I sat down and thought about the number of non-profit groups that I either belong to or work with in the City of Minot. The purpose of this article is certainly not to brag about the number of volunteer hours I give to these organizations, but more to let you all know that there are myriad of groups that could use an extra hand, or a bunch of extra hands, in the services they provide to the community.
And then it struck me…I am the guy who writes an article for the Northern Sentry that is distributed to every housing unit and hopefully every shop and commons area on Minot Air Force Base. As my Dad would say, maybe you can “kill two birds with one stone”, that being telling people about the organization, and letting you know about opportunities for volunteer help.
We’ll start with the Minot Shrine Club. Members of the Minot Shrine Club are Shriners, and you may have been able to connect our group to the annual Shrine Circus. This year’s circus will be held on May 7th through the 9th at the All Seasons Arena on the North Dakota State Fairgrounds. As Shriners we try to give every young person between the ages of 5 and 10 a free ticket to the Shrine Circus. We spend hundreds of hours going from town to town handing out the tickets and soliciting businesses to help pay for the tickets.
During the days of the circus, we are the volunteers that handle the parking, sell and collect tickets, sell the novelties and provide arena candy bar and cotton candy sales. There are a lot of other jobs behind the scenes that require volunteer hours. In the end, all of the proceeds from the Shrine Circus go to the Minot Shrine Club. For example, we use the money to fund travel for kids and families who use the Shrine Clinics. There is one in Minneapolis, but other Shrine Clinics around the United States also accept youth-aged patients who need specialty care.
The Red Fez that we wear lets you know we are Shriners. For more information about the Minot Shrine Club you can go to minotshriners.org., or you can contact me at rodw@srt.com.
Magic City Lions
Lions Clubs International is one of the largest volunteer service clubs in the world. Magic City Lions is just one of the thousands of Lions clubs through the U.S. and other countries. Our meetings are held every Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM at the Parker Center. For those of you who are not early risers, there is a second Lions Club, The Minot Lions that meet at noon.
Both clubs are certainly dedicated to helping out our community. On our website, minotmagiccitylions.com, you can get a lot of information about our club and the eight pillars that serve as our global causes. The Magic City Lions do not have an event like the Shrine Circus as part of their volunteer activities. Instead you will see our yellow vests at a myriad of events as volunteers lending a hand.
Again, if you want to know more about the Magic City, or the Minot Lions, send me an email at rodw@srt.com.
The Downtown Business and Professional Association
The heart of any community is normally their downtown business district, and Minot is no different. The independent businesses and professionals that make up the DBPA are volunteers dedicated to promoting the downtown business district and surrounding area. You may have attended our largest promotion: the Downtown Minot Fall Festival. But we have several more events like the Downtown Minot Christmas Open House, the Easter Bunny Hop, the Coffee and Cocoa Crawl and our Straight Up & Toasted events. Once again, we are volunteers…promoting the heart of our community, downtown Minot.
If you want to know more about the events in Downtown Minot, go to our website at downtownminot.com.
Get Involved
I have only listed a few of the groups in Minot that need volunteers. Without people stepping up and helping out, many of these groups would not exist. Looking for opportunities? Shoot me an email at rodw@srt.com. I’ll be more than happy to connect you to a group based on your time and talents.
Speaking Of Shrine Circus
March 14th Magic City Hoagies will host a Shrine Clowns Downtown Event. Hours are from 11 AM to 2 PM. We’ll have clowns and giveaways including those always appreciated balloon creatures created by none other than Dizzy the Clown. It’s free and a great family event. See you there!
Today’s Chuckle
A garage sale is where money changes hands and objects are moved from one garage to another.
