GLADSTONE — Nearly 20 “first responders” and several of their spouses (also in attendance) were celebrated and honored Thursday, Oct. 20 for their community service in Gladstone and other nearby cities.

The event took place at a meeting of the Gladstone Lions Club where a dinner was held in appreciation of first responders and the services they provide. The event was held at the John and Melissa Besse Sports Park in Gladstone and approximately 60 people attended the celebration.

First responders (those designated or trained to respond in emergencies) who attended were mostly from Gladstone Public Safety, Gladstone Volunteer Fire Department and Escanaba Township Fire Department. It was estimated these first responders are responsible for nearly $20,000 worth of community services per year.

Gladstone Public Safety officer Mike Willemsen said: “It is nice to have people appreciate first responders.” Willemsen has been a local officer since 1988 after spending several years in first responder service in other locations.

Ron Robinson, Gladstone Public Safety chief, said about being honored: “This (recognition) is outstanding in today’s day and age where there is lots of negativity … it is not too often when we get recognized; he referenced some news media accounts and low wages as stumbling blocks for would-be recruits.

A positive note was brought to light when he said the Lions Club was making a large donation toward area service via a drone. Robinson said acquiring a drone would have several valuable uses such as searching for missing persons, ice rescues, mapping accident scenes and thermal imaging.

Courtney Hinrickson attended the honor ceremony with her husband Tom, a volunteer veteran first responder. “I think this is wonderful,” she said of the dinner. They (first responders) don’t usually get a lot of recognition.” Especially the volunteers like her husband who also holds down a full-time job at a local tire business.

A second highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Gary Perala, a Lions Club member from Negaunee. who is leading a district-wide program on hunger. He shared many of the Upper Peninsula Lions Clubs’ efforts to help address hunger and food insecurity. He also said the International Lions Club strategic objective is to ensure all community members have access to nutritious foods.

Highlights of the moist recent efforts in upper Michigan include:

– Giving more than $2,000 in donations to UP schools to purchase student backpacks.

– Donating another $2,000 to a community gardens “farm to school education program.”

– Distributing 2,600 pounds of fresh produce to families, seniors, veterans and others in the Ishpeming area; also, 15 community events were held to teach 175 people (including 159 youth participants) gardening for health, healthy cooking skills and produce harvesting.

– A donation of $2,000 was also given to Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress (UPCAP) for a “food as medicine/prescription for health” program to benefit 600 people in two years through a referral process and nine farms that received cold food storage units.

– Assisting in a food security survey to assist in a grant application to build a $3 million 3.75-acre farm school.

Perala also discussed the UP District 10’s “food insecurity” program, which includes the question: “What’s for dinner?” He added the goal is to add a choice of nutritious food, but unfortunately for too many people it means “Will there be any dinner?” He said that in 2020 one in eight Americans – 38 million (including 12 million children) – were food insecure.

The UP Lions Club’s efforts are looking at three specific questions to help address this:

First – Does the region produce enough food for its people?

Second – Is the food supply stable and robust enough to weather droughts?

Third – Do people have physical and economic access to food?