In times of economic stress, community bands together

By Dave Helisek
Contributing writer
Community is a nice term to describe a group of people living in proximity and under the same laws. I always think of community in broader terms, as in a group of people looking out for the best interests of the surrounding area. Community to me also means the same group of people trying to do the best for their area and neighbors.
With times as rough as they are now we have chances to help our community in small but meaningful ways nearly every week in our little town. Mainly I'm speaking about the fundraiser dinners that occur frequently in our town. Emmanuel Church has its monthly dinners going on now; the food is always good. The Boy Scouts also have their monthly chili dog fundraiser at Manchester United Methodist Church; good dogs and nachos at a good price. St. Mary's has just ended their unique potato and fixings meal on Wednesdays during Lent.
This week will be the last fish fry held at the American Legion for this year. After a rough first week,the fry has come together very nicely. The Manchester Area Friends group and Stockwell’s Dinner & Catering Tonight have banded together with other community groups to continue a community of Manchester tradition.
The fish fry has been around for 30 years; it was held on Main Street at Emmanuel Church for a few years and was sponsored by the Manchester Knights of Columbus for many years, and most recently by St. Mary's Parish. It always has been good to break the winter blahs and see the members of our community come together at this event.
This year the Manchester Area Friends invited other groups to come in and help with the dinner. So far the after prom committee, the Manchester High School Class of 2011, the Manchester Community Schools Foundation and the Manchester Knights of Columbus responded. The profits from the fry go back into our community, so lets have a great turnout this Friday.
Also coming up this week will be the annual tootsie roll drive sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. It is a statewide event that raises monies for the care of the mentally impaired citizens of our communities who must be institutionalized. It is a great cause for those that can't help themselves.Finally, in our little town there will be solicitations occurring to help support the annual Community Resource Center/ Chamber of Commerce golf tournament. This money goes back into our town and other articles will cover it in more depth. It is tough times, but if we help each other and support our town, we all benefit in the end.