Oriskany Falls Rotary Club honors local volunteer with their Roses for the Living award

When looking recently for a local volunteer worthy of the Roses for the Living honor given annually by the Oriskany Falls Rotary Club, Rotarian Kathleen Cossette found her nominee at a local thrift shop.

Cossette said she had seen Creekside Community Outreach Center volunteer Debbie Campbell work tireless hours — and often well past her scheduled shift times — with the second-hand retailer in Oriskany Falls. She felt Campbell was well worthy of the honor, given for an exemplary dedication to making the community a better place.  

"She works really hard — she is there early and stays late and knows where everything is in there," Cossette complimented.

The award is one of Rotary’s highest honors and is presented to a community member  who personifies the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self.” It wasn't hard for Cossette to convince her fellow Rotarians that Campbell was the right person for their latest Roses for the Living bouquet and citation.

"They all know her and know she is a real hard worker," Cossette said.

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But the award is traditionally announced as a surprise to the recipient, so Cossette had to invite Campbell to the Oct. 20 Rotary meeting under false pretenses. Campbell was told her cousin had earned the honor and came out to Quack's Village Inn in Madison that evening thinking she was supporting her relative.

"I was totally surprised and awestruck," Campbell admitted of hearing she and not her cousin was to be honored that evening. "They really had me convinced it would be my cousin and everybody went along with that."

She thanked her friends and family who came out to join her at the meeting.

The Creekside Community Outreach Center is a thrift shop mission of the Oriskany Falls United Methodist Church offering low prices on quality clothing, toys, games, jewelry and other household items. Profits are donated back into the community to people who are in need of heat, food, health assistance, transportation or other necessities.

They donate to the church's Food Sense program and the Waterville Food Bank's Waterville Warriors weekend backpack program; prepare Christmas gift shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse and help out other organizations like St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Oriskany Falls.

Creekside Community Outreach Center is located at 105 Madison St. in Oriskany Falls and open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

The Oriskany Falls Rotary Club meets Wednesday evenings at alternating locations. For more information on the club, find them on Facebook.

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Campbell invites other community members to join her in volunteering at Creekside. Volunteers work two or three people per two-hour shift. For details, ask any volunteer at the shop or call Mike at 315-821-6130.

"It's really a good place to work," Campbell said. "The people who work there are all volunteers and they all do their very best. We help out a lot of people there and that is a good feeling."

Mike Jaquays is the community news reporter for the Mid-York Weekly. Email him at mjaquays@gannett.com.