Volunteers Battling for the Community

by Steve Heriot, photos by Network Battle Lake

Giving your time to a good cause is a good opportunity to make new friends and bring fun and fulfillment to your life. It connects you to others, boosts your social skills, expands your network, and can even be good for your career. Volunteering also has been shown to provide many benefits to both mental and physical health by reducing stress, combating depression, increasing self-confidence, stimulating the mind, and providing a sense of purpose. However, people don’t usually volunteer for themselves. They do it in order to make life better for others. Even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference in the lives of others.

That has been the experience for a group of like-minded individuals in the Battle Lake area. With the assistance of West Central Initiative, they have organized into a group that calls itself Network Battle Lake. Their mission is to help build the community of Battle Lake through networking, personal initiative, and collaborative contribution. The individuals in the organization build upon one another’s ideas, express their opinions and perspectives in constructive ways, and work towards consensus in their decision making and action taking. They are always looking for partnerships and are always intent upon inclusively widening the participation in their endeavors. The group rotates three leadership roles within the group on a quarterly basis. The Facilitator presides over the meetings, the Recorder takes minutes, and the Communicator emails meeting agendas and sends out announcements. Network Battle Lake has been meeting every Thursday morning for the past seven years, usually at the Shoreline Restaurant.

The activities of the organization have included tackling the problem of child care in the Battle Lake area. After realizing the need, they helped organize a fund-raising effort that built a new 4,800 square foot child care center in Battle Lake.
A few years ago, the group members made over 800 calls to area property owners (resident and non-resident) informing and educating them about the possibility of getting natural gas service in the area. In addition, the group has organized 17 different community clean-up projects, called ‘Beautify Battle Lake,’ which enlisted the help of 70 to 100 Battle Lake middle and high school students. During these clean-up projects, they also provide a program where needy or disabled people can request temporary help for yard clean-up projects and chores that they are having difficulty getting done. Other projects have included designing a local shopping and calendar of events flyer that is placed at over 30 area resorts. In addition, the group has organized various local festivals, celebrations, and fundraisers.
Learn more about Network Battle Lake on the internet at www.NetworkBattleLake.org and facebook.com/Network. Battle.Lake. If you are ready to make friends, improve your mental and physical health, and maybe develop new skills along the way, try volunteering. You just might change your life as well as the lives of others