These Local Heroes, Leaders, And Traditions Make Your Community Great

ACROSS PATCH — Here at Patch, celebrating communities, the people who call them home, and the organizations and institutions that keep them healthy and thriving is critical to our mission of providing local news coverage.

Over the past several months, in a series sponsored by T-Mobile in support of Patch’s local news mission, we’ve put the spotlight on town traditions, star students, outstanding teachers, local heroes, local leaders and community organizations.

Here, among hundreds of local stories, are some examples:

Town Traditions

Cookie’s Restaurant, ‘A Hidden Gem’: Around Minooka, Illinois, this mom-and-pop restaurant has been a downtown landmark since 1982, its success attributed to stable family ownership, top-notch service and a menu that keeps people coming back. “I’ve never had a bad meal,” says the village president, who regularly has the restaurant cater events.

The Enduring Fascination Of A Shipwreck: The four-masted Japanese ship Sindia lost to a 1901 nor’easter is a legend around Ocean City, New Jersey. Was the crew drunk and caught unprepared for the storm? What happened to the cargo? Is treasure still buried with the unsalvaged wreck, waiting to be discovered?

A Garden Ripe With Romance: A short film with a sexy name, “The Romance & Sex Life of the Date,” still draws visitors to the historic Shields Date Garden in Indio, California. The story starts in the 1920s with newlyweds Floyd and Bess Shields, farming neophytes whose date farm gained a reputation for producing some of the finest dates in California. After their deaths, their legacy fell into a state of disrepair. Before the property could be razed, new owners began their own courtship of the land.

Round Barn Is A Beacon: Manhattan, Illinois, builds its heritage festival around an iconic round barn that has stood since 1898 and was built with wood salvaged from the 1983 World’s Fair in Chicago. It has multi-generational appeal among Manhattan residents as a historically significant edifice that links the community’s past and present.

Star Students And Athletes

Need Help? Just Ask: A Doylestown, Pennsylvania, teen’s goal is to help out wherever she can and is needed. The eighth-grader’s dizzying schedule shows it. She’s a competitive cheerleader who lends her talent as a volunteer cheer coach for her elementary school. A member of the student council, she also serves as a student ambassador who offers tours to perspective service.

Goalie Goal Is Nurturing Teammates: A Fredericksburg, Virginia, hockey player is determined not only to defend the goal, but also dedicated to building a solid team. “As a team captain, she ensures that her teammates have productive practice and equal opportunity to develop their position, which continues to make the team stronger,” according to her nomination.

Hitting The Right Notes: A Hillsborough, New Jersey, ninth grader described as a “bright, respectful, hardworking boy” has won international music competitions, including playing New York’s famed Carnegie Hall, and is an honor student who medaled in the MIT Invitational Science Olympiad.

Teacher Spotlights

‘An Absolute Heart Of Gold’: That describes elementary school teacher Terri Thompson of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, according to the parent of three of her former students, who also says, “She truly, truly cares about her students as people. She’s a wonderful example to not only her students, but everyone with whom she interacts.”

‘A Gift To Students’: Galloway, New Jersey, first grade teacher Cheryl Knabe always steps up for the district when asked, and sets a new standard of excellence every time. A colleague of more than 20 years calls her “a gift to her students and colleagues.”

Respect Begets Respect: Hillsborough, New Jersey, chorale music teacher Ashley Mathews has her students’ ear. “I have seen the way she speaks to her students,” says the parent of one of her students. “She treats them with respect and in turn, they respect her.”

Community Leaders

‘Never Tires Of Giving Back’: One of Kim Laidlaw’s greatest passions, dogs. The Tinley Park, Illinois, woman runs a nonprofit that provides trained comfort dogs to 911 centers, courthouses, schools, nursing homes and senior residences. She also works full-time, volunteers with other nonprofits, and “never tires of giving back to her community.”

