Our view: There's a lot to be thankful for

In Green River we have a lot to be thankful for.

We live in a wonderful community filed with people who more often than not are willing to lend a hand to a good cause.

Community events like the United Way’s Helping Hands Day, volunteer work conducted by Expedition Academy’s students and the activities hosted by countless other organizations underscore how willing to help Green River’s residents are.

Beyond being helpful, we have a number of organizations who have a forward-looking eye focused on Green River. Take the Green River Arts Council for example, because of the work they’ve accomplished and partnerships they’ve forged ultimately resulted in the creation of the Mining Memorial Park. Equipment that would have gone to rust in the darkness of some rarely-traveled underground tunnel was instead painted, restored and placed in a park dedicated to the mines that draws visitors’ interest.

We should be thankful for the mines and the railroad as well. Because of those two industries, a lot of people in Green River have high-paying jobs that help support our community.

Those jobs make it possible for people to have a standard of living that isn’t possible in other portions of the country and even portions of Wyoming. We recognize those jobs to have higher risks and are inherently more dangerous than others, but without those two industries, Green River wouldn’t exist as it is today.

One of the groups we should be thankful for are the area’s unions, which make a lot of those higher-paying jobs possible. Without union support driving wages to figures that are more fair to the workers, all of the jobs within the mining and railroad industries would pay a lot less.

In Green River, we have a great school district that we should be thankful for as well. Its a school district that supports students and its employees equally, while striving to provide children living in Green River, Granger and McKinnon with the best education possible. They’re offered opportunities, such as the clinic hosted by Olympic swimmers Josh Davis and Ian Crocker, that other school districts in the state cannot provide.

There is a lot to be thankful for in Green River. From a great place to live, to wonderful city parks and the outdoor paradise that is a short drive outside the city.

Before tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner, we suggest readers spend some time to reflect on what we really have.