Shane Brickner, Mayor of Liberty Lake
My name is Shane Brickner and I am the Mayor of Liberty Lake. I was Mayor Pro tem for 4 years and on the city council for 8 years before becoming Mayor. Before coming Mayor I had also been a volunteer police officer for the city for 13 years. I have lived in Liberty Lake for 16 years now and while living here I helped start a Griefshare program for people that have lost loved ones along with helping start up Little League Baseball in our community.
I was asked to write about generosity which is the unselfish giving and sharing or resources, time, and talents to others. When I think about this statement it makes me think about the challenging time we have all faced over the past 4 months and despite all the challenging times I have seen people come together like no other to lend a hand to each other, utilizing skills they have to make a difference.
Being a smaller city, having people willing to give help for no other reason then to just give back is what helps drive our community and make it so special. During these challenging times the city staff and I wanted to create a message of just that, generosity. Keeping this in mind we chose the term Liberty Lake Together because at the end of day we have seen so many people come together to help make a difference. With in the image we chose what looks like a circle of people standing in a circle, hand in hand. This image and statement of together is exactly what I have seen people do.
I watched a group of people come together to bring free hand sanitizer in 5 oz bottles to those in need when Covid first began. When asked why they wanted to do this, they said they wanted to help those in need. No plans on getting something in return except to give back. Once this started another citizen saw how bad Second Harvest Foods needed help financially so they brought up the idea of including a go fund me for Second Harvest which was accomplished. This help raise just over $700 for that organization.
I would see people who knew how to make face masks and shields not only for citizens but for first responders and they did it, not to make a bunch of money, but only to help. I saw churches step up along with citizens that volunteered to help in any way that they could.
I recall at the end of last year we were setting up for an event called Winter Glow and we had over 55 people step up and volunteer to help make the event a success. This event was a beautiful light show for all to enjoy which had people come from all over to see the celebration of the holidays and it never could have happened without all of the volunteers. One of the churches locally had 4 to 5 teens initially show up to help and before I knew it there were another 8-10 of them willing to help out wherever they could.
We also have a group of people called the snow angels who volunteer their free time to help those in need of snow removal or yard work. This helps people in all kinds of situations who need a hand. Its is acts like these along with so many others I could list that show generosity. My hope is that through all of these challenging times we all learn and take the time to hold out a hand to help rather then point a finger of blame or frustration. My hope is that we all see the beauty in mankind, to see the beauty in what makes us different, while seeing how what we all seek is the same which is happiness and compassion. If we see a problem or challenge before us that we all come together to find a solution. After all, we are all in TOGETHER!