‘Thoughtful And Inspiring Leader’: Marcie Velen, of Tucson, Arizona, is best friend to animals of Pima County — “a thoughtful and inspiring leader” whose no-kill shelter provides spay/neuter and microchipping at free or reasonable costs, helps reunite lost pets and their people, and supports people with limited funds with veterinary care. And that’s just a short list.

‘A Modern Renaissance Fellow’: That’s how a colleague describes Santa Cruz, California, volunteer Geoff Alexander, who has served for 20 years on the board of directors of Advocates for the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. “His sage-like guidance and hands-on approach to solving issues have made a huge material impact to maintaining the health of the park, and to enhancing the park visitor experience,” the colleague says, noting Alexander is a gifted builder, programmer, and agricultural producer, “but his passion and service in improving the conditions for the community around him are what make him a such a full circle gem for Santa Cruz County.”

‘Everyone Helped One Another’: Harry and Jeanette Boos have lived in Hellerton, Pennsylvania, since they were kids. In retirement, they spend their days giving back to the town that has given them so much, “Years ago, everybody helped one another,” Jeanette says. “And [if somebody] says, ‘We need some help doing this’ — okay, we can help you out. So you contribute.”

How Nonprofits Work Best: Dianne Eng Swanson, the director of the Pratt Nature Center and Nature School in New Milford, Connecticut, has been getting kids outdoors for 35 years. She serves her community in multiple other ways, too, but wishes more people understood how vital nonprofits — the one she leads and others — are to community. “Like Pratt, many of them do not receive town, state or federal aid,” she says. “Community support, big and small, helps a lot!”

Local Heroes

A Life Dedicated To Saving Others: After his son’s suicide, Graham Wiseman of Lamorinda, California, gave up a six-figure income to found BeingwellCA, whose advocacy work includes establishing mental health wellness programs in schools around the state. A couple of students, at least, credit him with saving their lives. He meets with parents grappling with loss, even as their pain reignites his own because, Wiseman’s nominator says, “he knows he is helping others.”

Jobs Are The Job: Bruce Mendelsohn, of Worcester, Massachusetts, helps people find jobs as the city economic development office’s resource development coordinator. In two and one-half year period that included COVID-19 hiring difficulties, he placed dozens of people in priority industries and has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in job creation grants for youths, underserved and underemployed workers, as well as environmental remediation training programs.

Quietly Making Things Better: Kate Pittman, described as “warm-hearted and selfless,” has worked quietly for years to make the incorporated area of south Gwinnett, Georgia, a better place to live and play. “She has invested a lot of her time and money for the purpose of improving the area for everyone else,” says one of the supporters of her community association nonprofit.

‘A Tireless Advocate’: When the Homeless Garden Project, a transitional employment program, faced a staffing shortage and was operating at a loss at its downtown Santa Cruz, California, store, Nancy Jones galvanized support among volunteers to keep it open five days a week, not only closing the revenue gaps but also raising community buy-in for the important work done by the organization.

‘Changing Lives Daily’: Inspired by his son who was diagnosed at age 2 with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Tom Hoel, of Woodbury, Minnesota, founded the Family Achievement Center in 2001 to provide occupational, physical and speech therapy services to children and adults. “Tom is changing lives daily through his leadership and love for helping others,” a lifelong friend says.

2 Speeds — ‘Fast and Faster’: Duskie Estes, of Healdsburg, California, a celebrity chef and director of Farm to Pantry, is legendary for two speeds — “fast and faster,” her husband jokes. “She is the most sensitive and positive soul I have ever met,” a colleague says. “As busy as she is, she ALWAYS takes the time to be kind and share a smile or hug … even when her stress level is at an all-time high, which is so rare these days with people being so quick to anger and judgment.”

The Right People On The Bus: Amid a national shortage of school bus drivers, Watsonville, California, the few drivers who have dedicated their time to making sure children get to and from school safely are true local heroes, according to one parent who says, “We as parents need to be thankful for these bus drivers for their time, because if not, we would be struggling.”