Looking for — and finding — ‘the helpers’ in Bonner County

By K.L. Huntley
Reader Contributo

Up in the hills overlooking Lake Pend Oreille, there is a delightful woman who makes colorful prayer flags with messages of hope and peace. She donates all her sales to the local NAMI chapter. Just down the road apiece lives a Vietnam veteran who many do not know collects lap blankets and takes them to his comrades at the veterans’ hospital in Spokane. I also know of a musician who made huge pots of soup weekly for years, delivering them to one of the soup kitchens in our communities.

Each one of these motivated individuals is a few among the hundreds in Bonner County reaching out by giving their time and occasionally dollars to help others while building a stronger, healthier community one deed at a time. 

The question came up in one of the groups I belong to as to what the members were doing outside of our organization. I was pleasantly surprised that each and everyone was involved in something around Bonner County. One volunteered at the Community Assistance League’s Bizarre Bizarre. That nonprofit resale store generates money for grants and scholarships exclusively in Bonner County. Another individual donated their time at the food bank and one volunteered his time assisting in transitional housing in our area.

Did you know we had refugees from Ukraine here in Sandpoint? One of the gals in the group spends time with them helping them adjust, even if just temporarily, to living in a totally different culture. 

Another individual, relatively new to the group, was tragically widowed shortly after her move here. It took her time to recover somewhat, and when she did she turned her talents into helping others with their taxes and also joined the board at the senior center. She shared that not only did the center provide meals for anyone over 50, but they also serve as a gathering place and informational site for social, recreational and wellness programs. 

Another woman for several years has managed a group called Friends of the Library. It hadn’t occurred to me that the library also needs funds and this group has raised thousands of dollars. Helping hands are needed there also.

I was amazed that everyone in this circle of friends was working in one way or another improving lives in our community. And talk about lack of ego — they had never mentioned their outside service in all the time we have met. 

We have folks working with environmental groups, Friends of Scotchman Peaks, Rotary clubs and volunteers at our overcrowded schools. A few are active in the Human Rights Task Force and the Farmers’ Market. A couple have been and are currently caregivers for loved ones.

The late-Fred Rogers — host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and an author — once relayed, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” 

That is how it has been lately for many. There are many scary things in the news; however, it appears that Bonner County has a plethora of quiet, behind-the-scenes helpers not discouraged by negativity but reaching out with helping hands.