The population of Orangeville and environs is made up of extraordinary folk. There are a disproportionally large number of artists of every medium, from hands-on visual artists and craftsmen of every kind, to writers, singers, actors, theatre crafters.

Theatre Orangeville, along with the long list of theatre-related groups, would struggle to survive without the constant flow of donations and enthusiastic attendance to the many entertainments on the part of the public and corporations.

There are wise businessmen and hardworking politicians; there is a skilful and caring association of medical professionals, social workers and people who simply do give a damn about kids in trouble, the elderly and the abused.

Whenever they can, the businesses in this community pitch in to support events of all sorts from sports to theatre and entertainments to fund raisers for compassionate causes.

And this is what the whole community in this region has in common: its compassion. When a family suffers from disaster through the loss of their home, accident or illness, where there is deprivation, this community puts on dances, shows, dinners, to bring in funds in support of the recently afflicted.

When our home in the Hockley Valley went down in flames in 2007, friends established a trust fund for us into which a lot of money - in large and little amounts - was deposited anonymously over several months to assist us. Whenever we are inclined to feel badly about our losses in the fire, we always recall the generosity of this community and our pain is salved by the recollection.

There was massive support through a variety of functions for young Katy Wymant, the little girl from Orangeville who was diagnosed with cancer and later died in Scotland. She was too ill to come back to Canada, so her parents stayed with her, without regard for their loss of income, for a whole year. This community staged fund raisers throughout that time to support the Wymants in their sad plight.

There are many opportunities to remember Choices Youth Shelter, Family Transition Place for abused women (and their children), and Hospice Dufferin, all of which deal with and tend to those the rest of us can too easily forget but to which we can make our offerings however slim.

Still, something else, something additional is growing in the minds of people here — how to be involved, how to be personally engaged.

Over the last two weeks, I have had extremely interesting conversations with successful businessmen, both middleaged, one of whom is (sort of) retired, Bob Burnside, and Stephen White. The conversations were interviews for the articles I've written in the last two editions of this esteemed journal.

And both men said the same thing — I thought I was hearing an echo — "You have to give back. It's important to be personally involved — it is no longer enough to just hand out some money."

The new expression, "sweat equity", came up.

Is this the road for the "boomer generation"? I am so sick of pictures of smiling, smiling grey-haired, prosperous looking men and women engaging in their post-lifetime activities - expensive leisure sports, elegant glasses of wine — as though we are absolutely useless and totally self-indulgent by the time we reach our "sort of" retirement years.

What about sweat equity in those same years? What about getting personally involved? What about building houses for homes for humanity?

Who says we can't volunteer to work at some level abroad — or take the wisdom of our years to advise others (younger) how to work more effectively in places where such knowledge is needed but can't be afforded?

All those years of learning how things are best done — all that knowledge — why should they go to waste simply because Boomers are told that they are only good for smiling (those photos are just so silly!) and lapping up the good times, with no thought for the rest of humanity. On the contrary, as Mr. Burnside and Mr. White told me, this is the time to give back.

On Sunday, September 13, there is to be a Charity Motorcycle Ride taking off from The Deck pub on Orangeville's Mill Street. If you are a person, grey-haired or otherwise, with a motorcycle, you could be involved. If you are not a person with a motorcycle, you could probably still be involved or just come for the fun, or contribute as a sponsor, or learn about other projects with which you could help.

The Motorcycle Ride is to raise funds for yet another family in distress — the Boltons of Orangeville. Here again are parents determined to stand by their sick child, Kaitlin, who is suffering from MDL, a neuro degenerative disease that should have killed her long ago except for the dedication of her parents.

Orangeville will pull together for her too, I have no doubt. That is the kind of fine community it is.

However we feel about the mistakes our politicians make, whatever other faults or failings there are to living here, one thing is certain: this is a most caring and compassionate community. It is remarkable. And yet, it is Canadian in all the best and truest sense of the word.