Spirit of The Highground Award
Friday, March 7th, 2014 -- 8:13 AM
-A special award, the ?Spirit of The Highground? award, is determined by the staff of The Highground Veterans Park.This is given at the annual ?Friends of The Highground? dinner that recognizes generous donors with cumulative annual donations in excess of $1000. However, this award looks above and beyond monetary works. It seeks out someone who has the ?Spirit? of The Highground in them.
This year, the award was humbly accepted by a husband and wife team?Skip and Deb Klabon, from Colby. The Klabons are strong supporters, not only with monetary donations but also helping at many events including stone dedication ceremonies.
Skip can be found parking cars, porch greeting, working during work weeks, organizing the talking circles and more; while Deb will spend hours tabulating with a team as funds are brought in for the bike and motorcycle events or sending food to feed volunteers or putting together and working long hours at a garage sale (that raised over $2400 for the Persian Gulf Tribute). Skip is a Vietnam Veteran and their son is a Persian Gulf Veteran. We thank them both for their services.
After receiving the award, the following is an email that was received from Debbie. With her permission, we are allowed to share it. It again shows the compassion and love that the staff feels when the Klabons help The Highground, but more importantly, Debbie has a message that may help others.
?I cannot describe how much you surprised us. We feel there are so many people who deserve the Spirit Of The Highground award more than we do. However, with that being noted, we want you to know we are both humbled and honored to receive this recognition.
When we received our invitation to the dinner, we assumed it was for the $1,000.00 we donated to the Persian Gulf Tribute from monetary gifts we received at our 30th anniversary party last June. So many of our family and friends and neighbors donated items for the garage sale.....along with the pickup load of items that the Hensiaks delivered to our house from donors in the Neillsville area. We considered the garage sale a gift of love from so many generous people.....the camaraderie with Celeste Kaufmann and Connie Braun and my neighbor, Joleen, throughout those two cold blustery weekends was priceless. The money raised for The Persian Gulf War Tribute (more than we ever dreamed) was just icing on the cake for a project that is close to our hearts.
After three tours of duty in Iraq, thankfully, our son made it back home. I cried every evening as the names of soldiers KIA were read.....thinking to myself: "Debbie, why are you crying? Your son is alive.....you should be happy." I did not understand.....I did not know....until my very smart husband told me that I was experiencing survivor's guilt.....yes, mothers of soldiers can and do suffer from survivor's guilt. This was before my dear friend, Celeste, came into my life. In less than a year, we have become more than friends......we are mothers of soldiers.....that makes us sisters....that bond, ^plus our faith in God^, is our connection.....she has been such a blessing to me. Even though Celeste and Mark lost their son In Iraq, it is her strength and love and caring that have helped me. It SHOULD BE me helping her......life is mysterious sometimes. The best gifts cannot be seen or touched....they are felt in our heart.
So, from my heart, thank you for your gift of allowing Skip and me to be a part of The Highground family.
Debbie?
Debbie and Skip---THANK YOU! We truly appreciate your heart.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.