These folks are often billed as having done with their productive years and are just hedonistically spending their kids' inheritance, lying on the beach like wieners on those movie theatre roller type rotisseries.   Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact they are a close knit bunch of adventurous snow birds who have worked a lifetime to earn the right to now live the life they've always dreamed of.  They are out jogging, doing calisthenics, swimming, riding their bicycles, attending classes and volunteering . . . lots of volunteering.

We learned something this weekend.  Huntsville doesn't have the market cornered on good people.  At dawn on Saturday morning we were awakened by the majority of people in the park already up and getting ready for the weekend event.  As recent arrivals this was news to us, they were hosting a weekend long free breast cancer clinic that they alone organized for Mexican women.  This was the second year of this three day event where women from all over the state of Nayarit who have had mastectomies can come and get prostheses.  There were over 60 men and mainly women from the park who volunteered.  Ordinary Canadians and Americans who brought down supplies from home and then fitted the women and sewed them up in new bras.  Last year they helped 250 cancer victims; this year, as the word spread, bus loads came from all over the state and the final tally should exceed 500.  To see the  tragic extent of this disease, which respects no border or nationality, is unsettling, but then to see these retirees response is inspirational.

The campground was consumed with the event for the entire  weekend.  All the 'gringa' ladies in pink tees  totally engaged themselves for countless hours handling the crowd, each with a job and in typical back home efficiency doing it in a no nonsense fashion.

Someone got the bright idea that those who have lost their hair to chemo needed head gear.  So they quickly got busy on the sewing machines and creative caps were manufactured and handed out on the spot.

It was so heart warming to see the appreciation of the Mexican recipients and their families. Usually shy and reserved, they smiled and greeted everyone with warmth.  You could tell from their demeanor how much this meant to them that people from another culture cared about their personal horror.

And this was not an isolated endeavour.  Last night was the Super Bowl instead of it being just an excuse for a party, they built in a fund raising silent auction. 

It seems each week there is some volunteer event.  Tuesday it's a charity fashion show and the following week another fund raiser for a local nurse who travels  the back country distributing food and clothing to the truly poor and needy.

Every one of these campers collects what they can over the summer and fall, stocks their big rigs with clothes, school supplies and medical appliances and brings them south. 

What surprises me, and I know it's dangerous to generalize, but why is it mainly older people who are doing the lion's share of the giving back?  Maybe it takes a lifetime to appreciate the value of giving.  Maybe younger people are too busy acquiring so they can remain the givers and not fear being left as receivers.  Perhaps it's as simple as, when you've made it and have the time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labour . . . that only then can you truly appreciate what life has given you, that you just want to say thanks.


David Harris is the editor and publisher of the Huntsville Online.