By: Hannah Gideon
Tony Bay, a name that rings through the community as days go by. He is a co-worker, a friend to many, and an amazing person with a great personality. I admire him for how much he has fought over the recent months.
Why you might ask?
He has been fighting stage 3 cancer as the days go by. He has never given up and is getting better every day that passes. Of course, some days have their ups and downs, but he manages to power through them all. Now, I may not be as connected to him as many others are, but I still hold great respect for the man and what he has been through.
You also may be wondering why I am mentioning a random person in a community service blog?
The answer is simple. We raised funds for his medical expenses.
At Agrilead, the company I am interning with, there was a garage sale with a whole bunch of items from the employees here. They came up with an excellent idea to have concessions for Tony.
Believe it or not, we had tons of people show up! Some just came for the garage sale, but many came to donate to his cause. It is truly amazing how people in our community care so much! We had many show up that had never met him, but heard about him and donated lots of money to help him. I believe that is one of the true beauties of a small community.
With the help of many generous people, we were able to raise almost a full jar! It may be a small fraction of the medical expenses, but every single dollar helps them out. I’m truly grateful to everyone who helped us raise that much. At the end of the day, it was only six hours of community service and I had another four hours to go.
On Friday, July 22, I am going to be volunteering at the Dream Theatre in Russell, Kansas. It is an outstanding 501 nonprofit organization. Each weekend they have movies and they ask for volunteers to help run the concessions, and that is exactly what I am doing!
Overall, I have always had lots of fun volunteering for people. I hope that next year I will be able to accomplish my original plan: to host a community cleanup. I was not able to this year because it would’ve been too short of a notice, so I felt like not many would show up. I feel like accepting that was the most challenging part of my volunteer experience. Nevertheless, I had lots of fun helping concessions and I would definitely do it again!
