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Readers’ Views

Grateful for support

To the Editor:

I want to take a moment to brag about our community. As the newest member of the Kinship of Martin County team, each day I am learning about a new part of our organization. Yesterday, I learned about the PERKs of being a part of Kinship. Literally.

When mentors and mentees get matched and become a part of our program, one part of the information given to them is a list of PERKs, which stands for Professionals Encouraging Relationships with Kids. Several business and organizations in Martin County have partnered with Kinship, which means when mentors and their mentees are hanging out, they can go to different places in the area and receive special offers or discounts. I was aware of this program — but not aware of how extensive it is.

Twenty-eight different places in Martin County offer free meals, free games, or even free entry for the mentee when they are spending time with their mentor. This is a huge gift to our mentors, and evidence that our community understands the benefits of mentoring relationships. We are so thankful for the community’s willingness to reach out to us in this way.

When our mentors and mentees take advantage of these awesome offers, we encourage them to send a thank you to the spot they visited together. We know that the partnership goes both ways, and we want the different establishments to know how much it means to us to have these resources available.

It goes without saying that a mentoring program cannot function without mentors. They are our backbone, and we are always looking for new people to join our program. That said, having a community that supports our efforts is a vital part of what we do. It is through this support that we are able to increase awareness about our program and provide safe and enjoyable places for our mentors and mentees to spend time together. Thank you to our wonderful community and all those who support our efforts.

Jen Kahler

associate director

Kinship of Martin County

Fairmont

Red Cross offers thanks

To the Editor:

I would like to extend a special thank you to the Fairmont community for its support of the blood drive held last week. Severe winter weather has caused the cancellation of hundreds of blood drives. Thanks to the Fairmont donors who listened to our call for help. Thanks to the Sentinel and Photo Press for their help communicating the details of the blood drive.

Did you know? Patients don’t get a holiday from needing blood. American Red Cross collects nearly 14,000 blood donations each day to help ensure patients get the treatment they need. Results from the blood drive are as follows:

o Tuesday, Feb. 13 — 79 units collected

o Wednesday, Feb. 14 — 92 units collected

o Thursday, Feb. 15 — 52 units collected

In total, 226 units were collected. There were three first-time donors.

Special thank you to all the volunteers working in the canteen and greeter areas, and always, to the Holiday Inn/Green Mill for the fine facilities and great staff.

The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information on volunteering at the blood drive, please call Cathy Stapel at (507) 381-2066 or e-mail your interest to: Catherine.Stapel@redcross.org

Cathy Stapel

account manager

American Red Cross

St. Paul

He should know better

To the Editor:

For a professional educator, Fairmont Area Schools Superintendent Joe Brown is sadly ignorant about American history and firearms as he complains about so-called “assault weapons” in civilian hands.

To start with, there is no such thing as an “assault weapon.” It’s just a term used by the ignorant to refer to guns that look scary but are functionally identical to politically favored hunting rifles. There is such a thing as an assault rifle, but the AR-15 isn’t one: it cannot fire more than one time with each pull of the trigger.

There is plenty of reason for American civilians to own and use arms that would be useful by the military. The militia is still very much a reality. Superintendent Brown may, under federal law, be part of it himself; I don’t know his age. More broadly, the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting. It’s about defending ourselves from criminals, or foreign powers, or our own government run amok.

Blaming the tool for the hand that holds it isn’t going to solve the school shooting problem. Neither are short-term shows of force by the police. It will only be solved when no kid wants to shoot up a school and that falls right back into the administration’s lap. What are you doing about that, Superintendent?

Jay Maynard

Fairmont

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