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Spotlight on Sierra Madre Volunteers Spotlight on Sierra Madre Volunteers is a weekly column that spotlights the people who donate their time to help keep their city ticking. Check each week to see which of the folks you work side by side with is being recognized in the latest edition. Click the photo to enlarge it.
John Johnson--Ph.D. in Volunteering
Talking with John about his volunteer life is like reading a list of Sierra Madre activities for the whole year. He has participated in all from the first activity of the year through the final pre-Christmas event called Candlelight Walk. "On the verge of a quarter century of volunteering my time and resources to Sierra Madre have filled my life with a multitude of friends, laughter until I cried, and I ate some of the best food I ever had," John said. He added, "At times you wonder how a city so small can have something going on every weekend throughout the year. I believe it has something to do with 'family'." John said that so far as size, Sierra Madre is really a small community. "Some say it would take 30 minutes to walk from one side of town to the other. This may be true for some community members but for those who volunteer it can take the better part of a day to go from the library to Mountain Trail." Since John is a "professional volunteer," can he explain the basic ways to volunteer? He answered: help organize and produce an event in town. Donate money to the sponsors of an event. Bring your family and friends to every event, spend your money on the food and items for sale. Sing the songs, laugh at the jokes, celebrate the moment, become a member of the larger Sierra Madre family," John said. He explained that the Wistaria Festival (March 15 this year) is one of his favorite volunteer events. "In 1994, during the 100-year celebration, 42 organizations/agencies and over 640 volunteers made the event so successful the committee was able to donate $10,600 to Sierra Madre Search and Rescue, Fire Department, Chamber of Commerce, and provided for a Wistaria Vine Assessment and Maintenance Fund. John Johnson was born in Paw Paw, Mich., and raised in Battle Creek. He came to California because, at the time, only Cal State L.A. and the University of Rhode Island "were the only two schools offering an entrepreneur degree. I opted for the warmer of the two climates." He learned computer-ese in college and printing in Sierra Madre when he managed Abacus, formerly located in Sierra Madre. While going to Cal State L.A. to finish his degree, John drove through Sierra Madre on an exploration of the foothill communities. "Sierra Madre closely resembled a few of the communities where I used to live in Michigan." He explored the town: Monument to the Unknown Boy Scout, the cannon in the park, no stop lights, and plenty of churches and schools. "I decided to move to Sierra Madre from Pasadena in late 1985 because the town has character and wonderfully devoted citizens I now call family. I started volunteering in Sierra Madre for the 1986 Fourth of July parade...and that was just the beginning." John concluded, "Yes, volunteering is work. But the work turns to fun and will benefit you in so many ways you cannot imagine. Make life-long friends, teach this heritage to your children and leave Sierra Madre a better place than you found it."
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Copyright © 1998 - 2011 by The Coburn Group, Sierra Madre. All logos, trademarks or product names mentioned or displayed herein are the property of their respective owners. All photographs and videos on this site Copyright 1998 - 2011, by Bill Coburn, Sierra Madre, CA unless otherwise noted. Any reference to the City of Sierra Madre or Sierra Madre applies to the community of Sierra Madre and not the city government. The City of Sierra Madre, California government is not affiliated with Sierra Madre News.Net at this time. Any city government information provided herein has been previously published for public dissemination and is shown here as a public service of Sierra Madre News.Net without explicit permission of the government of the City of Sierra Madre. |
