SPRING BAY—Sometimes, when we hear of the many things a person is involved in, it can make our heads spin. Talking to Mary-Alice Lewis can have that effect.
“I joined the Manitoulin Legal Clinic board in 2008,” Ms. Lewis said. “The last few years I’ve been chair, for a couple of years before that, not too many, I was vice-chair.” She admitted that “Zoom has been nice.” Since COVID, their meetings are held on Zoom, most of the time. This has eliminated driving to AOK in the middle of winter, during a snowstorm.
The board, Ms. Lewis explains, holds the lawyer accountable each month. “We don’t micro-manage what they’re doing, we just oversee them in a general way. We make decisions as to which way the clinic is going. We were involved in the hiring of Laura Hunter, our new lawyer, and I think we made a great choice. There are nine members on the board who meet monthly to discuss what’s going on. They are there to advise, if their advice is needed,” she said.
“Most people don’t know they’re there or what they do,” she says of the Legal Clinic. “If you have a problem or a question about a legal issue, phone them and ask and they will either help you or point you in the right direction. They do all sorts of stuff, they can help you with your will, if that’s something you need. They have someone coming from Sudbury who will help with income taxes, for low-income people for free. Family law and criminal law are not covered through the Manitoulin Legal Clinic, but they can help with workman’s compensation or problems with housing. Just phone them and ask,” she kept stressing, “because if they can’t help, they can direct you to someone who can.”
Ms. Lewis is also a member of the Mindemoya Hospital Auxiliary, joining in 2009. Shortly after becoming a member, she took the vice-chair position, which she held for several years. Then she chaired the Mindemoya Hospital Auxiliary, and for a time, as chair, she was also on the board for the Manitoulin Health Centre. In 2015 she became treasurer of the auxiliary board, a position in which she feels most comfortable. “I’ve always loved numbers,” Ms. Lewis said, “One plus one is always two, I like that.” She also does the books for her church, Trinity United in Mindemoya.
“Volunteering is just something you grow up doing,” Ms. Lewis said. In reminiscing about it, she believes her volunteering began when she was a Brownie and a Girl Guide. Even such things as the Cancer Society luncheon, an event in which her mother was involved, meant she was involved too, helping to serve at the luncheon, and feeling so grown up. “That’s where it starts, you don’t even think of it as volunteering, it’s something you do,” she repeated. “Then, in my middle years, when I had kids and they were into things, I got involved in their organizations.”
“There are so many people volunteering, and you don’t even have a clue,” Ms. Lewis said, explaining how the Mindemoya Hospital Auxiliary, with only about 10 or 12 active members, has a list of 200 people they can call when a major fundraiser is in the works. “It’s those 200 people we phone, who come out to help at a particular event, that make the auxiliary work.”
One could say that’s what makes a community work. Volunteers make for a strong, healthy and vibrant community. Consider your strengths, your talents, and get involved.
