Still Serving

By Jake Lillehaug 8-27-26

The jersey was probably a little too big, but that didn’t seem to bother him.

My son stood there looking at his name across the back of his first football jersey with a smile that made it obvious, this was a pretty big deal. At six years old, this will be his first experience playing football.

For him, it was a jersey.

For me, it was another reminder that summer is slowly giving way to fall.

School is starting. Football fields are filling up. Dance classes are beginning again. The evenings are getting shorter, and before long the leaves will start changing. After a busy summer, our family is looking forward to settling back into something resembling a predictable schedule.

But as I watched nearly 110 kids in grades 1-6 gather for Ortonville’s flag football program, something else caught my attention.

That’s a lot of kids.

And it takes a lot of adults to make an opportunity like that possible.

Someone had to organize teams, order jerseys, communicate with parents, find coaches, prepare equipment and coordinate schedules. Then coaches had to volunteer evenings that could have easily been spent doing something else.

To the kids, none of that exists.

They just get to play football.

That’s one of the beautiful things about volunteering with youth activities. The work adults put in behind the scenes becomes part of someone else’s childhood.

I saw that throughout Corn Fest weekend. Volunteers organized events, vendors filled the streets, emergency services brought equipment for kids to explore, and countless people helped put on another successful parade. My son walked with his new football team while my wife drove an ambulance. My daughter rode beside me in a fire truck, enthusiastically throwing candy until, somehow, we ran out for the fourth consecutive year.

Everywhere you looked, someone was helping create an experience for someone else.

Years from now, my son probably won’t remember who ordered his jersey. He won’t know who spent hours organizing teams or preparing practices.

But he might remember how proud he felt putting that jersey on for the first time.

That’s the impact volunteers don’t always get to see.

As another school year begins, there will be plenty of opportunities to coach, teach, organize, drive, supervise or simply lend an extra set of hands.

You may think you’re only giving up an evening.

To a kid, you might be helping create a childhood memory.

If you have a story idea, know someone making a difference, or would simply like to share your thoughts about the column, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at jhlillehaug@gmail.com. Please put STILL SERVING in the subject line so I don’t miss it.