One night during the last week in April, more than 50 people got together in the Ann Potter room at Peabody Township Library to address some concerns about how to move Peabody forward, address community needs, and find ways to solve some problems.
Folks in attendance listened to representatives of about a dozen organizations whose main purpose is to provide some sort of positive impact on our town. From the handful of grandmotherly gals who gather weekly to stitch handmade items to raise money to repair or replace park playground equipment to the school district which fights to keep our youth educated and prepared to face the world, representatives shared stories of caring and volunteering in Peabody.
The point of the meeting was to give those in attendance a chance to hear about people hoping to help Peabody not just survive, but thrive. In addition, organizers hoped to get some additional suggestions about community needs and how to get more young families involved. Questionnaires were passed out to gather suggestions about how to help Peabody face the future.
The questionnaires have been tabulated and a second meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the high school cafeteria to share the results and find ways to implement some of the suggestions. It is always enlightening to get a fresh prospective. At the next meeting, those in attendance may select the topics they would like to discuss, help develop, or put into action.
Surprisingly enough, many suggestions from the first meeting can be done with just a little organizational effort and a group of like-minded people. I think the experts call these “grassroots efforts,” and from the comments on the questionnaires, I think quite a few can be handled nicely. Not many suggestions fell into the category of needing a grant or fundraising effort for several thousand dollars.
If you have a volunteer spirit and want to help, the Peabody Proud organization would love to see you at the next meeting. Even if you missed the first, you are welcome to attend. If your health will not allow you to do a great deal of volunteer labor, you still are welcome. You have ideas to share and someone else can do the labor – and the opposite is true. Peabody needs all of you.
Remember, 7 p.m. Tuesday at the PBHS cafeteria. See you there.
—SUSAN MARSHALL