There are two words that can never be said enough when it comes to the host of volunteers who provide the foundations of our community service organizations, auxiliaries, sports clubs and other groups that improve the quality of life on Manitoulin. Those words are: “thank you.”
Those are two small words embodied in National Volunteer Week.
Municipalities often host gatherings during this week where community volunteers are lauded for their efforts. When glancing around the room at any of these celebrations, one is instantly struck by the fact that most of those being honoured provide their valuable free time to more than one organization.
These are the folks who ensure that hockey, baseball, soccer and a host of other sports are available to the youth in our communities.
These are the folks who, in the midst of those precious few days of mid-summer, ensure that community celebrations like Summerfest, Haweater Weekend, Harbour Days, the Providence Bay Fair, powwows can go on. Without those volunteer hours, freely given, such events would be impossible.
They are folks who, at any hour of the day or night, respond to the calls of those in crisis as part of Victim Services to provide comfort to those facing the most difficult moments of their lives.
Without volunteers, who would push the tuck cart from bed to bed in our hospital sites, bringing small items of comfort to the bedridden? Who would read to seniors with failing sight in our long-term care facilities?
There are the musicians who lend their talents to entertain folks in nursing homes or to raise funds for worthy causes like Manitoulin Family Resources Food Bank.
There are those who place their very lives on the line as they respond to fire calls or bring the jaws of life to help extract victims in vehicle collisions as part of our Island volunteer fire departments.
Those who spend countless hours outside grocery stores and other gathering places plying wares to raise funds to keep community organizations going also most certainly deserve our recognition.
As rural communities, we owe a tremendous debt to those volunteers who step up to make all of our lives better. A weeklong celebration of those volunteer contributions hardly seems sufficient.
So, the next time you see a volunteer hard at work making our lives a little better, pause and offer those two simple words—it takes but a moment, but they mean a lot.
To all those volunteers across this blessed Isle, we offer up a most heartfelt thank you!
