Once again Morgan Hill residents are being called upon to help
with the city
’s historic and highly acclaimed Fourth of July events. Business
owners and residents responded quickly and generously to a severe
financial shortage, announced in April by Independence Day, Inc.
(IDI) organizers. But now the problem is an equally severe lack of
volunteers, especially for the alw
ays invigorating street dance, the truly fun festival, the very
old and famous parade and the intriguing job of clean up after the
parade.
Once again Morgan Hill residents are being called upon to help with the city’s historic and highly acclaimed Fourth of July events.
Business owners and residents responded quickly and generously to a severe financial shortage, announced in April by Independence Day, Inc. (IDI) organizers. But now the problem is an equally severe lack of volunteers, especially for the always invigorating street dance, the truly fun festival, the very old and famous parade and the intriguing job of clean up after the parade.
The six events all need heaps of volunteers to watch, count, sell, lift and tote, clean up, serve, direct and smile. Starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 3, with a patriotic sing for children through a Downtown street dance, 5K run/walk, parade, family festival and ending up with fireworks late on July 4, each event runs on volunteer power.
But this year, that power hasn’t showed up in numbers IDI has counted on in the past. Possibly this is because people don’t realize how much fun volunteering can be.
“When you volunteer you not only help out everybody else, you become part of this valuable and heartwarming series of events,” said Daryl Manning, IDI president.
In the past help came from groups volunteering together: families, churches, neighborhoods, friends, scouts, swim and sports teams, school groups, service clubs and just regular people calling up to offer to help for a couple of hours.
They’ve always had fun, got a close-up look at how their event works and performed a mitzvah, or good deed. Besides, volunteers get preferred parking and access to the VIP tent.
“The (all-volunteer planning) committee has been awesome this year,” Manning said, “but they all need help from others to carry out their great plans.”
The parade was proclaimed, 10 years ago, as the official Santa Clara County Parade and is now the largest parade – with the most entries – of any in the Bay Area. Morgan Hill annually has celebrated the Fourth with a parade at least since 1894.
To volunteer your services or those of someone you know: call Jennifer Grifall, 710-6388 or 778-6770.
And IDI won’t turn donations away – it costs nearly $90,000 to put on this all-volunteer, spectacular celebration for Morgan Hill despite some serious belt-tightening. Business or individual sponsors should contact Rich Gamboa at 776-9153; business sponsors: Jeff Roth at 846-1247 or mail a check to IDI, PO Box 1776, Morgan Hill, CA 95038.
Details on IDI’s events: www.mhidi.com
