Wednesday, July 24, 2024
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Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . . . 2➤ Good Neighbors . . . . . . . . . 4 Nappanee Area News . . 6
Vol. 54, No. 5
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
SOCIAL SOIREE — Members of the Warsaw Masonic Lodge and their families get together for a monthly social night outside their usual business meetings. From left are Kyle Holz, Linda Roe, Lori Roe, Richard Knisely and Kirsten Terrell. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.
Organizations grapple with dip in volunteer participation By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer On May 4, Warsaw’s Old Jail Museum remained closed for a weekend due to lack of volunteers. “It’s been very rare that it’s happened,” said Kosciusko County Historical Society co-director Sheila Strickland. Normally, the co-directors step in when there aren’t enough volunteers, but both were out of town at the time. “No one wanted to close; it was very, very sad. But what do you do when you don’t have anyone?” she said. Strickland defines the Historical Society’s purpose as “the research, preservation and teaching of Kosciusko County.” Volunteers are needed for the front desk of the Old Jail Museum, the genealogy library, the cemetery preservation project, and any other events. There are also committees members can be a part of, like property management for Pound Store Museum. The Historical Society currently has about 15 volunteers. It takes two volunteers to run the Old Jail Museum on a Saturday: one at the front desk, one in the genealogy library. Training is available for both. “When we first started, we had a number of volunteers and memberships, but over the years it’s just kind of faded away.
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
HANDS ON — Kosciusko County Historical Society co-director, Sheila Strickland, is pictured working on the landscaping outside the Pound Store Museum in Oswego. Property maintenance is one of the committees Historical Society members can sign up to volunteer their time with. Photo provided by Kosciusko County Historical Society.
After COVID, we really did get hit pretty hard. ... We’re really trying to get into the community, where people want to come visit and volunteer and be a part of this organization,” Strickland said. “I think it’s across the county that we’re just struggling with volunteers; these nonprofits run off of volunteers and memberships.” Indeed, other nonprofits, as well as more social orgaContinued on page 2
DRESSED UP — Curator Cynthia Green, right, and Kathy Patterson set up some historical garments for the Historical Society’s exhibit in Scharpensburg Cabin at the Kosciusko County Fair. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.