This has been an awful year for so many in Auburn. We have seen unemployment soar

to 13 percent on the hillsides, 11 percent on the valley floor. Families have been torn apart and businesses here for generations have closed.

Since January, the fear of flooding has been on our minds. Our people near the river have lived in fear of losing their homes, their loved ones and their possessions that mean so much to them.

With so many at risk, the people have risen so many times to help. When I go out to a breakfast or a fundraising meal, I see hundreds of people, more than ever before, come to give. They set up drives to bring in more food for those in need. They worked on plans for flooding. The churches came out so strong to take care of their congregations, to ease the burden of those with no family and no place to go.

When the shelves of the Auburn Food Bank were empty, the people came every day and filled those shelves.

When ACAP was at risk, it seemed like people all across the city volunteered. City employees worked nights and weekends. Volunteers from the neighborhoods and other agencies were there to help, and the children in need are still protected.

The service clubs across town took up missions and have been an aid and comfort, a shoulder for a city in need.

When Thanksgiving came, the need was much greater than ever before, and all over the town people came to help and to serve. The need was so much greater, yet they came to help. They brought food, cooked more dinners than ever before, and in the cold, wind and dark, we celebrated our good fortune together.

Every single time a need has arisen, the people of Auburn have shown their heart and reached out to help. Sometimes someone who has little was the one who helped and gave the most. Each time my heart went out to them and I saw a little more, understood a little more of both those in need and those who needed to help.

So many times people came to help and in helping learned more of themselves, grew and became more from the experience. Some of those who reached out a hand to help at the beginning of this year later found themselves in need. For some, the hard reality of becoming one of “those people” was devastating, yet because they were here, because they had people willing to help, they were able to survive.

We all know that the hard times aren’t over, but I see the spirit of the people rising to meet each and every problem.

What am I thankful for? The people who have shown me how to care. May God bless and keep us all.

Reach Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis at 253-931-3041 or plewis@auburnwa.gov.