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Vegreville Loves Their Volunteers
Vegreville Loves Their Volunteers
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Around 90 attendees had good conversations and a pleasant lunch at the Soup-er Tuesday Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at the Senior Citizens Sunshine Club of Vegreville Centre on April 16.
This year's National Volunteer Week Committee coordinated the luncheon which included: Vegreville and District Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), the Vegreville Centennial Library, VegMin Learning and the Senior Citizens Sunshine Club of Vegreville.
When asked why they hosted this, FCSS Community Development Facilitator Elizabeth Koehler-Lenko explained, “Each year, we strive to celebrate the volunteers in our community and acknowledge the incredible amount of work they do. This lunch gives us a way to connect with a large number of volunteers so we can thank them for everything they put back into our community.
We did ask for volunteers and agencies to give us an estimated number of volunteer hours and it totaled just over 11,000.
Each year, Volunteer Alberta releases a theme for National Volunteer Week. The theme for 2024 was ‘Every Moment Matters’ and it speaks to the fact that volunteering takes many forms within a community. It is important to celebrate all the different ways people donate their time within a community – from shoveling a neighbour’s sidewalk, having coffee with a senior, returning someone’s cart, to volunteering with a formal organization or program.”
One of the most common reasons people volunteer, Lenko replied, “In January of this year, (FCSS) had a survey on this topic. The most common answers were to give back to their community and to make their community a better place to live.”
Lenko closed by saying organizations can recruit more volunteers by highlighting the benefits of volunteerism for the individual.
When volunteer Anita Lemko was asked what volunteering means to her, she replied, “It is fun volunteering. The groups I belong to are like being in a little family. It gives people a chance to be a part of something, and gives them a sense of community.”
Jean Hughston commented, “I enjoy volunteering. I’ve played music from 1985 till now. I still sing in a music group.”
