Neighbor News
Twelfth Annual Winterfest: A Celebration of Volunteerism
By Garden City Bird Sanctuary Board of Directors
On Saturday, January 11, 2020, approximately twenty-one people attended the Garden City Bird Sanctuary’s (GCBS) Winterfest celebration. John W. Cronin, the President of the Board of Directors, led the annual ceremony wherein all light green candles, symbolic of the new spring that will surely follow winter. The “Great Telling, “as this seasonal rite is called, is to remind everyone that “all winters must come to an end.” The winters to which that refers is not restricted to the chronological December 21-March 21, but it denotes the harsh times in our lives; winters of health problems, financial woes, etc. The great religions of the world remind us that even the “winter” of death itself will yield to springtime of life to follow.
President Cronin gave awards to the two “Volunteers of the Year 2019.” They were Mr. Cary Castle, a retired fundraiser who helped get donations for the GCBS at no charge, and Mr. Michael Chin, a paralegal who volunteers very often as a gate attendant to keep the Sanctuary open as long as possible. Mr. Cronin then made special mention of Mrs. Trish Roberts, a teacher at Garden City Middle School, whose 6th grade student, Ashley Wang, wanted to do something to help the GCBS. Miss Wang came up with the idea of building bird houses and bat boxes. Mr. Cronin, who also teaches at the middle school, readily agreed and enlisted the help of shop teacher Fred Caputo, who assisted in building birdhouses for the GCBS twenty years ago, which are still there. (Mr. Caputo could not make the event).
It was a happy and hopeful event that showed the goodness of people who volunteer, and the children who realize at a young age the importance of environmental conservation and community service.
