LITTLE CURRENT—A good crowd responded to the invitation for volunteers to come out and let NEMI Mayor Al MacNevin and council members show their appreciation and say thank you on Wednesday evening, April 17.
“It’s great to see you all here.” Mayor MacNevin said, “We’re here in recognition of the hard work you all do in the community in terms of volunteering and making our community a great place to live. We really appreciate your efforts.” He spoke for several minutes, his jokes well received. “Oh look, I dropped a drink ticket and no one dove for it.”
The Curling Club lounge was beautifully decorated by Lisa Hallaert and her group of young volunteers. The colours of black and gold dominated, with gold balloons throughout the room. Ms. Hallaert also looked after the food, and there was lots of delicious food for everyone to enjoy. There were beverages as well, each person receiving one drink ticket and, at each place setting, a small bottle of maple syrup for the volunteers to take home.
Mayor MacNevin interrupted the conversations throughout the room to interject, “As well as thanking Lisa for her efforts in making this a wonderful evening, I just found out, it’s a surprise to everyone else, except Lisa, I guess, that it’s her birthday.” And the crowd burst into a hearty round of ‘Happy Birthday’ to Ms. Hallaert.
The Little Current Hospital Auxiliary was out in full force, with 10 members present including Dawn Orr, who was doing double duty, not only as chair of the auxiliary, but also as a NEMI council member.
A good number of members of the Pickleball Club were also in attendance. Happy to talk about their sport, “Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the adult population across Canada,” said Garry Wolfe, one of the founding members of the Little Current Pickleball Club, which had its beginnings in 2009.
The auxiliary members of the Manitoulin Centennial Manor were there. Volunteer firefighters took up a table, the Legion, the Lions and the musicians who play down at the Cenotaph all came out to the appreciation night. There were several tables of people representing different organizations and activities in the area: the museum, fish and game, curling club, the ski club. And there were several organizations whose volunteers were unable to attend or did not wish to be acknowledged for the work that they do.
The interests and activities of the town are numerous and diverse and, fortunately, there are volunteers willing to step up and help out, but there’s always room for more volunteers, in fact, some organizations are clamouring for help. So, if you have an interest in one of the many clubs the town provides, get involved, and the town will show its appreciation.
by Margery Frisch
