Volunteers
We CAN NOT do events without our VOLUNTEERS! Whether the event is a Nine Mile Community Center Board based event or a Public Community Event - volunteers make it all happen!
If you are interested in volunteering send Julie Van Hise, Friends of the Nine Mile Coordinator, an e-mail here and let me know how you want to help out!
A bit of a long read - but important!
A community is what you make of it. The sense of belonging. The knowing that while we live in a rural area, we are not alone. The understanding that an effective community is working as a team, and that it is not just one single individual being. Historically, the 9-Mile community is a tight knit family dedicated to the valley, each other, and the Nine Mile Community Center - the epicenter of bringing this community together. There are times when the community is closer...and times when it seems separated. And just like any family, there are disagreements, of which we mostly overcome...and some maybe we don't get over...However, even when the bonds are loosely knit, the community jumps together in the worst of times - as was most recently seen during the summer of 2024 with a home that exploded due to propane and several wildfires on both sides of the creek up and down the Nine Mile. It is when the community comes together that we are reminded of our surroundings, who our neighbors are, and what our community means to us. It is evident, that while so many have left the valley, and so many more have moved to the valley, we are still a strong community that extends beyond just the Nine Mile Valley corridor - something that resurfaced a few years ago during the COVID lockdown days. You see, the Original Nine Mile Community Center By-Laws were written for the 9-Mile Valley alone - with definite boundaries placed on who was part of the 9-Mile Community, and who was not. On April 7, 2021, the Board agreed it was time to spread our love of community and of the Nine Mile Community Center with that of the 6-Mile and Western Huson communities in zip code 59846. The By-Laws were re-written and adopted, bringing our communities even closer together!
Now, back to the ebb and flows of long-time residents, new residents, and those that fall somewhere in the middle...Long-time residents are part of a tradition, which can conflict with new residents who might want something new - and then the people in the middle go one way or the other or just stay out of it all together. But here's the thing - if we don't ever meet, the traditions become lost as folks of the past pass, the middle folks stray away, and the new folks just stop trying. This is kind of where we are at right now - in a transitional period - somewhere floating in between tradition and new, and several just staying away. You might be wondering how we get past this? Well, the answer is easy. A community is what you make of it. The sense of belonging. The knowing that while we live in a rural area, we are not alone. The understanding that an effective community is working as a team, and that it is not just one single individual being. It is all kinds of people of all ages working towards a singular goal - and respecting each other as we get to that goal. It is volunteering within the community. The Nine Mile Community Center is the perfect volunteering activity that works towards a singular goal - a goal of bringing our community together and strengthening it as we go, people of all ages and of all backgrounds. All this to say - Community is important as a whole and for our individual being.
Constant change can make it difficult to maintain a strong feeling of community. One way that we can meet our new neighbors and develop lifelong relationships is through being an active community. And one of the best ways of being an active community is through volunteering at the Nine Mile Community Center! You see, if you are a resident with a 59846 zip-code, you are a part of the Nine Mile Community Center Membership! This means you can volunteer for any project or event, serve on the board of directors, and you can vote when a vote is needed for elections, changes in policy, and changes in bylaws affecting the operations of the Nine Mile Community Center. However, we have taught ourselves that what also brings our community closer and even spreads our love of community further into the surrounding areas of Frenchtown, Alberton, and beyond is our many family and community-oriented volunteer opportunities! You don't have to reside in the 59846-zip code to volunteer for any of the amazing opportunities available and feel like you belong to a community, you will instantly belong to something bigger than yourself! Volunteer to do maintenance on the buildings, decorate the center for events, coordinate vendors, clean-up following events, donate materials and items for an event, mow the lawns, shovel the walkways, and soooo much more! An active community can be rare to come by - 59846 residents, we are a part of something special! Something that many people don't ever get to experience in their lifetimes. Let's not let this rare and amazing sense of community dwindle away. It takes each resident - new and old - to continue on this special tradition of community.
With all of this said - we need volunteers! We need volunteers to help create events for our community. We need volunteers to help maintain the facilities at the Nine Mile Community Center in order to hold events. We need many hands to help with so many different projects and reduce the workload on any single one or group of individuals. And we need your brains, if you have ideas on how to improve events or facilities, we need you too! And we need to build our volunteer contacts. SO, if you are interested in volunteering send Julie Van Hise, Friends of the Nine Mile Coordinator, an e-mail here and let me know how you want to help out!
To see our upcoming events, click here!