Hard times bring out the best in some people. And the rest of us can be thankful for that.

Two stories in last week's news reports were a counterpoint to the predominantly bad-news headlines about wars, unemployment, foreclosures and incompetent politicians.

Faced with shrinking revenues from a national recession and its aftermath, West Jordan city has found a way to build the parks it needs, and even add amenities not originally in the park plans, by enlisting the help of resident volunteers. Crews of volunteers completed two new parks and playgrounds last weekend in the Sycamores subdivision, bringing the total of parks built by residents to five.

The fast-growing city invests the money it collects from park impact fees, and the volunteers do much of the work on the playgrounds, building pavilions and benches and planting trees.

Other cities are watching the West Jordan projects and may start volunteer programs of their own. They should. Because the benefits go beyond the economic boost to the city budget. People who get their hands dirty sprucing up their neighborhoods develop a stronger commitment to the city and are more apt to get involved in other ways.

Sycamores residents are also working to clean weeds from half-improved lots in their subdivision that were abandoned by developer Terry Diehl after the planning commission denied his rezone request for high-density housing. Clearly, hard times don't bring out the best in all people.

Taking the self-reliance theme a step further, 13-year-old Girl Scout Morgan Barron decided to do something about the number of children going hungry in Utah. She recruited 40 volunteers to put in vegetables at a community garden in South Salt Lake, and she raised $4,300 in donations so Salt Lake County could build a tool shed at the garden.

Barron earlier had organized her classmates at South Hills Middle School in Riverton to create a garden in South Jordan's Daybreak community, where they produced 150 pounds of food for the Utah Food Bank.

In an ideal world, it wouldn't take a recession to motivate people to do things for their neighbors that government can't or won't do. And people like the West Jordan volunteers and Morgan Barron probably would find ways to make their communities better no matter what the economy is doing.

But it's good to know that, when bad times envelop us, we don't have to simply sit back and take it. There is much that can be done to improve people's lives, and these folks have shown us how.