For Frank Ramirez, Volunteering is Living

“I don’t really have a favorite moment as a volunteer,” says Frank Ramirez, Board President for the Nappanee chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County. “To me, one important thing about mentoring kids is that it’s not really about having some earth-shaking inspiration, or some type of breakthrough moment with a kid you’re working with. I’ve learned over the years that being a good mentor is all about the ordinary; it’s about just being there with them, being reliable, being present, and attentive.

Most of the time it’s not very dramatic, but it’s extraordinarily important.

I’m the Nappanee Board President for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County. I’d been mentoring kids in local public schools since coming back to Indiana in 2014, and at some point it just felt like a no-brainer to start helping out at the Nappanee Boys & Girls Club. I’d been on the board for a few years, but I started to realize that my best skills weren’t in fundraising or crunching numbers.

Some days are certainly more exciting than others.

Last year I got to teach the kids a bit about beekeeping; I brought some of the equipment into the club so they could learn about it up-close and they got to try some local honey. It was a lot of fun, and a good experience for the kids. It was fun for me, too, but for me volunteering isn’t something I’m in for fun, or to feel good about myself. There’s nothing I’m trying to get out of this experience. That’s the beauty of it for me. For me it’s all about service; as it says in Matthew 25, we are out to serve the least of these, because the stakes are enormous but great things happen in ways we never expect.”

Confident, capable, caring kids is the goal

“I don’t know if volunteering has improved my life. I don’t really think of it like that. For me, volunteering is my life. Life does not make sense to me without volunteering, without giving back, and I feel blessed to be a part of this organization.

Everyone needs a safe place where they can be who they are without judgment, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County fill that need. And it’s such an important investment in our communities. We want kids to know they matter; we want to teach kids to be self-confident and believe in themselves, regardless of what they experience elsewhere. We want them to know, without any doubt, that they’re good enough to accomplish great things; anything they set their minds to do. We want them to know where they come from, to be proud of where they come from, and to come out of all these years of love and care at the Boys & Girls Club with a strong desire to pass on this sense of caring to the next generation.”

Indiana’s Largest Apple Pie, Made With Love

“Nope, I know what you’re going to ask me and, no, I don’t make apple pie the rest of the year, and never, ever do I eat it,” says Mim Hartman, of Wakarusa, with a laugh. “Won’t touch it. On my own I love to make cherry pie, peanut butter pie and peach pie, and many others. Don’t get me wrong; apple pie is just fine. But I think you could say, when it comes to pie, I’m all ‘appled’ out.

I grew up learning all about baking thanks to my mom, Anna Mast. She was just an excellent pie baker and I learned so much from her—her rhubarb custard pie is still probably my all-time favorite. She had so many, there was even a raisin cream pie she made that so many people just loved.

This is my 15th year as Head Baker of the 7-foot apple pie at the Nappanee Apple Festival. The festival has grown over the years, we average about 80,000 people a year, and the giant apple pie is always a big draw. We have foods and crafts, vendors, entertainment, rides, and we do get a lot of people from all over who come out of interest in the pie.

The first year I volunteered to help make the 7-foot apple pie, one of the committee members was there with me to show me everything that was involved, which was good because I’d baked a lot of pies in my life, but I never baked one weighing over 600 pounds. There was quite a lot involved. The committee member was helpful, and showed me every step, and all the details and recipe notes—everything I’d need to know for doing it the next year—and then said, after all those many hours, ‘Next year, you’re on your own.’

The process for making the pie hasn’t changed much. It’s no easy task.

It is Indiana’s largest apple pie; it takes 10 people just to lift it in the custom pan we bake it in. We start with about 100 pounds of pie dough. Then the filling, prepared from about 16 bushels of apples, gets brought in—and that’s when my team and I go to work putting the pie all together. It takes six or seven of us about five or six hours to build the pie. From there, another team goes about getting it into the special 9-foot oven, where it will cook overnight and be done just in time for the festival; where over 1,000 people will get a piece of the pie.

