MINDEMOYA—The very well-known and well-liked Sam Bondi has lived on Manitoulin for 56 years and during that time he has done a large amount of volunteering.
“I came here with my wife Yvonne in 1962,” he told The Expositor with a chuckle. “We only intended to stay a couple of years, but we fell in love with the place, had our children and I guess we are here for the duration.”
Mr. Bondi’s first job was as a teacher at Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) and during that time he sat on various committees. He especially remembers when a new program for the schools came into effect and a curriculum committee was formed to manage it. “We had to deal with the changes,” Mr. Bondi explained, “so we had information sessions to inform the public and professional development days to explain the new curriculum to the teachers. I was also on the teachers bargaining committee, the yearbook committee many times and others I can’t even remember.”
As Mr. Bondi’s sons, Michael, Steven and Mathew and daughter Michelle started to grow up, they were all involved in hockey and sure enough, their father volunteered to help out, both as a coach and as president of the Minor Hockey Association in Mindemoya. ”I did that for 10 or 12 years so I was pretty busy with that.”
“I also sat on the Manitoulin Health Centre board for 10 years.” Mr. Bondi also sat on a couple of subcommittees over the years. “Most notably, I was chair of the fundraising committee at the time we were trying to raise funds for renovations to the Mindemoya hospital. I also volunteered with the local council. That was on the economic development committee and the other was property standards.”
Mr. Bondi now sits on another committee in Central Manitoulin and that is the Mindemoya Old School Repurposing Committee (MOSRC) and he is enthusiastic about the group’s mandate. “It is a beautiful old building,” he said, “and I would like to see our mission accomplished. To see better living and activities for seniors. They are a growing segment of the population and they are living longer. There is an economic benefit to catering to seniors also. They might consider moving here. It would be wonderful to have the old school done. We just have to get over this hump of the feasibility study and then we can move on with fundraising.”
Mr. Bondi is also a member of the Community Living Manitoulin (CLM) board. At present, Mr. Bondi explained that CLM is raising funds as there is a need for new handicapped vans. Some of those donations will come from the Lions Club in Little Current, which is donating part of the funds from the Catch the Ace contest.
Curling is an enjoyable sport for both the Bondis and Mr. Bondi has been asked to sit on a committee for renovations of the Mindemoya Curling Club. This will include, at the moment, an overhaul of the ice surface. The hope is to install another ice sheet and put in a new base. “Most curling rinks have a concrete base,” Mr. Bondi explained. “Our ice is on a sand base and it tends to move a bit over the summer. A concrete base would be much more stable. Mark Love is the club president and he called and asked me to sit on the committee so I imagine we will be meeting fairly soon.”
It sure looks like Mr. Bondi’s volunteering will be going on for some time to come.
