TOWNS ROCK! Some of the kindest, sweetest, people in the world live right here in my little corner of the world and I am so very proud to call them friends and neighbors!
The next time there is a blood drive in your community, give the gift of life and tell them Logan sent you! He’s certainly inspired a lot of people around here to donate blood and there are lots of kids (and adults) out there who need us to take a few moments out of our day and donate.
Well what can I say…..I grew up right there in Summer Shade, Ky…now I do live outside of a “BIG City”—Atlanta, Ga. all I know is the small town values stay with you forever. You can take the girl out of the country but you will never take the country out of the girl. Great story, way to go Logan!!!
I, too, live in a small town of just over 10,000. Having spent several weeks in Nashville TN to care for my sick mother, a few months ago, I have to tell ya, it was so refreshing to get back home to my small town atmosphere!!
I love it when you drive up to the bank and you are welcomed with “Good Morning, Christi! How are you today?” Or you go to the local grocery store, and you here, “Hello Mrs. Wilson, how are you today?” It’s the most awesome feeling in the world!
You just can’t get that in a large city! I love the special touch a small town offers!
Nice blog today!! I may not comment often, but I do read your blog daily!! 🙂
Let’s here it for small towns! There is nothing like them! How wonderful that so many people came out to show their love and support of Logan, even if the Red Cross underestimated your town and they weren’t able to donate this time!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I enjoyed reading some of your posts. I hope Logan will be able to kick this medical problem.
You had some great links on your list and the one on what to do if something gets spilled on a laptop was priceless. Please come back again soon. Have a great weekend.