Everyone at NaamanForest is so thankful for those unsung heroes of the band ‘family’.  These are those parents who never ask for recognition but continue to find the time to give to their children’s activities.  They usually became heroes before their children even started school.  They were the ones who ‘volunteered’ to coach the soccer or baseball team, brought drinks for everyone, or just came to cheer on the activity of the moment.  Every teacher and band director truly treasures these parents.  Now that we are in high school, these are the parents who are still giving their time, talents, tools, muscle, and money to keep the band going.  During practice, they will jump in their cars to go get a bolt to fix the drum major stand or whatever else is needed to fix something that has broken down again.  These parents are the backbone of the organization.  We at NaamanForest are very lucky to have some strong support from our loving parents.  Pat Kessel who is our Band Booster President has supported all band efforts for several years and continues to encourage the new parents to join in the fun.  More real NF Ranger heroes are the folks like Stacy Tooke who heads up the Pit Crew.  He makes sure that all of that percussion equipment makes it from the band hall to every practice, game, and competition.  He ensures that the wheels still turn on the carts used to carry the timpani and that the nothing falls out of the back of the truck. Our hats go off to you, Stacy, and your great crew of parents.  Thanks for all your hard work!

            There is one hero who is not always known by name but who is the silent photographer.  I want to give my heartfelt thanks to Rodney Jordan for all his great work.  He brings his own equipment (and batteries) to each and every event.  He doesn’t sit back and relax but continually walks around taking shots of as many kids as possible.  I’m sure you all know such a person in your groups.  After each session or event, he loads all those great shots on the band web page for everyone to enjoy.  I think I can speak for so many of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives who are so happy to be able to go through the photo albums.  We look forward to every new addition.  Rod has a daughter in the band but you don’t see him just focusing his camera on her, he works very hard to get shots of every child in the band.  He even gets some great photos of all the other volunteers, parents, and the directors.  Where would be without this person?  Why don’t we have his picture?  Thanks to you, Rod, we all have some great memories that we would never have been able to capture on our own.  I’m sure every band and other organizations have one or (if they are lucky) more parents who consistently take pictures of their groups.  My hat is off to all of those parents who use their cameras and time to capture those memories for everyone.  We love you all and you are truly the silent, unsung heroes. Great big thanks go to Rod and all those other parents for making so many memories for all of us.