Giving the gift of time
4-H clubs and others descend on Lewiston to gently take down Winter Spirit lights
In a gesture of gratitude toward the community, more than 100 Nez Perce County 4-H students took on one of Lewiston’s biggest annual winter projects Saturday.
The large group of volunteers went to Locomotive Park to take down the Christmas lights from the Winter Spirit display.
Art King said volunteers from the Citizen Washington Focus 4-H Club he leads help take down the Christmas lights every year, but this year he asked the nearly two dozen 4-H clubs in the county to join in the work.
“This year we wanted to see if we couldn’t make it a little bigger, a little better and so we invited all the cubs and tried to make it a community- or a county-wide project,” King said.
He asked and the 4-H clubs delivered. Katie Spendlove, King’s daughter and co-leader of the Citizen Washington Focus 4-H Club, called the local 4-H community “phenomenal” after seeing the large turnout Saturday.
“They are giving, they are helpful and there’s almost nothing they’re not willing to do,” she said.
The volunteers were working with the professionals from Winter Spirit in carefully taking down the 10,000 light strings that have been decorating the park since November. King said it can take Winter Spirit months to take down all the lights on its own, which is why he’s hoping the 4-H volunteers can put a serious dent in their workload.
Seven-year 4-H student Jesyka Sarbacher said projects like these are a way of showing gratitude toward a community that always supports 4-H clubs.
“I feel like we always ask the community for support and money and stuff, so I feel like it’s a good way to give back to the community and help them,” Sarbacher said.
King said they are called community pride projects, and they help ensure that community events like the Winter Spirit display keep going for a long time. This year marked the 30th anniversary of Winter Spirit.
King also said these projects have a deeper reward as well. He believes it is greater gesture for people to give their time to helping their community instead of simply donating money.
“Time is probably the most precious gift you can give anybody,” he said.
Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
