Sisters salutes...

• Shanon and Greg Pozovich

What a treasure we have in the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and Search and Rescue volunteers! Greg became lost during a hike to Tam McArthur Rim last week and spent a night in the forest. Upon being notified he was missing, the response of these rescuers was outstanding.

Sheriff's deputies quickly arrived, gathered information and patrolled nearby roads. SAR volunteers - 31 highly skilled and trained individuals - mobilized into teams and worked throughout the night, tracking Greg through areas of blowdown, which contains thousands of fallen dead trees.

Our experience had a happy ending, with Greg hiking to a road around 10:30 a.m. the next morning. We know, however, through witnessing these awesome individuals in action, that he would have been found soon.

Our profound gratitude goes out to all who responded.

• Kevin and Karly Lusby

It seems that often when we have the most to say 'thank you' for, we are unable to.

We want to give our thanks to the young man who was kind enough to bring us our Thelma cat's collar after he found her body. He expressed his sympathy, told us where we could find her and melted away into a hot Sunday morning.

Our old girl had her collar on, but she'd been with us so long that our phone number on her tag was outdated, luckily it had our address and this young man was kind enough to locate us so we would know. We were so stunned that I am pretty sure the extent of our thanks went unspoken; I wish to speak them now.

We likely would never have known what happened to her and would not have been able to bring her home and say our goodbyes. Amidst a world awash with cruelty and selfishness, a man reached out and gave solace. While some might say, "It was just a cat," his kindness and civility gifted us; it creates ripples that move to others; I believe any kindness improves the world.

Thank you so very, very much for your kindness.

• Krista Mary Pagano has graduated from Eastern Oregon University with her Masters in Education. Another great teacher for the Central Oregon area.