The Humboldt Good Neighbour Store wowed the community with its 2011 disbursement of $205,000 among 31 area organizations.
Maureen Doetzel, chair of the non-profit store, says they are starting to reap the benefits in a way they need to most - with some new volunteers coming in to help out.
"Since we gave the money away, we have had a good turn out of new volunteers," Doetzel said. "One person said she came because she didn't realize that we'd been giving money to Bruno for 20 years, and that we didn't have any volunteers from Bruno."
Other volunteers from Watson joined up as well after hearing about the disbursements and the store's need for volunteers, but both Doetzel and the board's treasurer, Sylvia Koski, agreed that they still don't have enough.
But, the ladies say, according to store manager Kevin Reiter, the volunteers they do have are worth their weight in gold.
"Yes," Doetzel added, "he commented that he's just amazed at how committed they are to the volunteering."
Ditto for the store's new part-time assistant manager, Owen Hopfner, He is originally from the area and recently relocated back to Humboldt with his wife Audrey, after he retired from his job in Calgary.
"The attitude of the volunteers we've got here could teach a thing or two to many of the employees I worked with over time," Hopfner said. "They exemplify the meaning of customer service."
Although the board has a list of names, the two women say the list needs renewing and they would like to see some younger volunteers coming in. Many of the volunteers who have been serving the Good Neighbour Store are older, and they don't want to come in every week, let alone twice a week.
Doetzel wonders if potential volunteers, especially younger ones, are reluctant to sign up because they think they have to commit to a full day's work every time they come in.
"It would be good to see more young people volunteering," said Doetzel. "We realize that young people are usually working full time, and that even younger retirees are going back to work.
"People may be under the understanding that you have to come in once a week and that you have to commit to a whole day, but that's not right," she added. "You can come in once every two weeks if you like, and it can be either a morning or an afternoon. It doesn't have to be a whole day."
There are opportunities to work in several different sectors at the Good Neighbour Store, once a volunteer becomes familiarized with the store and its layout. They need people to sort, put away, clean, and price items. All the electronics and electrical equipment have to be checked before they can be put out, to make sure they are working. Games and puzzles have to be gone through, clothes hung up, linen sorted.
And the real reward, Koski says, is in the people you meet and work with at the store.
"When people come in to work here, they really enjoy it," said Koski. "And you get to know people that you wouldn't get to meet otherwise, you get to know them in a different way."
The Good Neighbour Store needs about 20 volunteers every day to run the store, plus volunteers to do the preparatory work of sorting and checking items before they can be put on the shelves.
