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to themselves. I’m especially thinking of the EMS who transported COVID patients and the hospital staff who treated them. • Hill Country Memorial signed up to be the only vaccination hub in the Hill Country for the first few months of the Moderna vaccine. At one point, our county had one of the highest vaccination rates in Texas, thanks to their efforts. • Hundreds of volunteers stepped up to help Hill Country Memorial fully vaccinate well over 10,000 people. • I will never forget the 2020 drive-in Easter service at Faith Baptist Church that I attended. It was so great to corporately worship with others. I literally had tears in my eyes as the service started. Other churches
were equally creative, including embracing online streaming. • The Fredericksburg StandardRadio Post offered advertising assistance and provided a list of restaurants that offered takeout and delivery. • When people were diagnosed with COVID or had to quarantine because of close contact, friends and family would make sure their needs were met. • In some instances, those who were fortunate enough to have surplus toilet paper in the spring of 2020 would share with those who did not. After all, human needs are human needs. I could go on and on. There were literally countless ways in which our community rose to meet this challenge.
The Greatest Generation did not become that way because of how they responded to the Roaring ’20s. They became the Greatest Generation because of how they responded to the challenges of the ’30s and the ’40s. When they got squeezed, their circumstances not only revealed the good character in them, but they also refined out some of the dross. As someone once said, “The hotter the heat, the harder the steel. No pressure, no diamonds.” I’m proud to have gone through the heat and pressure of this pandemic with our community. Thank you for loving your neighbors as yourselves.
