We are blessed in Bladen in that folks support most events that take place in the county.

Whether it's Relay For Life, the recent Support Our Troops Rally, the We Care Program and its offspring, the Byron Gooden Golf Tourney, or the White Lake Fireman's Olympics, our residents will usually turn out and show their support, especially when the cause is good.

But these events don't happen on their own. They require people behind the scenes who put aside family, work, and themselves for hours or days at a time to make sure everyone has a good time, and the cause is served.

These are the folks who make dozens of telephone calls, drive hundreds of miles, solve scores of problems, and shake uncountable hands to make sure trash cans are delivered on time, grass is cut, soft drinks are available, tents are raised...and a thousand other tiny details that go into putting on any kind of event.

They are the ones who shrug their shoulders and move on to the next project when weeks of planning get rained out, bankrupted, or worse, ignored.

These folks don't do these things for glory or money. Too often they are forgotten, except for a few quotes in a newspaper article, and maybe a round of applause at the end of the opening ceremony.

Then they fade into the woodwork until the next time something else needs to get done. Their reward is the success of the event, the service of their cause, or the satisfaction of just doing something good as a matter of principle.

Someone once said that to volunteer is divine, but to try and organize volunteers is the surest way to drive one's self insane.

While we think this is probably a slight exaggeration, we hope you'll remember not just the folks who are readily visible at any of our worthy activities in Bladen. Look for the men and women behind and over those volunteers, the ones juggling a dozen problems at once, and hoping for a few hours sleep before returning to work the next day.

Chances are very good you'll have a hard time finding these folks.

They are generally somewhat humble, and will pass the honor on to those who handled their own specific tasks. We should not disregard the fact that their leadership made it possible for everyone to walk a mile to cure cancer, teach a child to read, preserve a part of our history, or help a needy family.

Some will naturally burnout, or become bitter, or get disgusted when things don't go as planned. But most will keep on keepin' on, as the old saying goes.

With their special events over, most of these folks don't disappear-you will find them behind a concession stand at a Dixie Youth ball game, or a Scout campout, at a nursing home on a Sunday afternoon, or responding with their fire department to an auto crash at 3 a.m.

Even without the hoopla of a major event, these special volunteers are still spending their time in support of their communities, and probably trying to find a few minutes to make up for the time lost with their respective families.

We urge everyone to seek out these leaders of volunteers, and thank them for their efforts.

And it probably wouldn't hurt if we would use these leaders as examples, and try to take on a little more volunteer responsibility for ourselves.

Next time you see one of these people, thank them, and shake their hand. Of course, if you're not careful, they'll probably find a way to put that hand to work with a bunch of others.

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