For me, I love making the pie and I love being involved because it’s just a great festival; it’s friendly and wholesome and fun, and there are so many people who come out to enjoy it. There’s a great history to all of it, with Miller’s Orchard in Nappanee, and just the way it’s grown and changed over the years.

I’m not shy, and I love meeting the people—we get hundreds of folks who come to see the pie; they gather around and are in total disbelief and amazement. Kids always want to know everything about it, they have a million questions for me. And I get a kick out of the look on the mom’s faces when kids always say something like, ‘Mom, can we try that at home?’

I love being a part of it. The reward for me is working with such a great group of people, and knowing we work hard every year to make sure it’s a job well done. It feels good when you take time to do something, and do it well, and especially when you’re doing it with a good, helpful purpose in mind.

I can tell you this much. I know our 7-foot apple pie isn’t the biggest apple pie in the world, there are others that are bigger. Someone else can have credit for that. But I do think ours is the prettiest, and I know that it’s made with love.”

Trails and Treats Back For Year Two

“Trails and Treats was something we decided to do last year to commemorate the upgrades we made to the Nappanee Art Path—we had a ton of people and it was just a wildly successful event,” says Brian Van Voorst, a volunteer member of the Nappanee Arts Council. “We were just blown away by the community support we had for this event. We had a scavenger hunt in the woods and we had members of the Elkhart County Symphony playing Thriller under the wetland shelter. There was hot chocolate in the Nature Center cabin. It was a really great time, we might have had more than 1,500 people; many of them in costumes, everyone there to celebrate the Art Path together.

It was a lot of fun. I was dressed up as Waldo—except everyone could find me.

Last year will be a tough act to follow, but this year’s Trails and Treats event should be really great. It’s just a great way to celebrate the Art Path, which is so unique to Nappanee. There are different areas along the path with different installations that celebrate the stories, artists, people and land of Nappanee. There’s an area with dogs sculpted out of junk and materials—the Junkyard Dogs area—and there’s The Butterfly Garden and The Flower Garden with large flower-themed sculptures. Last year we installed the 100th sculpture along the path.

I live in Nappanee. Being involved in the arts council has been rewarding for me in a lot of ways and—as an artist—it’s also really gotten me into sculpting. I have quite a few sculptures displayed throughout Nappanee. I’ve just always loved art, especially Graffiti and urban art. Junk sculpting is something I’m really into lately, also. When I sent my daughter off to Purdue I also started my career as a mid-life crisis poet. But all jokes aside, I do enjoy writing poetry and I’m a member of the Indiana Poetry Society.

I got involved with the Nappanee Arts Council awhile back when Jeff Stillson, president of the council, reached out to me. He knew I was an artist and wondered if I would get involved. Ever since then I’ve been trying to help out any way I can at the NAC, which is what we call the Nappanee Arts Center, and with events. From kids crafts to Valentine’s Day and Christmas activities—if there’s ever anything going on that requires volunteers I try to get involved.

Anything I can do to inspire young minds to want to create and work on art, I’m in. It’s important to me. I wish I could do more volunteering, it brings me a lot of joy and I feel like the more one gives, the more their soul receives.

I think Jeff has done a great job with the council, it just feels like Nappanee is emerging as a vibrant and arts-friendly community. I’m happy to be a part of it. Art is important, and it’s important to know that art is here in Indiana and in Nappanee, and it’s thriving.

You don’t need to be surrounded by palm trees or coastline, out on the West Coast or East Coast, to be inspired as an artist. It exists right here, with people like us; in our daily, family lives. It’s the real stuff, and the art that comes out of that is just as profound, and it’s made to be celebrated.

That’s what the Art Path is about, and it’s a joy to continue to see good things happening for the arts in Nappanee. I’m not sure yet who I’ll be dressed up as this year for Trails and Treats, but you can bet I’ll be there.”