A ‘Thank You’ from The Salvation Army

From Donna Ortendahl, Field Representative

for the The Salvation Army; and  Becky Schlangen, 

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Coordinator

From Donna Ortendahl, Field Representative

for the The Salvation Army; and  Becky Schlangen, 

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Coordinator

The Salvation Army in Pope County would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all those who impacted our 2022 Red Kettle Campaign. Local businesses, local churches and individuals that gave to our kettle will be helping those in our community through a difficult time in the coming year. The Pope County Salvation Army will be there to help with housing, utility assistance, gas, groceries and so much more.

We would like to thank all the individuals who braved the cold to ring bells for the kettle this year. We thank those who contributed to the kettle or sent in donations to our county. We want to thank the Villard Fire Fighters and the Glenwood Fire Fighters who came to ring the bells for us. Thank you to Wes Torguson for his continued support to the Red Kettle Campaign and his many hours he gave to standing at our kettle in Starbuck. We want to say a big thank you to Tom’s Market in Glenwood and Starbuck for their generosity in letting us ring at their stores. We thank Tom and Cindy Buysse at Tom’s Market for their generous donation of $500.00 to our Red Kettle Campaign this year.

Thank you to Tim Douglass at the Pope County Tribune for putting our pictures and our kettle announcement into the paper. Thank you to Steve Nestor at Magic 107.1 for putting our request for bell ringers into their daily announcements. Thank you to the Glenwood Chamber of Commerce for putting our announcement for bell ringers out there on their page. They all helped us spread the word that we needed the community’s assistance with our campaign this year.

Thank you to Marthaler’s Chevrolet for their $1,000 donation. Thank you to the local businesses that let us put out our counter kettles at their businesses. We want to send out a big thank you to our whole community for their generous donations to our Red Kettle Campaign this year.  Whether you donated at our kettle or sent us a donation, these funds go to help those in a crisis.  We can bless the lives of those in Pope County that need a helping hand in an emergency. Our community is so blessed to have such caring and wonderful people who want to help those in need. I want to say thank you to Becky Schlangen for helping me with the Red Kettle Campaign.  Pope County’s  generosity and compassion aids us in the ability to assist families in Pope County. Thank you for being partners in mission and for supporting the vital work of The Salvation Army. May God bless you!

‘Embarrassing’ is too polite a word…

From Jim Thoreen,

Glenwood

As I draft this letter while watching what passes for drama in Washington, D.C., nothing is getting done.  It is stunning to think that our nation, as the leader of the Free World, has a U.S. House of Representatives which cannot elect a Speaker, something accomplished on the first day of a new Congress for the past 100 years.

Yes, the Republicans won control in the November election.  Just over 60 days ago.  Between election day and the day this letter was written the party in control could not get its act together to elect its leader.  The House, for centuries, as its first order of business has chosen its leader from the party in the majority.  So as of this last week, one branch of Congress could not carry out its legislative duties.  Without a Speaker of the House, no legislative bills will be introduced or heard. No payments to contractors.  One newly-elected member last Wednesday said he didn’t know if he would be paid his salary this month.  It is too easy to respond to that statement with a quick, “Why should you be paid ?”  But that representative was not one of the 20 or so members who bushwhacked Kevin McCarthy.

Embarrassing is too polite a word. Dangerous and irresponsible: two words which better summarize our nation’s standing in the world as the silly, immature political theater continued in the House chamber.  Since  no Congressional businesses could be conducted, is it unthinkable that one of this nation’s enemies could spring devious, perhaps war-like, actions to de-stabilize the world?   While Congress cannot act by taking votes in both houses, who knows what mischief China or North Korea could generate in just a matter of hours?  What about our allies? Does our impasse jeopardize the safety of our friends around the globe?

By the time you read this, I pray that our House of Representatives has formally organized and Congress can get to business.  If we are still in limbo as you this, God save us.