LAST YEAR MORGAN HILL TODAY RAN A PHOTO ESSAY ON ALL SEVEN COMPONENTS OF THE 2013 FREEDOM FEST , “ SING THE SONGS OF AMERICA .” THIS YEAR MORGAN HILL TODAY IS LOOKING AT THE BEHIND THE SCENES EVENTS AND PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE FREEDOM FEST HAPPEN . FIRST , OUR APOLOGIES TO THOSE MANY INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS WHO ARE NOT MENTIONED OR PHOTOGRAPHED . WITH WELL OVER 500 VOLUNTEERS AND HUNDREDS OF PLANNING MEETINGS FOR FREEDOM FEST 2014 , IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RECOGNIZE EVERYONE .
FOR THOSE WE DO MENTION , OUR PURPOSE IS TO HONOR THEIR VOLUNTEER EFFORTS AND , MORE IMPORTANTLY , TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO STEP UP . VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS LIKE FREEDOM FEST NEED AN EVER-RENEWING SUPPLY OF HELPERS . VOLUNTEERS ALLOW FREEDOM FEST , FIRST OF ALL , TO CONTINUE TO EXIST BUT , ALSO , TO GROW AND GET BETTER . IF YOU ARE MOVED TO GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY AS A FREEDOM FEST VOLUNTEER , GO TO GOVOLUNTR . COM OR GO THE FREEDOM FEST WEBSITE AND SIGN UP .
It All Starts Here
The Board meets throughout the year to assure the success of the event . As the 4th of July comes closer , so do their meetings . Everyone has an area of responsibility and basically report where they are and if they are in need of any assistance .
The Freedom Fest operates under two major assumptions . Firstly , the whole program is run by volunteers ; secondly the events will be free . The only exceptions to free are some parking and participation fees . Anyone who has been associated with an organization this large and diverse , has got to be impressed with the fact that the Freedom Fest is completely and totally run by volunteers .
The Freedom Fest Board of Directors is an interesting mix . Some directors as responsible for one or another of the seven events , others have functional responsibilities that run across several events and a few have responsibilities for a function and an event .
Local architect , Charles Weston ( above ) served as President of the Freedom Fest for the past three years . He continues on the Board as the Freedom Run Race Director and the Fundraising Chairperson .
His successor , Jeff Dixon ( left ) is this year ’ s President . By day , Jeff is President of the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance and is one of the newer members of the Board . He only moved to Morgan Hill in 2003 and quickly became involved in the community . Jeff believes that the Freedom Fest is in a period of transition and expansion . The details of which have yet to be determined .
S U M M E R 2 0 1 4 M O R G A N H I L L T O D A Y
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