It is very important to recognize how important seniors are every day in every community. The opportunity to celebrate the many positive contributions seniors make in people’s lives was held October 1, on National Seniors Day, and Seniors’ Week in Saskatchewan was marked Sept. 27 to Oct. 3.
Especially when those seniors give back to the community through their volunteering efforts, they deserve a little more recognition.
Marg Leavens has been a volunteer since she moved to Weyburn in 1974. One of the first clubs she joined was the Royal Purple. “I spent 41 years with the Royal Purple, and had perfect attendance that whole time.”
She really enjoyed getting the opportunity to attend conventions held by other Royal Purple clubs across the province, and even across the country.
“I got to meet a lot of wonderful people. It was a really special and satisfying time for me. I learned a lot about those lodges, and their communities, and their friendships. I also had the opportunity to do lots of traveling.”
It was important for Leavens to take the time to volunteer in her community, even when she was working fulltime and had her three children at the home. “In those days, everyone was volunteering,” she said.
In addition to the Royal Purple, Leavens also spent some time volunteering with the Elks Club, the Lioness Club, and most recently the Wheatland Senior Centre.
“There are lots of places that need volunteers, and the Wheatland Senior Centre is just one of them,” said Leavens.
Jan Thorn has been a volunteer basically since she retired. “I was not able to do much volunteering when I was working full time, but I did billet for the Weyburn Red Wings while I was working.”
“Once I retired in 1994, I started doing a lot more volunteer work.” Thorn was encouraged by one of her friends to join the Weyburn Special Care Home Auxiliary, and she has really enjoyed volunteering her time with that organization. “I just like meeting new people and learn about the community.”
There was a special connection during the times when Thorn had billeted for the Red Wings players, or the few times that she had billeted ballet dancers.
“It was interesting, especially since a lot of those young hockey players had never been away from home before, so it was a bit of a strain for them to come to a new place,” she said.
Thorn has billeted 60 players over the years, some for the whole season, and some just for a few days. There are a few of those billets that she still stays in touch with, even after all this time.
An honour for Thorn was getting nominated two different times for the Community Service award for the Quota Club’s Women of the Year event. “I didn’t win the award … but it didn’t matter, just being nominated was incredible. Just being with other equals, other women who were just as busy as me, was incredible.”
Thorn really believes that volunteering definitely helps the community. “Weyburn is such a caring community and if you can volunteer by raising money for the Cancer Society, or the Heart and Stroke, or anything like that … every little bit helps.”
