Stew on That: For the Love of Dolly Parton, Show Some Grace

By now, you’ve probably seen that most of our beloved community events have been canceled. It’s such a bummer, but what’s been an even bigger bummer is seeing the people complain and talk badly about the organization or volunteers who put these events together, and the fact that they decided to cancel. Did you know the majority of our community events are planned, hosted, organized and run by volunteers, and that these events typically benefit nonprofit organizations? Crazy, right?

These volunteers spend their own personal time away from their families and jobs to plan fun events for our community, which directly benefit these nonprofit organizations that are working hard to make our community better. So, yes, be sad you can’t attend, but please realize these nonprofit organizations rely heavily on these events to raise money for their programs, so I promise you, they’re way sadder than you are. Please also consider that these events don’t appear out of thin air, it takes months and months, sometimes even a year or more, to plan and organize a large, community-wide, successful event, and most of this planning should have begun or was halted when our state shut down. It’s not a decision that can be made a few weeks out whether to have the event or not. Not to mention, nonprofit organizations aren’t typically in a position to run the risk of hosting an event that has the potential to be negatively impacted by oh, let’s just say, a global pandemic, because then there’s a chance they could lose money on the event.

There’s also the issue of “social responsibility” to consider. Organizations have a responsibility to their community to keep its citizens safe, and I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m betting they aren’t relying on their buddy from high school who works at the gas station and posts conspiracy theories on Facebook to get their information, they are looking at the recommendations of medical professionals. Some organizations will continue with their events, some will cancel. If you are super bummed about a particular event being canceled, consider donating to the nonprofit organization that hosts it, or volunteering your time to help plan the event next year, when they’re back and better than ever. Let’s all be sad together, but please, for the love of Dolly Parton, show some grace and compassion and kindness.