Three Generations of Volunteers

As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary year, we will be highlighting some of the volunteers who have been with us since the beginning.

June Dickson started volunteering with us back in our early days in 1966. Below is an excerpt her daughter wrote when June received the Bill Girling Heart Award a couple years ago. Sadly, June passed away in December 2014. We thank June and her family for the many years of service.

"Mom finally showed me the letter about the Bill Girling Award yesterday and I encouraged her to go with me to the luncheon to receive the award in person. She is a very humble person and does not like attention drawn to her. (She agreed to go because she didn't want the Girling family to think the award was not important.)

Mom volunteers for organizations because there is a need she can fill. She is not looking for recognition. That said, her children are thrilled she will receive this award.

Mom has been there since the beginning of Meals on Wheels in Calgary. She is one of the United Church women who were preparing meals in the church basement. Who better to be recognized for her long-term commitment to an organization which she holds close to her heart?

As teenagers, we all took our turn delivering Meals on Wheels (school holidays and summer). In those days there seemed to be more time spent in the client's home. Meals were sometimes placed in the client's oven if they weren't ready to eat. Hot soup was part of the delivery service and was served in the client's kitchen. Activities like this provided time for chatting, and boy, could our mother chat. As typical teenagers, we were so embarrassed when she carried on about our lives or something she had heard on the radio that day. We would be backing out the door trying to encourage her to bring our agony to an end.

Of course, as we grew older, we learned to participate willingly in this chatter, as we came to understand how our conversation with the client might be the only face-to-face one they had that day.

Mom passed the volunteer spirit to her children, and her grandchildren have helped her with her route during their teenage years. Three generations of Meals on Wheels volunteering - not too many families could match that. Mom has been the one to lead us all." - Barb