Once again we are reporting the appointment (indeed, the re-appointment) of what is, for a town of some 600 people, an extraordinary proportion of its citizens, to unpaid, critically important, and all too often incredibly time-consuming positions on the Town boards, commissions, and committees.

The same can be said for the communities surrounding us.

And not only do our friends and neighbors volunteer in disproportionate numbers to serve in government, they organize, establish, fund and run an extraordinary group of NGO's and private charities.

The list of such locally run, locally focused, and locally funded organization is long.

Arguably, there is, for all practical purposes, no need, physical or spiritual, animal or mineral, financial or simply making-ends-meet . . . for which some effort at the local level is not ongoing.

Give time. Give money. Give both. For the sake of those who are helped . . . and for the sake of those that are helping.

There's nothing more rewarding . . . or more appreciated.