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Whether it’s driving
a weekly Meals on Wheels route, or providing a monthly dinner at the local
homeless shelter, or helping out with Habitat for Humanity and the Hunger
Coalition, the Watauga County Democratic Party has a tradition of volunteerism.
The Meals on Wheels
route, which was started by volunteer organizer Ingrid Kraus, has been staffed
consistently since 2005. Volunteers for the Cove Creek meals route are
currently recruited and scheduled by Dorothy Sagel, who is also an officer for
the Watauga County Democratic Women’s Club.
Faisuly Scheurer, current
chair of the Party’s Community Outreach effort, took over her leadership role only
a year ago, and already she has organized Habitat for Humanity “work Saturdays”
(with lunches provided free by members of the Party), the Hospitality House dinners
cooked monthly and served at the shelter, and the Christmas adoption of both a
Colombian family and “Leftover Angels” from a local church gift project.
Recently, the Party
began bringing canned goods and boxes of cereal for the Hunger Coalition to
every monthly meeting. About 100 pounds were collected on December 8 (next
collection will be January 12, Boone Town Council chambers, 7 p.m.).
Several years ago
Watauga Democrats also began donating to the Family Readiness Group for the
1451st National Guard Transportation unit, collecting money to help the
families of soldiers deployed in Iraq.
Stream clean-ups by
Party volunteers go all the way back into the middle-1990s, with active
participation in annual stream-cleaning in cooperation with the National
Committee for the New River and other independent
projects. Currently, the Young Democrats of Watauga County have adopted a
portion of the South Fork of the New for regular clean-ups.
“We have a giving
group of people,” said Faisuly Scheurer. “All you have to do is suggest a need,
and immediately there are a dozen people, two dozen, asking what they can do to
help. And it’s not the same people all the time.”
Building community
extends to more than charity work. Party Chair Diane Tilson says, “Our home and
garden tours have been great for lifting everyone’s spirits and building a
sense of shared values. We’ve featured all sorts of homes, including Habitat
for Humanity and older homes that have been remodeled, and there’s nothing like
the individuality of gardens and gardeners, not to mention proud homeowners, to
help build a sharing community!”
If you’d like to
volunteer, write faisuly@hotmail.com
or wataugademsvolunteers@gmail.com.
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