Karen Merchant retired from a 30-year teaching career at Palo Community Schools in 2005. But that doesn't mean she has slowed down – only that she has more time for another of her passions: volunteering. Merchant is a founding member of the Ionia County Peace Community, for which she also contributes to an online blog. This summer, she wrote a post asking readers to "Give peace a chance," in which she expressed her world vision.
"The other day a person asked me this question: 'If you could have any thing in the world, no matter what the cost, what would it be?'" Merchant wrote. "I have always answered this question in the same way for years and years and years ... a peaceful world where all people are respectful of each other and hate or prejudice does not exist."
It is this vision of a peaceful world that guides Merchant's activities every day. Merchant is a 4-H leader for the World Wide Kids 4-H Club, a global and cultural education club that participates in numerous service projects, such as the International Dinner and the Passing on the Gift/Empty Bowls Soup Dinner, with funds raised going toward ending worldwide hunger and poverty efforts, and locally to the Zion Community Food Pantry, Ionia Commission on Aging and Heifer International.
"Karen is more than simply kind and loving; she is love," said friend and colleague Amy Buckingham of Ionia. "There are lists and lists and lists of things that she does and gives and creates and organizes, but she is more than her deeds and her talents. Karen is love. She lives love."
Merchant and World Wide Kids 4-H Club members also are involved with tree planting in Ionia County, painting trash barrels and planting flower boxes for the Ionia Free Fair, spreading compost and wood chips at the Howell Nature Center, and wrapping Christmas gifts to benefit Nyaka AIDS orphans in Uganda. In addition, Merchant is president of the 4-H Still Exhibit Committee and vice president of the 4-H Advisory Council.
"Lao Tzu said, 'Kindness in words creates confidence, kindness in thinking creates profoundness, and kindness in giving creates love,'" Merchant wrote in another blog post earlier this year. "As the quote from Lao Tzu says, our actions have definite consequences. The consequences are far reaching, not only affecting our own life, but the lives of those around us. A simple word can make – or break – someone's day. Thinking before you do or speak can make the difference in the response that you get back. Giving is the heart's way of expressing joy."
Merchant's mission is always to give. Along with her 4-H activities, she is active in her church, where she sings in the choir, chairs the administrative board and helps plan a yearly retreat for women. Merchant is president of the West Central District General Federation of Women's Clubs, a committee member of Ionia Relay for Life and publicity chair for the Ionia CROP Walk each year. She is an officer, member of the choir and band member for the Saranac Area Musicians and Singers, and plays in the Danish Band for the Greenville Danish Festival.
"Karen is special because she is so much fun. She has a great sense of humor and is lots of fun to be around," said friend and colleague Judy Huynh. "She is also a very loyal and devoted friend to many. She really cares about people, and lives a life of service to others. Her faith is very important to her, and she is a wonderful example of what it means to truly follow Christ – never judging others, but treating everyone with love and respect."
Those who attend the Ionia Free Fair may recognize Merchant from her work in the Free Fair's Antique Village and where she serves as superintendent of the Floral Department. Her love of antiques also has led to her involvement with the Ionia County Historical Society.
Merchant is president of the Ionia Area Retired School Personnel, and she often helps with the organization's pre-retirement workshops.
"Karen is such a friendly, outgoing person. She is extremely dedicated to many projects and causes," said Penny Beeman of Ionia, another of Merchant's friends and colleagues. "Often this much passion leads to trying to convince others that your way is the right way, but Karen is not like that at all. She realizes that most often there are several sides to a story or more then one way to do the job. This quality makes Karen one of the most caring and loving people that I know. She shares herself and her time freely. And her actions always put a smile on my face."
Merchant was one of four people nominated for this year's Ionia County Woman of the Year award during the Ionia Free Fair. "Every day we are faced with opportunities – opportunities to make our own life better, opportunities to make someone else's life better," Merchant wrote in her blog post. "How do we make the decisions needed to face these opportunities? My suggestion is with kindness."
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