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Involved citizens investing in their community are scoring the volunteer equivalent of a hat trick in Enterprise this winter. A hat trick occurs when a hockey player scores three goals in one game. The Portland Winter Hawks minor league hockey team’s recent visit to area schools and to scrimmage on the outdoor pond was a highlight illustrating what a determined group of volunteers can do to bring affordable recreation to a small, end-of-the-road town.
For eight years now Wallowa County residents have enjoyed use of one of the only managed outdoor ice rinks in Oregon. It is through daily small acts of personal sacrifice and service through the winter season that this is possible. The 78- by 52-foot temporary structure that comprises the Wallowa Valley Community Ice Rink located in Enterprise City Park must be put up and taken down each year. Numerous volunteers who have found a cause of community service that is bigger than their own self-interest help with rink construction days and shovel the rink after games. Of course, many of them have an undying passion for the majesty and grace of ice skating and the hearty competition of hockey.
The Enterprise rink offers a great winter pursuit close to home for many residents. The rink offers all sorts of open skating, youth hockey and adult hockey from mid-December to mid-March. A drive is under way now to build a permanent outdoor rink with a roof over it to protect the surface of the ice. The Observer salutes this modest project and hopes it will succeed through business sponsorships, grants, donations and tax-deductible donations.
The folks who volunteer to help make the ice rink work can wear their contributions to the community on their sleeves as their own personal badge of courage. Such voluntarism is the heartbeat of small communities all over Northeast Oregon. The Enterprise volunteers are helping make their little piece of the frozen world just a little better place.
A similar effort, though with a much loftier goal of an indoor ice rink, is under way in La Grande. Friends of La Grande Ice and Event Centre, a non-profit organization headed by Anne Barth, is trying to generate community support for a rink that would also double as an event center.
Unlike the situation in Enterprise, volunteers to aid in the effort have been hard to come by. The group is hoping to raise local seed money that would demonstrate the community’s interest in such a facility. The next step would be seeking grants to fund what is estimated to be a $7 million center.
Anyone who is interested in helping the cause can find out more and volunteer by going online to www.lagrandeicerink.org. Making the effort successful, as Enterprise can attest, depends on having a group of dedicated volunteers.
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Opinion 
