Police and Fire Picnic for the Family May 14th at Wolf Lake Community Church - Meet Rosemary O'Rourke

 

We beat the drum a lot about Muskegon and it’s always about what’s good coming out of the community as opposed to the “easy stuff” of finding the quick and easy way to get you to click on something. Well? This kind of approach isn’t just haphazard, it’s pretty reflective of everyone in this community and the trick is to get them to share their story about what they do and why…and to give them the spotlight for a couple minutes so that what they do is seen, heard and hopefully the example they set is followed and repeated. Seems easy right? Well, the work comes in the fact that sometimes the folks that do these deeds, well, they do them because it’s the right thing to do and not necessarily to be seen doing it. This gets a little more difficult when we start talking about older generations especially when the idea of “camera shy” is secondary to self sacrifice as taught all those years ago.

Like you to meet Rosemary O’Rourke. Rosemary is putting on a picnic lunch to honor our police and fire departments on May 14th at Wolf Lake Community Church from 11-1to show some appreciation for our area first responders as they have all been working under some pretty strenuous circumstances. The level of pressure we’ve all been under has been immense and to be in the role of working to help people who are in an emergency situation on top of what the are facing from day to day life as it goes. 

Rosemary is no stranger to pitching in. She’s been organizing events and fundraising events for years to help out in and around Muskegon. If you go back a while around here, you may remember the Andrea Bosse case. Rosemary was instrumental in helping them finish off the house that was eventually built by not only swinging a hammer herself, but organizing others to help and when there were enough hands on deck, or in this case on the roof, she shifted gears and got to work feeding everyone who showed up to make sure their work was appreciated and that they had the fuel to get it done quickly. Rosemary has also worked on behalf of veterans and their causes and the idea of any attention back toward her….it’s pretty foreign.

After a little convincing the camera rolled however. The hope is for what Rosemary remembers. Families coming out together to enjoy a free picnic honoring police and fire.  Rosemary is asking for an RSVP to try and plan ahead for the food, so if you can call 231-773-4087 it would be appreciated.  E&A Grocery is helping out with the food as is Town and Country Market on Apple are pitching in too.  Kids getting a chance to see the cruisers and trucks up close and personal and being able to speak to these local hero’s one on one to see the side of our first responders that we all know are here to help us in Muskegon. Friends and neighbors who’s main focus is the safety and welfare of all of us. Take a listen 

The example we all follow today has been set by people like Rosemary.  We work to show you the every day folks who make events like this possible in our community, but the reality is that we've been being shown by example for years just how a community comes together to help a purpose.  In Rosemary's case the purpose is to show some gratitude to the police and fire while give kids and young families a chance to engage and see that they are community protectors, not a threat.  It's also a chance to feed some people, enjoy some time outside now that Spring is trying to get here and just exhale.  We all need the pressure off some.  We all need to look back to and appreciate the groundwork that's been laid as well as the example set by Rosemary and carry it on.  It's her example that makes our community the stand out it is.