Published: September 21, 2008 11:53 pm      

HIGGS: Don’t dismiss ‘community organizers’

I am going off beat this week to write about something that has bothered me since I read it in this newspaper Sept. 5. It was a comparison of the presidential candidates we have to choose between very soon and the comment made by an elected official at a political gathering. He said “one candidate had life experience and the other was just a community organizer.” This term was also sneered at during one of the recent national political party conventions. How sad! This is the greatest “life experience” a citizen can accumulate.

My topic today will be about the community organizer, not the political candidate, but those among us who also fit this description. Taking this term and saying it is not important is an insult to each volunteer or person who has taken on this role as a part of their life experience.

The Niagara Beautification Commission recently honored 14 people who spend or have spent, countless hours of volunteer work in our city. Most of this work involves community organizing of some sort. None of us can do this work alone so it is necessary to motivate others to step up and help.

Four of these 14 count the block club community among their other activities. Joseph Paonessa, Betty Rivers, Henry Zuba and Ritchie Gore are community organizers in the real sense of the word as they lead by example in their neighborhood. I personally have witnessed Ritchie moving her gardening troops around the corner of Highland and Center Avenues and it goes without saying that Betty Rivers is the organizer at Wrobel Towers. Joe has been organizing in many community organizations during the years I have known him.

Let’s talk about Mary Norton and her organizing abilities at the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center Auxiliary and the gift shop. No simple task keeping the many volunteers feeling gratified about the free time they are willing to give to a worthy cause. Lou Townsend at the NACC is another perfect example of a community organizer. He uses the experience he has gained during his life to volunteer as chief financial guru and is thrust into new experiences almost daily, such as overseeing the monumental roof replacement at the NACC. Patsy MacKenna became a community organizer out of a need she saw to keep the LaSalle community in the spotlight so they would not be a forgotten part of the city. Joan Broderick, Jean Hackenheimer, Dr. Henry Merletti, Peggy Addoms, Mary Jo Zacher and Bill Rolland all honored at this event, have also contributed to their community in many ways using their organizational skills to motivate others into action. Ask a busy person to get something done is still the rule of the day.

Speaking of motivators, one of our best-known community organizers is Roger Spurback. Roger is a former Marine, a former prison guard at Attica, a former employee of Delphi Thermal, comes from a family of 10 children, and has his own family, all of which results in plenty of life experiences. All of this has melded into his desire to make things better for others. NBC leader and organizer Marge Gillies is another example of using her life experiences in her new role of community organizer. As a former teacher, she was really a community organizer every day shaping young lives and she is still doing that by revving our engines and rallying the troops to beautify Niagara. There are many more that space does not allow mentioning.

Only some community organizers become our elected leaders but all of our elected leaders depend, largely, on community organizers to help them get there. Both of these groups had life experiences, which helped them decide which role to play. Some community organizers seeking elected office are criticized about resume building. No matter the reason, it is still a life experience. Who else knows the pulse beat of the community, the makeup of the population, the economic conditions of the area and the living conditions of its residents better than the community organizer who has seen it first hand and has worked to solve some of these problems just as successfully as the elected leader. In many cases, the community organizer brings community problems to the attention of these leaders. Most government leaders who never played this role can pass through a neighborhood in awe of its condition and just keep going. Katrina anyone! Simply holding on to ones elected position provides little opportunity to understand those who vote. It then becomes necessary to recruit volunteers who are community organizers and have this life experience.

So what did I learn from all of this? Experience is only one component of qualification and being “just a community organizer” certainly qualifies as a good life experience. It may not make everyone who takes on this challenge qualified to be a world leader, but our quality of life depends on these people. And, occasionally some emerge and stand on the world stage. Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa come to mind. Both brought freedom and democracy to their respective countries.

Let us stop criticizing this role.

Norma Higgs serves with the Niagara Beautification Commission and Niagara Falls Block Club Council. Her columns appear Mondays in the Gazette.