The Woodstock Town Board supported a move to make Volunteers Day a permanent event and agreed to explore leasing the former landfill to allow a community solar project.
The Town Board always declares the third Saturday in August as Woodstock Volunteers Day, but it has been on an annual basis. Volunteers Day Committee President Tamara Cooper and Treasurer Sam Magarelli made the pitch to make it permanent.
The action will help “provide greater emphasis for what our town has been and continues to do and thereby add more significance to our collective efforts,” said Magarelli. Also, the day’s purpose and meaning “can be made clearer to the public,” he said.
Secondly, a permanently designated Volunteers Day will place focus on the act of showing gratitude to volunteers, Magarelli said.
Volunteers Day has become a model that other communities want to follow. In fact, neighboring towns have sought advice on how to start their own festivities to recognize volunteers.
Supervisor Bill McKenna noted volunteers don’t just get to work in a time of crisis, such as saving someone’s house from fire. They are working in many other capacities, whether it is helping put together a new Comprehensive Plan or serving on the Planning Board.
“Volunteers don’t do what they do to be thanked,” Magarelli said.
Cooper suggested the permanent designation be dedicated to Jeremy Wilber and Victoria Langling, two people who devoted their lives to this community.
The Town Board will craft a resolution and adopt it at a later date.
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