The Senior Scene

(Pictured: Steve Rand hands supplies to a boy in Ukraine on one of the relief missions to the war-torn country by the humanitarian group Rand co-founded).

Steve Rand comes from a small town in rural New Hampshire, spending his life raising his family, serving the nation in the armed forces, and carrying on the family legacy as third-generation owner of the 100-year-old Rand Hardware store in the center of Plymouth.  

A dedicated Rotary Club leader, Rand’s passion for service to others stands as a defining characteristic of his life. Rather than slowing down as he turned 80 years old on Oct. 17, he has launched into courageous work by entering the war zone of Ukraine 10 times (and counting) to deliver humanitarian supplies and to help fund mental-health counseling to Ukrainian orphans, displaced children, and families. 

Rand and three of his friends co-founded the grassroots, non-profit organization Common Man for Ukraine right after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Connecting to fellow volunteers on the ground in Ukraine and Poland through their Rotary network, the Common Man for Ukraine members flew to the wartorn country and started with s simple question: How can we help?  

Fast-forward more than two years. Common Man for Ukraine has raised and delivered more than $3.5 million in humanitarian aid. Its relief convoys travel to Ukrainian orphanages, child safe houses, and front-line villages twice each month. Rand has help lead 10 of them. The convoys have delivered more than 2 million pounds of food, 10,000 sleeping bags, hundreds of portable generators, and dozens of tons of additional critical supplies.  

The efforts to help Ukraine’s most vulnerable – the children of war – also extend to their emerging mental-health needs. Common Man funds and helps organize the Children of Ukraine Health Retreat, a monthly residential trauma counseling camp for children whose soldier-fathers were killed or are missing in the war. The retreat is staffed by certified counselors, teachers, and doctors, providing more than 800 children with a three-week respite, group and individual counseling, and a community of peers who understand what they are going through.

At a time in life when many people deservedly slow down, Rand is showing what can be done with enough heart and will, regardless of age.

Anyone wishing to support Common Man for Ukraine can do so at commonmanforukraine.org.  

At 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, Daylight Saving Time will switch to Standard Time—or “fall back,” meaning clocks should be set back one hour. What’s to gain from this? Well, going to bed Sunday night at, say, 10 p.m. will be like going to bed at 9, due to “time” going backward.

Daylight Saving Time will return on March 9. Until then, the days will slowly get lighter moving through winter and into spring.

Washington voters will help pick the major political party nominees for president in March.

The state’s presidential primary asks participating voters to mark and sign party declarations on their ballot return envelopes, as part of state law that sets the process for how the Democrat and Republican parties pick their candidates and who gets on the ballot for the general election this November. The primary has special conditions unlike regular elections in Washington. More information about the process is available at sos.wa.gov/elections, the website of the Washington secretary of state’s elections department, which administers statewide elections.

For the Democrats, names on the ballot are President Joe Biden and Dean Phillips. Marianne Williamson also appears but has suspended her campaign.

Republican candidates are Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, plus three who have suspended their campaigns or dropped out of the race–Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy.

March 12, the official election day, is the last date that voters can cast ballots by mailing them or depositing them in official ballot boxes in their counties. County election offices mailed ballots on Feb. 23 to registered voters.

For a list of ballot boxes or other local information, voters can contact the Pierce County election department at elections@piercecountywa.gov and 253-798-8683 and the King County election department at elections@kingcounty.gov and 206-296-8683.